What is recorded here

Grave Yd in County Cork holds the O'Callaghan ancestral line and a slain Mac Donnell warrior beneath long grass and stone walls. The graveyard has marked deaths since 1729, yet many markers lost their names and now line a path instead of pointing to buried bodies. Two churches rise near the centre, one medieval and broken, one still standing, while the dead remain crowded together under overgrowth.

On NW side of road. Roughly trapezoidal graveyard (c. 90m max. NW-SE; c. 60m WSW-ENE) enclosed by stone wall, entrance at SW end of SE roadside wall. Near centre are remains of late-medieval church (14411) and C of I parish church of Clonmeen (14713). Enclosure shown as smaller on 1842 OS 6-inch map, with W corner and SE side rounded. In occasional use; earliest headstone noted dates to 1729; numerous other 18th- and 19th-century examples survive. Many low uninscribed gravemarkers now used to line pathway. Interior under long grass; overgrowth around churches recently cleared. Graveyard walls repaired 1905-6 (Grove White 1905-25, vol. 2, 228). Grove White (1892-94, 464) recorded monument, with Coat of Arms, inside C of I church, erected in 1735 by Mr. Cornelius O'Callaghan. Recently plaque inserted into wall of graveyard, blocking off stile, reads 'Clonmeen / Burial Place of the O'Callaghans / Alasder 'Colkitto' Mac Donnell / slain at the Battle of Knocknanuss [14694] / 13 Nov. 1647 / is buried here.' According to local information, MacDonnell buried in ancestral tomb of the O'Callaghans (Eldridge 1996, 76). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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