Graveyard

The National Monuments Service's description

In grassland on SW facing slope of rising ground in upland region with good views from E through S to W, higher ground to N. Raised platform ringfort (TS066-010----) 105m to SSE, church (TS066-009001-) immediately to the N. Quarry dug in the early 1980s appears to have quarried out most of the church and exposed skeletal material in the S section of the quarry (Power 1985, 137). Rescue excavation in 1985 revealed 12 burials all orienatated on an E-W axis over four levels, the uppermost level dated to the post-medieval period with lower burials dating to the medieval period (Power 1989, 143-4). A date of 1440-1450 A.D. was obtained from one of the burials to the S of the quarry with other burials at a lower level (ibid.). 12m to the SW of the quarry and the area of excavation there is a roughly rectangular area (int. dims. 21m N-S; 36m E-W) defined by an earth and stone bank (top wth 1.2m; base Wth 2m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 0.5-1m) with several low orthostats (H 0.3m) acting as burial markers protruding above the surface of the enclosure. Evidence of an outer fosse (top Wth 4m; base Wth 2m; ext. D 0.3m) running parallel to N bank only not visible elsewhere. The excavators of the burials to the N of this enclosure suggested a 19th/20th-century date for this sector of the graveyard. This would match up with the cartographic evidence which suggest that the enclosing bank was constructed between 1840 and 1904 as this smaller graveyard is not indicated on the first ed. OS 6-inch map but is indicated on the 1906 map. Ditch of a possible enclosure can still be seen 16m to the N of the quarry and may have been an Early Christian enclosure (TS066-009003-) associated with an Early Christian foundation. This boundary ditch to the N and S of the church are indicated on the first ed. OS 6-inch map. The OS letters describe the graveyard as 'a small one, and only two or three families bury in it' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 12). This graveyard was used up until the 1920s when it ceased to be used as a burial ground (Power 1989, 137).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.

Power, C. 1989 Glenbane: excavation of medieval church and graveyard. Tipperary Historical Journal, 137-45.