Graveyard in Quingardens

Situated on the SE side of St Finghin’s church (CL042-027003-) built c. 1278 by Thomas de Clare (Westropp 1900-2, 148). A roughly rectangular graveyard (39m NE-SW; 24m NW-SE) bounded by the church at NW and elsewhere by a modern stone wall. The external ground level is lower outside the graveyard wall at E (int. H 0.83m; ext. H 1.83m; Wth 0.65m). To S there is an even greater discrepancy in height (int. H 0.82m; ext. H 2.3m). Pre-development archaeological testing in 2008 (Licence no. E3921; Ruttle 2014, 12-18) located the probable original S boundary of the graveyard on the S side of this S wall at the lower level. Burials including skeletal remains of a person buried at the earliest in the 16th century were found in a roughly triangular area (10.2m x 8.9m x 7.3m). Boulders have been placed to mark the outline of the area and a plaque explaining this has been erected. Test trenching to the immediate N and E of St Finghin’s church (Carey 2003, 21, no. 89; Carey 2004, 51, no. 197; Licence no. 01E0573) uncovered disarticulated human bone and three skeletons oriented E-W. This may indicate that the medieval graveyard extended to this side. A curving field boundary to N and W c. 55m from the church, indicated on the OS 6-inch maps, shows St. Finghin's church centrally placed between that and the river Rine to the SE and may indicate the outline of the medieval precinct (CL042-027007-). The present graveyard boundary contains mainly 19th and 20th century burials and there is a mausoleum commemorating the Spaight family at NE. A later church is depicted and named 'St. Fineen's Church within this graveyard on the OS 1st edition 6-inch map and on the later editions. According to Ruttle (2014, 16) this was a Protestant church built next to St Finghin's in 1797. It was a small plain building with a low tower built by aid from the Board of First Fruits and was dismantled sometime after 1954 by the Board of Works. The church would have been attached to the S wall of the Spaight mausoleum and further remains are evident in the NE graveyard wall. The graveyard is accessed through a laneway at SW which originally lead directly to the later church. The following images have been uploaded: CL042-027004-_01.jpg Boulders outlining the S extent of the original graveyard. Modern graveyard wall behind with St. Finghin's church in the background. CL042-027004-_02.jpg Plaque erected to explain boulder area.