Shilvodan (Old Grave Yard)

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A raised graveyard of irregular shape, partly embanked and partly stone faced, with a rough grassy surface with many stones embedded in it, and mature trees ringing part of the perimeter.

SETTING: The site stands in a very rural area, and lies in one corner of a field, bounded on the north-west side by a public road which runs at a level of about 1.5 metres below it, and has apparently truncated the burial ground on that side, while along the south-west edge of the burial ground is a modern trackway which also appears to overlie the original perimeter of the burial ground. There are no graves apparent within the site and no visible indications of any building foundations, or of any of the stone circles recorded in the first survey in 1972.

Historical information

Precise date and function of the site are uncertain but it was known in the early 19th century as having previously been used for the burial of both unbaptised children and desolate persons, although, as a burial ground it was not then considered as having any pretensions to antiquity. No gravestones were known at that time and only a few graves. It is possible that it was originally an Early Christian rath. Not shown on the OS map of 1829 but does appear on the OS map of 1858, marked as 'Shilvodan (Old Grave Yard)'. Reputedly used as a mass site during penal times. Not included in 'A Preliminary Survey of the Ancient Monuments of Northern Ireland' (1940). Three fieldstone circles recorded in the first 'Historic Buildings' survey in 1972 were later identified as of modern creation, being bases for haystacks. The site is a scheduled monument, no. ANT43:11.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1858, Co Antrim 43.
2. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 19: Parishes of County Antrim VI, 1830, 1833, 1835-8 (Belfast, 1995), pp 135 and 138.

Secondary Sources
1. W. Reeves, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore (Dublin, 1847), pp 302-3.
2. J. O'Laverty, A Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Vol III (Dublin, 1884), pp 291-2.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is a site of possible antiquity, which has been recorded as a monument, but contains no architectural elements.