Killysuggan old graveyard

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small graveyard just to the N of the Belfast Road, roughly half a mile NW of Newtownards. The graveyard is accessed via a pedestrian gate, set in a high sandstone wall, to the W. This wall faces into the tree-lined drive to Milecross Lodge (itself on a rise to the NE). The oldest headstone appears to be dated 1781 (?or 1784), but there are older plots to the far W side, whose headstones have been broken.

Historical information

This land for this small graveyard is said to have been granted (rent free) to local Catholics by Robert Bradshaw, the owner of near by Milecross Lodge. The grant was made c.1770, but the earliest graves were desecrated and many headstones are now lost. One of the Bradshaws (Rev. Joseph Bradshaw) later attempted to levy a charge of 10d for each burial, but was brought to the High Court in Dublin, by three local Catholics, and the right of free burial restored. The graveyard was originally unenclosed but separated from the road by a ditch which mourners had to hoist coffins over. The wall was erected c.1883.
The graveyard appears to be still in use.

In medieval times there appears to have been a church in this area (named Kiltonga), but the building was in ruins in the late 1600s and no trace has survived. This graveyard may be at least partly on the site of the medieval burial ground, though it is possible that the earlier plot may correspond with the small unmarked graveyard next to the former Quaker meeting house (on the opposite side of the Belfast Road).

References- Primary sources
1 ‘William Montgomery and the description of the Ards’, ed. D.B. Quinn, in 'Irish Booklore vol.2 no.1' (1972), p.40. [Montgomery mentions the ruined church at Kiltonga.]
2 PRONI VAL 1B/322 p.10 1st valuation, parish of Newtownards, townland of Milecross.
3 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps 1st ed. 1833/4, Co. Down sheet 5.
4 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down sheet 5.
5 George Henry Basset County Down guide and directory (Dublin 1886), p.343.

Secondary sources
1 R.S.J. Clarke (compiler) 'Gravestone Inscriptions Vol.5, County Down, Baronies of Upper and Lower Castlereagh' (UHF Belfast ?1974), pp. 100-102.
2 'UJA' (2) 1902, pp.55-6.
3 Trevor McCavery Newtown- a history of Newtownards (Dundonald 1994), p.110.4
4 A.J. Hughes and R.J. Hannan 'Place-Names of Northern Ireland Vol. Two, County Down II- The Ards' p.232.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Small graveyard with headstones dating back to the 1780s (at least), with some earlier stones now destroyed.