Graveyard

The National Monuments Service's description

Early 19th century C. of I. church dedicated to St. Nicholas which is no longer in use standing in N quadrant of a subrectangular-shaped graveyard (int. dims. 48m N-S; 68m E-W) enclosed by a stone wall of post medieval date. The graveyard is entered through an iron gateway with stone stile to S on SE angle of graveyard. The C of I church standing in the N of the graveyard may have been built on the site of or incorporated fabric from a medieval church (WM003-083----) recorded in 1837 as located ‘on the lands of Mayne stand the ruins of the ancient church’ (Lewis 1837, 349). The hollowed spandrel of a limestone ogee-headed window belonging to the medieval church has been built into the E face of the W boundary wall of the graveyard. A cut stone mullion with diamond-shaped bar holes from a window belonging to the medieval church has been inserted into the W quadrant of graveyard to the SW of the C of I church where it may have been used as a gravemarker. Other cut stone fragments from the medieval church may have been built into the boundary wall of the graveyard or may have been used to mark graves elsewhere in the graveyard. It has been suggested that the curve in the graveyard wall from ENE to NNE may suggest that this section of graveyard wall follows the line of an earlier graveyard enclosure (SMR file 05/03/1980).

Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 15 June 2015

References

Lewis, S. 1837 A topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols. London. Lewis and Co.