graveyard/cemetery

Former Union Workhouse graveyard, c.1850, set within rubble limestone wall on rectangular plan. Now heavily overgrown with no visible grave markers. Arched wrought-iron entrance surmounted by plain cross finial to northeast corner. Set back from road to southwest of site of former workhouse.

A picturesque, if sombre feature in the landscape. This site is of particular importance as the graveyard of the former Union Workhouse, later renamed St. Mary's Hospital, which lay to the immediate north-east of this site. Delvin Poor Law Union was the last created in Ireland, so it is likely that the associated workhouse was also the last built in this country. It was designed by the Poor Law Commissioners' architect George Wilkinson (1814-90), c.1850 , and was based on one of his standard designs to accommodate 400 inmates. Its construction costs were £5,200 plus £885. The workhouse was damaged in the 1920s and subsequently demolished c.1940. The lack of grave markers suggests unmarked graves or perhaps that the original grave markers were made from timber and have long since decayed. The simple wrought-iron entrance gate with cross finial is of artistic interest and is a poignant reminder of times past.