What is recorded here

Old Grave Yard in Kilmacduagh, County Mayo, was a walled graveyard where a small church dedicated to Saint Mac Duach once stood. The 1838 map still shows its rectangular boundary and southern entrance, though later surveys reduced it to an ordinary field. That disappearance does not diminish the place; it suggests the living townland absorbed the dead ones, keeping Saint Mac Duach inside its name instead of its stones.

The OS Letters (1838, 224 (95)) record that 'In the Townland of Kilmacduagh also in Kilmainebeg there is a graveyard in which a small old church dedicated to Saint Mac Duach had stood, and which gave name to the townland'. A rectangular walled area, accessed at the SE corner by a road, is indicated as 'Old Grave Yard' on the 1838 OS 6-inch map. It is not marked as a graveyard on the 1929 edition but a rectangular field or enclosure (c. 35m NNW-SSE; c. 30m ENE-WSW), open at SE, is indicated. Lavelle (1994, 99, no. 678) recorded it as follows: ‘Shown on OS map (1838) as ‘Old Grave Yard’; with church (MA121-146001-). No visible surface traces.’ Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 14 January 2015

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