Grave Yard — Kilcoolyabbey

On a N-S rise, on the E side of an unenclosed graveyard (TS043-034007-). A high limestone wall runs NW-SE c. 2m NE of the E gable of the church (TS043-034002-). A low stone wall, with a gate at the end, runs along the NW boundary which separates this graveyard from a farm roadway and the later 19th century church and graveyard to the NW. On the 1st (1840) ed. OS 6-inch map this graveyard is depicted as a D-shaped area outlined by a dashed line. The church with its associated graveyard is likely to date to the early 18th century though it could have been built in the late 17th century. The earliest evidence for a church at this location is an estate map dating to 1749 (Neely 2005, 40, 50). By 1826 the church is recorded as 'falling in and too small, and graves too close to the walls' and in 1829 a new church was built c. 60m to the NW (Neely 2005, 93). There is a large 19th-century pyramidal mausoleum on the line of the S wall of the church. Most of the upstanding headstones are located to the S and W of the church. The earliest noted headstone in the graveyard dates to 1767. The majority are of 18th and 19th-century date and there are a few 20th-century headstones. The latest noted headstone dates to 1957. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011