Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Graveyard
Kinaff, County Mayo, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Kinaff
- County
- Mayo
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Grave Yard
- Latest-edition OS map
- Grave Yard
- Coordinates
- 53.89698, -8.97998
- SMR number
- MA071-142002-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
In a flat expanse of damp, rush-grown pasture in the base of the Trimoge River valley, with the river 60m to W of the graveyard. On the W side of the river the valley is defined by a steep-sided ridge; the E side of the valley where the graveyard is located is bordered by a gentler slope. A few hundred meters to N a high ridge forces a bend in the course of the river to W. The location lies along a natural E−W route-way across the valley with a fording point on the river (now marked by a modern road and bridge).
This graveyard is depicted on the 1838 OS 6-inch map as an irregular-shaped oblong area (c. 75m N−S; c. 50m E−W) outlined by a dashed line, with a church (MA071-142001-) in the centre of the E half. By the time of the 1931 edition, the graveyard had been enclosed by a wall, encompassing a smaller, almost square area (45.25m E−W; 47.9m N−S), with an E−W road outside the graveyard at N.
It is enclosed by a mortared stone wall (Wth 0.6m; H 1.1m) with a gated entrance towards the E end of the N side, and a stile roughly in the centre of the same side.
The interior ground surface is very uneven, with several hollow and dips, and a high density of gravestones. Formal headstones and graveslabs dating to the 19th- and 20th-centuries are interspersed among many low, uninscribed stone gravemarkers. The ruined medieval church (MA071-142001-) is located in the centre of the N half of the graveyard. Several stones from the church have been reused as gravemarkers, including a decorated Romanesque capital (MA071-142004-). There is a slope down to the SW in the SW quadrant, marked by a SW-facing stony scarp (H 0.5-1m), extending from W to S. Immediately outside the graveyard wall at W−SW is an area of very rough, hummocky stony ground –this may correspond with the larger oblong extent of the graveyard shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map.
When inspected in 1988 and in 1997, much of the graveyard was obscured beneath overgrowth. A souterrain (MA071-142003-) is located in an adjoining field c. 50m to SW.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 13 September 2021
Nearby in the register
- Churchunder 1 mi
- Architectural featureunder 1 mi
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.