What is recorded here

Ballylarkin Upper once held a graveyard now vanished beneath a working potato field. Farmers cultivated soil up to the church walls while buried bodies waited under the turning earth. When workers repaired the church in 1931, bones emerged from inside and outside, proving the field had swallowed a neighbourhood of the dead. The graveyard did not disappear so much as stop being visible to the living.

According to a field report (OPW correspondence, no date), during repairs which were carried out by the Office of Public Works in 1931-2 at Ballylarkin church (KK013-018001-), human bones were found inside and outside the church. These bones signify that there was a graveyard associated with the church. According to the OS letters (1839) (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 198), 'the ruin stands in the middle of a potatoe field which is cultivated up to the very walls', which suggests that the graveyard had fallen out of use well before the 19th century. Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 260-61) also noted that, 'As the field in which it stands has been all under cultivation, the graveyard is obliterated'. The graveyard is not visible at ground level. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 11 January 2017

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