Graveyard

The National Monuments Service's description

On St. Patricksrock, S and E of the cathedral (TS061-025003-). During excavations in 1993 burials were uncovered associated with the churches (TS061-025001-; TS061-025028-; TS061-025029-) and cathedral (TS061-025003-) on St. Patricksrock (Hodkinson 1994, 73). Two areas lying between Cormac's Chapel and the chancel of the cathedral as well as the interior of the N tower, chancel and c. one half of the nave of the chapel were excavated down to subsoil (ibid.). In the area to the E of the N tower five phases of graveyard were uncovered, four of which pre-date Cormac's Chapel. A short length of mortared stone wall underlying the eastern part of the cathedral wall is believed to be part of an earlier church, probably contemporary with the third and fourth phase of the graveyard. The graves had cut though and badly disturbed an underlying earlier stratigraphy but no structures were identified as belonging to this earlier phase. The foundations of the cathedral sacristy, built in the 17th century, truncated the upper layers of the graveyard and provided a terminus ante quem for the skeletons. In the area to the W of the N tower in the enclosed area outside the N door of the chapel, a single skeleton was uncovered under a later structure while a later row of burials in the E of the area is believed to date to between the building of the chapel and cathedral. The third area excavated lay within the chapel. At the E end was a row of four postholes orientated slightly askew to the chapel. The burials at Phase 2 of the graveyard, in the area E of the N tower, were aligned on this structure and so it is interpreted as an early church. Further to the E in the nave there were no contemporary structures but what appeared to be an occupation surface was identified. There was a thick build-up of deposits over this surface and against the posts of the church. The church seems to have fallen into disuse and part of the area taken into use as a graveyard, possibly at Phase 3 or 4 of the graveyard in the area E of the N tower. A series of burials at the E end is cut by the foundation for the chapel. Much of the interior had been disturbed, first by 17th- and 18th-century burials and then, in more recent times, by features of unknown purpose.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 5 August 2014

References

Hodkinson, B. 1994 Excavations at Cormac's Chapel, Cashel, 1992 and 1993: a preliminary statement. Tipperary Historical Journal, 167-74.

Hodkinson, B. 1994 'Cormac's Chapel', Cashel: Romanesque church. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1993: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 73. Bray. Wordwell.