Grave Yard — Bunnafinglas

In pasture, located on level elevated ground, with a wooded slope immediately to W dropping steeply to the River Moy. Shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map as a polygonal enclosed area (c. 55m E–W; c. 30m N–S), marked ‘Grave Yard’, accessed at NE by a road. Extensions to the N and NE end of the burial ground resulted in its current roughly L-shaped plan (max. dim. c. 150m NE–SW; c. 85m NW–SE). According to an information plaque, the burial ground was expanded in 1912, and again in 1941 when an old boundary was replaced by the mortared stone wall (Wth 0.6m; H 1.3m) which currently encloses it. In the oldest, W end, of the burial ground there is a subcircular raised area (c. 20m E–W; c. 15-20m N–W) defined by a low slumped scarp (H c. 1-1.2m). Covering the top and slopes of the raised area are unincribed grave markers, arranged in roughly N–S rows spaced c. 1-1.3m apart. Within the rows, the grave markers are close set, almost contiguous in places, and comprise irregular-shaped stones (H 0.35-0.5m), many of which barely protrude above the sod. Intermixed with the uninscribed gravestones are a number of formal grave plots with inscribed headstones or graveslabs dating to the late 19th or early 20th centuries. According to an information plaque, the oldest recorded burial is of a John Pue, who died on the 6th of August 1776. According to local tradition, this is also the site of a Famine era burial plot. Rows of uninscribed grave markers also occur to E of the subcircular raised area but the density is lower and at a point c. 35-40m to E they peter out. The N and NE parts of the burial ground, which encompass the more recent extensions, are dedicated to formal rows of 20th- and 21st-centuries burials. According to tradition, the burial ground was the site of an abbey (MA048-030001-) (OS Letters, Vol. 1, 68). A standing stone (MA048-085----) is located 40m to E of the modern boundary wall of the burial ground. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 10 January 2013