Graveyard, Kilmore, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Burial Grounds
A graveyard that sits quietly in a Tipperary pasture might not seem remarkable at first glance, but the enclosure at Kilmore rewards closer attention.
The burial ground occupies a low rise in the landscape, and what distinguishes it is the extent to which its original boundaries survive: a roughly sub-rectangular circuit of earthen banks and accompanying fosses, the latter being ditches dug to define and defend a sacred or significant enclosure, that together speak to a deliberately bounded space whose origins reach well beyond any modern field boundary.
The enclosure measures approximately 52 metres east to west and at least 50 metres north to south. Its perimeter is formed by low banks, none especially dramatic in height, but consistent enough in their layout to be legible on the ground. The southern side preserves the clearest evidence, with a bank running some 50 metres and a fosse reaching around 6.45 metres in overall width and 0.6 metres in depth, making it considerably more substantial than the shallower ditches along the northern and eastern sides. Along the western edge, the boundary takes on an irregular, sinuous character because it follows the upper edge of what is now a dry stream bed, a former watercourse whose meandering path was incorporated into the enclosure's design rather than straightened or ignored. This kind of pragmatic relationship between ecclesiastical enclosures and natural drainage features is well documented across early medieval Ireland. Within the enclosure, a church stands off-centre toward the south-east, its position subtly asymmetrical in a way that is not uncommon in sites of this type, where the focus of the space was never purely architectural.