Grave Yd. — An Clochán (tc An Clochán)

Cloghane Church/Teampall an Chlocháin [KE035-025----]: The ivy-covered ruins of this largely 13th century church stand in a graveyard KE035-025003- on the W shore of the inner reaches of Brandon Bay. In 2010 a graveyard survey carried out by Laurence Dunne recorded the following details about Cloghane graveyard: 'The old medieval church and graveyard at Cloghane is situated in the village of the same name on the N side of the Dingle Peninsula and 13km west of the Castlegregory and 15.5km NE of Dingle. The old medieval burial ground is situated on the west side, above and behind the village of Cloghane and accessed via a narrow trackway at the northern end of the village. There is a very fine maritime vista over Brandon Bay downslope to the NE. The views to the S & SE from the graveyard are restricted locally due to the presence of mature trees. However, the backdrop view from the graveyard comprises a spectacular panorama of the entire massif of Mount Brandon. The old graveyard contains the relict upstanding remains of the medieval parish church [KE035-025----] as well as the ruins of a First Fruits Church of Ireland built in 1828 that was built on top of the earlier church. In the recent past a new graveyard for the parish was opened 0.8km north of the village off the road to Brandon Village. This new burial ground is not within the scope of this survey. The graveyard at Cloghane comprises an old medieval burial ground with an additional late 19th century section added at the east. The medieval section of the old burial ground at Cloghane is very difficult to traverse due to the density of tombs and their dilapidated state of repair combined with the sloping topography, and the overgrown nature of the ground. The medieval graveyard section is also very narrow and physically dominated by the extant relict remains of the medieval church ruins that are in turn further supplanted by the larger ruinous 19th century Church of Ireland making the burial ground extremely congested. The medieval burial ground is served by a gravelled perimeter path extends or loops partially around it. Cloghane contains a massive 92 tombs of which 64 are within the medieval area with another 27 situated in the 19th century section. House shaped and strong-box tombs are the dominant tomb types with many of them in the 19th century area built in contiguous rows of terraced houses of the dead. Fifty-four of the tombs have no memorial plaques and are therefore unnamed. The medieval section of Cloghane graveyard is also studded with at least 113 small unnamed gravemarkers with another 30 or so in the 19th century burial area. There were two definitive lintelled graves (488 & 495) situated at the E limits of the medieval burial ground in a poor state of repair and partially open and overgrown. There were forty-eight named headstones recorded at Cloghane graveyard of which thirty-four are associated with formal grave settings. Unusually there were only two notched, unnamed headstones (50 & 225) recorded in the course of this survey at Cloghane. Twenty two architectural fragments were recorded in Cloghane Graveyard. Twenty one fragments belong to the 1838 Church of Ireland of which eight have been re-used in an informal grave setting (270-277 & 283). Nine others lie within and without the tower of the C of I while the remaining four are located within the body of the church. There are at least three medieval architectural fragments lying loose on the grassy ground in front of the E window of the medieval church. These cut and dressed stones are from the RH side of the window embrasure. Other possible fragments from the E window lie concealed in the grass. The entrance comprises two neglected rusty iron gates set between two square capped and rendered piers of squared rubble sandstone built to courses. The piers are in very good order with a simple squeeze-stile situated immediately beside the right hand or NW pier. The old medieval section of Cloghane Graveyard is bounded by a random rubble wall of local sandstone sections of which are bedded in mortar while other sections are drystone built. The height of the boundary walls vary between 2.0m along the access trackway at the N to 1.3m at the S. However, the ground in the medieval section is much higher on the inside and consequently for circa 20m along the interior N perimeter the boundary wall is as low as 0.20m and provides no protection for a fall off of 2m into the trackway' (Dunne 2010). The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 983. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. See attached plan and photographs courtesy of Laurence Dunne Revised by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by Laurence Dunne Date of revised upload: 29 June 2022