Kilmacrenan Friary Graveyard

Kilmacrenan Friary (DG045-010001-): The friary was founded, probably after 1537, by Manus O'Donnell for the Franciscan Third Order Regular (Gwynn and Hadcock, 1970, 272). The remains consist of a rectangular church, 25.3m by c. 6.1m internally, comprising nave and chancel without structural division. Built of roughly-coursed rubble and some quarried blocks with horizontally laid thin pinnings, only the E half of the S wall with attached section of the E gable, 4.5m-5m in height, and a small N fragment of the W gable, c. 1m high, survive. No dressed stonework remains though bond holes indicate that the SE quoin were of ashlar construction. At the E end of the S wall is a wall-press, and two ragged gaps are all that survive to indicate the former presence of windows. The graveyard (DG045-010002-) wall is built on the N wall of the church; a section of the latter can be traced in its exterior face. Some dressed stonework survived in 1837 (Ponsonby 1973, 286). None remained when Fagan described the ruins in 1846. He notes that sections of the four walls then stood 10-25 ft high and he refers to a large window in each gable and two similar ones in the S wall; this wall had a door at its W end. All of these were completely ruined and devoid of cut stone (Bk 7, 26-7). He records that dressed stonework from a door and window, together with a mitred head (DG045-010004-) had been reused in the then demolished old Protestant Church (DG045-010003-) to the SE. It is equally likely that the surviving fragments (DG045-010008-) incorporated in the exterior fabric of the present Church of Ireland parish church (DG045-008) were also taken from this friary. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

A medieval friary graveyard, dating to the 16th century or later, associated with a Franciscan religious community; it is significant as a rare example of a monastic foundation in the region, reflecting late medieval religious practices and local Gaelic patronage.