Survey Data
Reg No
12000131
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Archaeological, Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
Graveyard/cemetery
In Use As
Graveyard/cemetery
Date
1584 - 1972
Coordinates
250664, 155837
Date Recorded
16/06/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Graveyard with collection of cut-limestone markers, ob. 1584-1972. Set in unkempt grounds shared with Saint Mary's Church (Saint Mary's).
Appraisal
A graveyard contributing positively to the group and setting values of Saint Mary's Church (Saint Mary's). NOTE: The graveyard was visited by George Henry Bassett (1844-1908) who remarked that 'the attention is at once directed to the wall at the right, which may be called an album of curiosities, the carved pages of which may be read by the antiquarian. Shields, inscription, and some remarkable figures in low relief, have been raided from the debris of the ancient building, and neatly and permanently placed to the best advantage' (Bassett 1884, 31). Bassett touched on the monuments to Alderman William Colles (d. 1779) and Sophie MacMahon (née Campbell) (d. 1878), 'the beloved wife of Sir Charles MacMahon [1824-91] of Melbourne Australia', before turning his attention to 'the O'Shea monument...dated 1551...near the family vault of the Bryans of Jenkinstown' (ibid., 33). The earliest surviving markers today are a chest tomb carrying a Latin inscription dedicated to William Shee 'Q OBIIT XVIII DIE APPRILIS Ao. Di. 1584' and a decorated mensa carrying a Latin inscription dedicated to John Rothe 'QUI OBIIT XXXX [sic] DIE MENSIS SEPTEMBRIS A.D. 1590'.