Kilmore church yard(s)

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small graveyard on the N side of Church Road, roughly a mile W of Crossgar, originally the site of Kilmore (C of I) parish church, which was built in 1792, but removed in 1976 and faithfully reconstructed at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum.

The graveyard is surrounded by a low rubble wall with a set of wrought iron entrance gates to the W side. The site of the former church is marked by a granite ‘headstone’. There are many graves around this site mainly dating from the 19th century and some modern ones (i.e. post 1976) which have encroached upon the site itself. Set against the E wall are three relatively large, plain gabled vaults, dating from the early 1800s. These vaults have been altered over the years, with former doorways to two of them now blocked up. The oldest grave is that of Arthur Johnston of Rademan House, who died in 1814.

A short distance away, to the S of Church Road is another, older, graveyard, which was originally the site of a medieval church. This graveyard is roughly circular in plan with a rubble constructed boundary wall and small wrought iron gate to the E. The oldest legible headstone dates from 1715. There is a large plain, (probably early 19th century), vault close to the centre of the site with a curved roof

Historical information

The older graveyard to the south-east may have been the site of a church since early Christian times. By 1622 the church was in ruins, and though later repaired the building was abandoned in the 1640s. The graveyard (like many others) continued to be used by all denominations well into the 20th century.

A new (C of I) parish church was built on the site to the north-west site in 1792. It was paid for by local subscription, but money may have run short before the building was completed, for the OS Memoirs of 1836 noted that it was not finished at that date and the belfry was still without a roof. They also remarked that the building was ‘in a wretched condition’. It was probably partly because of these shortcomings (and partly because the closeness of graves inhibited extensions) that the building had a relatively short lifespan as a church and was replaced in 1876 with a new one a short distance to the east.

After this, the old building served as a church hall. In 1976 it was removed stone by stone from the site and faithfully reconstructed at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS/6/3/30/1 OS map, Down sh 30, 1834
2 ‘OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of Co Down IV’ ed. Angélique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), p.88
3 PRONI OS/6/3/30/2 OS map, Down sh 30, 1858

Secondary sources
1 ‘Archaeological survey of County Down’ (Belfast HMSO 1966), p.329
2 R.S.J. Clarke ‘Gravestone inscriptions Co Down vol.3’ (Belfast ?1973), pp.37-49
3 C.E.B. Brett ‘Historic buildings…East Down’ (Belfast 1973), p.51

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Small graveyard originally the site of Kilmore (C of I) parish church, which was built in 1792, but removed in 1976 and faithfully reconstructed at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The graveyard contains many 19th century graves, including three plain, gabled vaults. There is an older graveyard a short distance to the east, the site of a (long demolished) medieval church. The oldest legible headstone dates from 1715.