Killygarvan Island Burial Ground

In April 1988 the discovery of human remains on Killygarvan Island were reported to the National Museum by mr. Roy Spence of Belfast. This proved to have been placed in a lintelled grave and in September 1988 Mr. Spenmce reported the disccovery of a second grave nearby. The site is a tidal island located at the northern end of kinnegar Strand, c. 50m in diameter and c. 2m in maximum height. Its southern flank is being actively eroded and it was along this side that two lintel graves were uncovered. The first grave (Grave I) lay 2.1m north-west of the second (Grave II). Excavation by R. O Floinn of the NMI revelaed that Grave I was located 0.3-0.4m below the sod and consisted of three covering slabs; one at the west end measuring 0.6m by 0.4m; one at the east end measuring 1.2m by 0.5m, which was overlain by a small D-shaped slab 0.4m by 0.3m. The sidestones consisted of slabs or water rolled stones with flat inner faces. There were five principal slabs on each side and all were inclined outwards. The grave was irregular in plan, measuring 1.73m in internal length and 0.34m in width at the broader, western end. The sidestones varied in height from 0.29m to 0.46m. The north west and north east corners were occupied by tall, pillar-like stones which filled the spaces between the ends and the long sides of the grave. The floor was paved with a series of carefully laid slabs. The skeleton lay directly on the paved floor, fully extended and on its back. The head lay in the south western corner of the grave, facing south. The lower arm bones, vertebrae, ribs and pelvic bones were almost entirely missing due to the collpase of the covering slabs. The remains have been identified as those of an adult female. The grave was orientated south west/ north east with the head in the south west. Grave II contined no evidence of human remains and excavation revealed that the covering stones of the grave which had been arranged neatly and which covered an oval area 1.25m long an 0.7m wide. There were four principal covering stones, irregular in shape, which overlapped one another and lay directly in the sidestones. As excavation of the cist began, a large tapering pillar-like stone, 0.7m long and rectnagular in section (0.2m x 0.08m) was discovered lying horizontally over the covering stones, its long axis parallel to that of the grave. It was undecorated and was centrally placed, its narrow end close to the southern end of the grave. It originally stood in a vertical position at the southern end of the grave and can be interpreted as a grave-marker. This grave was orientated south south-west/north north-east. Although no bone survived, the presence of a headstone and pillow stone showed that the head was placed to the south. The size of the grave indicated that it contained the remains of a child. At Killygarvan island the nearest church is much closer but the absence of any structures or tradition of burial may indicate that the lintel graves represent part of an early cemetery which was replaced by that which surrounds Killygarvan Church to the north (O' Floinn 1992, 42-50). The above information was taken from an article written by R. O Floinn in 1992 and published in the Donegal Annual for 1992.