Site of Grave Yard, Killadangan, Co. Waterford

Co. Waterford |

Burial Grounds

Site of Grave Yard, Killadangan, Co. Waterford

On the eastern bank of the Colligan River in County Waterford, there is a graveyard that exists only as a cartographic memory. No headstones break the surface, no boundary wall survives, and nothing visible at ground level hints that this was ever a place of burial. What remains is a mark on a map and a brief description: traces of a circular feature.

The 1840 edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map recorded this spot as the site of a graveyard, situated roughly seventy metres from the river and about forty metres south of what was then a working corn mill. The circular outline noted by the Reverend P. Power in his 1952 study of Decies placenames is characteristic of early ecclesiastical enclosures in Ireland, where a roughly circular boundary, sometimes earthen, sometimes ditched, defined a sacred or burial precinct. Such enclosures often predate the medieval period and can persist in the landscape long after any associated church has disappeared entirely. At Killadangan, even that trace has gone. The mill buildings nearby offer a faint sense of the working landscape that once surrounded the site, but the graveyard itself has been absorbed completely into the ground.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Site of Grave Yard, Killadangan, Co. Waterford. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement