Graveyard, Askeaton, Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Burial Grounds

Graveyard, Askeaton, Co. Limerick

Two churches occupy the same graveyard in Askeaton, County Limerick, one layered directly on top of the other in terms of history if not quite in terms of stone.

In the north-eastern corner of the burial ground, a Church of Ireland building from the nineteenth century sits beside the ruins of a medieval church dedicated to St. Mary, the two structures quietly coexisting as markers of entirely different eras of Irish religious life. It is the kind of juxtaposition that rewards a slow look rather than a passing glance.

The graveyard itself is a sub-rectangular enclosure, roughly 87 metres north to south and 65 metres east to west, bounded by a stone wall built sometime after 1700. The entrance gate opens from the north. The medieval church ruin carries the reference number LI011-092004- in the archaeological record, and its dedication to St. Mary points to a pre-Reformation foundation, though the notes compiled by Caimin O'Brien and uploaded in July 2019 do not specify an exact construction date for the earlier structure. The Church of Ireland building beside it dates from the nineteenth century, erected during a period when the established church was constructing or restoring places of worship across the country, sometimes directly on or adjacent to sites with far older religious associations.

Askeaton is a small town on the River Deel in west Limerick, perhaps better known for its Franciscan friary and the castle on its island. The graveyard is worth seeking out for the layering it represents, two phases of Christian worship on the same ground, the later building respectful enough of the earlier ruin not to swallow it entirely. The walled enclosure gives the site a contained, legible quality; the post-1700 boundary wall defines the space clearly, and the northern entrance gate makes orientation straightforward. The medieval ruin, occupying the north-east quadrant alongside its later neighbour, is the element to focus on once inside.

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