Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

On a slight rise of ground in undulating countryside. A roughly oval-shaped graveyard (WM036-009001-) defined by a poorly preserved stone wall of post-medieval date which remains upstanding from W-N-E elsewhere it has been removed. They ivy-covered ruins of a medieval church (WM036-009----) stand in the N quadrant of the graveyard. A modern cemetery has been built onto the S side of the graveyard and an access road has been constructed around the earlier graveyard which has resulted in the partial destruction of the enclosing graveyard wall. The graveyard contains memorials dating from the 18th century onwards. Swan (1988, 10) identified the presence of an oval-shaped enclosure at Kilcleagh which may have been the remains of an Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure. The semi-circular shaped scarp of the old graveyard visible on the S side only may be following the line of the possible ecclesiastcial enclosure at Kilcleagh.

Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 11 August 2014

References

Swan, D.L. 1988 The Early Christian ecclesiastical sites of County Westmeath. In J. Bradley (ed.), Settlement and society in Medieval Ireland: studies presented to F.X. Martin O.S.A., 1-31. Kilkenny. Boethius Press.