Graveyard at Kilwaughter Castle

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An irregularly shaped graveyard, bounded on the south and the south-east by farm buildings of Kilwaughter Castle; bounded to the west and much of the east by rubble stone walls, and to the north and north-east by a wall of concrete blocks. Entrance in north-west corner through a derelict plain iron gateway; wooden signboard on farm building adjacent, now illegible. Ground level uneven and headstones badly leaning in places. Low walls of an enclosure stand a little above ground level in north-east corner. Headstones appear to date mainly from 19th century, and none of any special architectural interest.

Setting: the graveyard is situated close to the original farm buildings just to the north of Kilwaughter Castle, with modern farm structures just to the north.

Historical information

The present configuration of the graveyard appears on the OS map of 1832. This is believed to be the site of an old church, listed as the Church of Killochre in the 1306 Taxation of Pope Nicholas and as Ecclesia de Killwoghter in the Visitation Book of 1622, and from whose name (Cill-uachtair, meaning “upper church”) the parish of Kilwaughter derived its name. By the early 19th century there was no trace of the church remaining. Graveyard described in 1835 as “35 by 25 yards, and thickly covered with graves and grave stones ... the oldest tombstone, McDonnell is dated 1786 ... Chiefly Presbyterians are buried here.” Still in use during the 19th century. According to O’Laverty the old church stood in a corner of the graveyard, “its site indicated by a hollow in the ground, within which the Catholics were formerly in the habit of interring their dead.” The graveyard is a scheduled monument, no. ANT 40:31.

References - Primary Sources

1. OS Map 1832, Co Antrim 40.
2. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 10: Parishes of County Antrim III (Belfast, 1991), pp 116, 117.

Secondary Sources

1. W. Reeves, Ecclesiastical antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore (Dublin, 1847), p 53.
2. J. O’Laverty, A historical account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Vol 3 (Dublin, 1884), pp 165-6.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is an old graveyard on a site of some historic interest but is not itself of special architectural merit.