Survey Data

Reg No

31817043


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Archaeological, Artistic, Social, Technical


Original Use

Graveyard/cemetery


Date

1790 - 1810


Coordinates

187356, 263877


Date Recorded

15/08/2003


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Graveyard, c.1800, set within ruins of medieval abbey. Comprising variety of limestone upright, recumbent and wall-mounted gravemarkers dating from late-eighteenth to early-twentieth centuries. Earliest legible grave-marker dates to 1797. Rock-faced mausoleum of the Kellys of Essex Lawn, a house located to the north of Roscommon town centre is located to the north of the abbey. Wrought-iron gate set to pointed arch at entrance.

Appraisal

Though no longer in use, the remains of the medieval abbey, together with the collection of grave-markers attest to the long tradition of religious activity on the site, thus placing it centrally in the ecclesiastical history of Roscommon. Artistic detailing is apparent in the execution of many of the carved grave-markers. The cessation of the use of this site appears to coincide with the establishment of St Coman's Cemetery in 1912.