Graveyard, Bahana, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Burial Grounds
On a south-facing slope in County Wicklow, overlooking a quiet valley, a slightly trapezoidal graveyard sits with a geometry that quietly resists the neat rectangles most people expect.
The enclosure runs roughly 45 metres from west-northwest to east-southeast, wider at its eastern end (around 40 metres) than at its western (around 30 metres), giving it an irregular, almost wedge-like footprint that follows the lie of the land rather than any draughtsman’s ideal.
The boundary that defines the site is an earth and stone bank, roughly two metres wide and faced on the outside with drystone construction, the kind of dry-laid stonework built without mortar that has been used across Ireland for millennia. Much of this bank has collapsed over time, though the western wall survives in comparatively good condition. On the northern and eastern sides, a faint outer ditch, nearly two metres across, still traces itself in the ground, suggesting the enclosure was once more formally bounded than it now appears. A church occupies the eastern end of the yard, and inside it are several graveslabs dating from the mid-eighteenth century, flat stone markers of the kind that were common across rural Ireland during that period, often bearing carved lettering or simple decorative motifs. An entrance gate at the southwestern corner provides the way in.
The enclosure runs roughly 45 metres from west-northwest to east-southeast, wider at its eastern end (around 40 metres) than at its western (around 30 metres), giving it an irregular, almost wedge-like footprint that follows the lie of the land rather than any draughtsman's ideal.
The boundary that defines the site is an earth and stone bank, roughly two metres wide and faced on the outside with drystone construction, the kind of dry-laid stonework built without mortar that has been used across Ireland for millennia. Much of this bank has collapsed over time, though the western wall survives in comparatively good condition. On the northern and eastern sides, a faint outer ditch, nearly two metres across, still traces itself in the ground, suggesting the enclosure was once more formally bounded than it now appears. A church occupies the eastern end of the yard, and inside it are several graveslabs dating from the mid-eighteenth century, flat stone markers of the kind that were common across rural Ireland during that period, often bearing carved lettering or simple decorative motifs. An entrance gate at the southwestern corner provides the way in.