Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Graveyard
Bekan, County Mayo, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Bekan
- County
- Mayo
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Grave Yard
- Coordinates
- 53.75808, -8.84408
- SMR number
- MA092-078002-
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
4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1753 map "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1753 · Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Located on elevated ground/low ridge, overlooking expanses of damp or boggy pasture to NE and SW.
A subrectangular walled graveyard (c. 30m N−S; c. 50m E−W) is shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map, with the church (MA092-078001) in the NW corner. By the time of the 1917 edition the graveyard had been extended to S−SW. This enlarged area encompasses a SW-facing slope and is enclosed by a modern concrete wall. A more recent trapezoidal extension has been appended to NE.
The earlier phase of the graveyard, as shown on the 1838 map, can be traced as a roughly rectangular slightly raised area (c. 45m E–W; c. 30m N–S) defined by a grass-covered scarp, with the ruined church at its NW corner. It encompasses the higher, level ground of the ridge. This area is distinguished by a scattering of small, uninscribed gravemarkers that barely protrude above the sod, and by formal headstones and table tombs dating to the 19th-century.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 20 May 2022
Nearby in the register
- Churchunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Moundunder 1 mi
- Burnt moundunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.