graveyard/cemetery

Graveyard on sub rectangular-plan, of indeterminate date (probably originally pre-1700), containing collection of cut stone, marble and concrete grave markers, mainly dating to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Number of eighteenth-century memorials and collection of uninscribed upright and recumbent stone grave markers to site. Graveyard still in use. Timber and concrete stations of the cross on border of graveyard. Coursed rubble limestone boundary wall to the north with pair of ashlar limestone gate piers (on square-plan) having carved capstones and single leaf wrought-iron flat bar gate. Flight of rough limestone steps/stile to west of gateway. Located on a small hill to the north of Ballinamuck. Site bounded by a stream to the south. Holy well (LF002-006001-) and a holy hawthorn tree/bush (LF002-006005-), tied with rags, located to the southwest corner of site.

This long established graveyard contains an interesting collection of mainly nineteenth and twentieth-century grave markers, some of which are of artistic merit, including a number of cut stone Celtic high cross style and obelisk-type memorials. The earliest legible grave marker dates to 1670, and commemorates Jacobus Farrel. The graveyard site itself probably dates to well before 1700AD and it contains a number of archaeological sites, including a holy well (LF002-006001-), a holy hawthorn tree/bush (LF002-006005-) and a number of mounds (including LFO02-00602). The plan of the graveyard also suggests that this may have been the site of an early church site. The graveyard contains the remains of General George Blake, commander of the United Irishman forces at the Battle of Ballinamuck in 1798. Blake was executed near the battlefield and later buried at this site. This graveyard site is an integral element of the social heritage of the Ballinamuck area, adding historic interest to its rural location. The simple boundary walls, the attractive ashlar gate piers, and the wrought-iron gates complete the setting of this interesting composition.