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Graveyard or cemetery in Castletowndelvin

Graveyard/cemetery
Graveyard or cemetery in Castletowndelvin
Photo: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

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.

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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.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 15308016

This does not grant access. Most recorded buildings are privately owned; view them only from public ground unless the owner allows entry.

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Photo credits
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
  • Eric Jones, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Brian Shaw, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Photographer not expressly credited for the aerial photo; Jayde G Forde wrote the article and is credited for a separate people photograph, www.westmeathexaminer.ie
  • Mike Searle, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
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