Grave Yard — Kilgarvan

Located on a S-facing slope, bordered by a stream at the base of the slope. On the 1838 OS 6-inch map this graveyard is indicated as a trapezoidal walled area (55m N−S; 50m E−W at N, 25m E−W at S), accessed at the NW corner by a road. By the time of its depiction on the 1931 edition, where it is named 'Kilgarvan Burial Ground', the graveyard had been expanded to the W and S to its current subrectangular extent (c. 85-90m N–S; c. 85m E–W at N, c. 65m E–W at S), enclosed by a mortared stone wall. A low, grassed-over scarp extending N–S through the middle of the current space appears to indicate the original W boundary of the early 19th-century graveyard. The interior area encompasses a sharply undulating S-facing slope; there is a relatively level area in the N third from where the ground shelves down in a series of slopes and terraces to lowlying ground at the S end, which is bordered by a stream. Formal, inscribed 19th- and 20th-century headstones are set in roughly N–S rows, and are interspersed with many low, uninscribed fieldstone gravemarkers, the greatest concentration of which is in the E, older half, of the graveyard. The informal gravemarkers appear to be more randomly scattered, but some are also arranged in N–S rows. According to the 1838 OS letters, there was a church (MA040-031001-) in the NE of the graveyard, its location now marked by a 19th-century walled grave enclosure, dedicated to the Howley’s of Belleek (O’Flanagan 1927, 108). There is an ogham stone (MA040-031004-) in the NE quadrant of the graveyard. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 15 May 2020