Grave Yard — Killamery

At the base of a hill which rises to the S-SE, in rolling pasture overlooking a broad plain from NW-N. Killamery graveyard encloses a large area (dims. 95m roughly N-S; 46m E-W at the N end, tapering to 21m at the S) including two hillocks and a small valley between them. The medieval church (KK030-00811-), a later, now ruined, C of I church and a cross-slab (KK030-008011-) occupy the S hillock, with a holy well (KK030-008007-) at the W end of the valley and a high cross (KK030-008004-), a cross-slab (KK030-008005-), a stone cross (KK030-008014-), two bullaun stones (KK030-008006-; KK030-008008-) and a fragment from a chest tomb (KK030-008012-) are on the N hillock. Most of the 18th and 19th century headstones are located on the N hillock, though there are a few N of the C of I church. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 4, 311-2) a monastery here was founded by St. Gobán Fionn early in the 7th century whose feast day is celebrated on the 6th of December. In the Annals of the Four Masters the obit of an abbot, Domhnall son of Niall is given in 1004 (Edwards 1990, 41). The graveyard, which is enclosed by a stone wall capped with cement, is entered at the S end of the E wall, where there is a stile and a gate. The slope of the N hillock extends northward beyond the graveyard wall for c. 13m and it is possible that the medieval graveyard followed the curving scarp at this point, rather than the straight wall which cuts across it. The scarp terminates before reaching the field boundary to the E and this seems to be where a pathway, as indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. 6-inch OS map, ran from the S side of the village and entered the graveyard a the NE end of the N side. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 2 August 2017