Roman Catholic Graveyard

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A graveyard containing 19th and 20th century graves, with the ground area largely grassed. Enclosed on one side by a rubble stone wall, on another side by a hedge, and at the front by modern railings on a low rendered plinth wall. The only feature of interest is a small smooth-rendered stump of freestanding wall, the remains of an old late 18th century church.

SETTING: The graveyard lies in a very rural area facing directly onto the public road with open fields to each side.

Historical information

Precise date of establishing of graveyard not recorded but it appears on the OS map of 1834, containing a Roman Catholic church which was built in 1787 but which has now been demolished.
According to the Ordnance Survey memoirs in 1835-8 the church was described as "a plain stone building, roughcast, whitewashed and slated, 68 feet long and 20 feet broad, built in 1787, the cost not known. There is accommodation for 500 persons and the general attendance is 400. The interior is very plain." A further reference in the same memoirs, however, described the building as "capable of containing 2000 persons". The church of 1787 was demolished and replaced by St Patrick's R.C. Church of 1912 nearby to the south.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1834, Co Armagh 8.

Secondary Sources
1. S. Lewis, A topographical dictionary of Ireland, Vol II (London, 1837), p 313.
2. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol I: Parishes of County Armagh, 1835-8 (Belfast, 1990), pp 75-76, 80.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is a graveyard which was previously a late 18th century churchyard but which contains no memorials or other structures of any special interest.