Graveyard, Ballycanew, Co. Wexford

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Burial Grounds

Graveyard, Ballycanew, Co. Wexford

In the middle of Ballycanew village in County Wexford, a graveyard sits on a slight rise above the surrounding valley, its subcircular shape hinting at origins far older than the masonry wall that now defines it.

Roughly 44 metres east to west and 30 metres north to south, the enclosure follows a gently rounded outline that is characteristic of early ecclesiastical sites in Ireland, where circular or near-circular boundaries often predate the medieval church buildings that later came to occupy them.

The graveyard contains the remains of the parish church of Ballycanew, and in its north-east corner there is a bullaun stone, a large boulder with one or more deliberately cut cup-shaped hollows. Bullaun stones are found across Ireland, frequently in association with early Christian sites, and while their precise original function is debated, they were commonly used for grinding or as water-collecting basins with presumed ritual significance. Their presence at a site is generally taken as a marker of considerable antiquity. The Owenavorragh River, which runs roughly south to north through this part of Wexford, flows about 150 metres to the east, and the slight elevation of the graveyard above the valley floor would have made it a natural focal point in the landscape long before the village grew up around it.

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