Grave Yard, Ballyduff, Co. Wexford
Co. Wexford |
Burial Grounds
Most graveyards are rectangular, shaped by the logic of field boundaries and parish convenience.
The one at Ballyduff, in County Wexford, is triangular, an unusual form that immediately suggests the ground itself, rather than administrative habit, dictated its outline. Roughly 70 metres north to south and 60 metres east to west, it is defined by a stone-faced earthen bank planted with trees, the kind of boundary that speaks to considerable age and deliberate enclosure.
The graveyard sits on a north-east-facing slope between two spurs of Slieveboy Hill, the terrain channelled by the natural ridgeline running north to south. A stream lies about 130 metres to the north-east, following the same north-west to south-east grain as the spurs on either side. Within this enclosure stands the parish church of Kilcomb, a dedication that points to an early ecclesiastical foundation, since Kilcomb preserves the Irish element "cill", meaning a church cell or monastic enclosure, typically associated with the early Christian period in Ireland. The triangular shape of the graveyard may reflect the original boundary of such an early foundation, moulded by the topography of the hill spurs rather than later land divisions.

