Burial ground

The National Monuments Service's description

Marked as a circular enclosure and described similarly on the 1837 and 1928 editions of the OS 6-inch map as a burial ground. It is situated on a shelf of a NW-facing slope. This is a private burial ground associated with the Fallon family of Runamoat House c. 1 km to the W, which was also known as Runnimede. According to a plaque, now preserved at the Roman Catholic church in Newbridge, Co. Galway (GA046-071----) and thought to refer to this monument, the burial ground and vault were established by Bryan Fallon in 1752. It is thought that the family moved to Co. Galway in 1815 and took this plaque with them.

The burial ground could be the site of the medieval parish church of Cloonygormican (pers. comm. James Owens 31/10/2018) which is listed as Colmacarmacan in the ecclesiastical taxation of Elphin in 1302-06 separately from the only other church in the parish (RO028-181001-) known as Aghclare or Aclare church (Cal. doc. Ire. Vol. 5, 223-4). The church of Clonegormigan is depicted in the SW part of the parish on the Down Survey (1655-8) barony map of Ballymoe barony, for which see this web-page accessed on 31/10/2018: http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/index.html
The burial ground is a circular area (int. diam. c. 23m) defined by a collapsed and moss-covered wall. There is one central vault (RO035-049002-) which is reduced to the foundations with an entrance (Wth 0.7m) at W between two jamb stones. There is an outer enclosure (diam. c. 70m) defined by a stone spread visible N-SE, and three small rectangular fields (RO035-049003-) (dims c. 25m x. 20m) defined by low grass-covered banks (Wth c. 3m; H 0.2m) in the vicinity extend to the W from this boundary.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revised upload: 31 October 2018

References

Cal. doc. Ire. - Calendar of documents relating to Ireland 1171-1307, ed. H.S. Sweetman (5 vols., London, 1875-86).