What is recorded here

Indicated is a churchyard in County Meath where a small stream flows south toward the Broadmeadow River. The land sits in a shallow dip, giving the place a contained, listening quality. Its boundary may have been marked by a ditch rather than a tall wall, suggesting modesty instead of grandeur. People likely came here for prayer, burial and quiet company, while the water carried what was not spoken away from the field.

Situated in a small dip at the bottom of a slight SW-facing slope, and there is a small NW-SE stream immediately outside the churchyard to the S that feeds into the Broadmeadow River c. 2.3km to the ESE. The chapel-of-ease at Cookstown (ME045-001----) is within an enclosure which is depicted as a subrectangular area (dims c. 38m E-W at N to c. 52m E-W at S; c. 38-46m N-S) with a NE-SW road on the W side on the 1836 ed. of the OS 6-inch map and as a D-shaped area (dims c. 48m N-S; c. 45m E-W) with the straight side at W on the 1909 ed. of the map. Archaeological testing (01E0091) identified a defining ditch (Wth 1.2m; D 1m plus) at two points on the perimeter at N, although no burials were recorded in the N part of the enclosure (Miles 2003). Further limited testing (02E1689) identified the bank and external ditch at two points on the W side during the widening of a minor N-S road from Ashbourne to Ratoath, but again no burials were identifiied (O’Connor 2004). Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 7 April, 2015

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.