gallery graves ireland

Legend has it that the first people to the buried here were Danes, who brought soil from Scandinavia so that they could rest in their own soil. Whether true or not, locals say that the soil at Ballypriormore is sandier than elsewhere in Islandmagee. Many old gravestones are to be found in the cemetery, which is accessed along a small lane just past Ballypriormore School....

Twenty one burials of a similar date were identified in Professor O'Kelly's excavation of this wedge-shaped gallery grave....

This is a rare instance of a cemetery reserved exclusively for the burial of women, as its Irish name indicates. It is a small, almost square, enclosure with raised centre in which a number of low stones presumably mark old graves. Traditionally, no dead man or living woman was meant to enter the enclosure, but how old that tradition is, or what its origin was, we do not know....

This area is rich in sites that stretch much further back into history, back to the beginnings of Christianity in Ireland, and back still further to the time of the Celts. Ardstraw Graveyard is all that remains of the church founded by St Eoghan in the 6th Century which remained the seat of the local bishop until the 12th century, when it came under the power of the bishop of Derry....

One of the mot significant prehistoric cemeteries in Europe. Despoiled by quarrying over many years, the remaining monuments consist mostly of dolmens and small passage tombs. Now under the protection of the office of Public Works, which provides a guide service during the summer months, the preservation of these remarkable stones is ensured....

The Patron Saint of Ireland was buried on Cathedral Hill in 461 AD. His grave is a place of pilgrimage on St. Patrick's Day (17 March)....

The ancient Graveyard of Killbroney is situated on the Hilltown Road about a half a mile from Rostrevor. The ruins of the 12th Century Church of St. Bronach can be found here and nearby, St Bronach's Well (over which a shrine was erected in 1938) is said to have curative properties. St. Bronach's Bell, which dates back to the early Christian era is now on display in the local Roman Catholic Church, having been discovered in a fallen oak tree near the Old Chapel in 1855. The Giant Murphy's Gr...

This area has strong connections with the Anglo-Norman Agnew family, and the cemetery has many stones of early families associated with the castle and surrounding areas....

On Merrion Row, look out for the wought iron gates of the recently restored Huguenot graveyard. Last used in 1901 it is evidence that Dublin was once home to many Huguenots who fled to Ireland throughout the 17th and 18th centuries to escape persecution in Europe....

This classical-style church was built in 1827. Its site was donated by James J. Taylor of Swords House. The church has been altered over the years.

A two-storey vestry was added to the rear in 1879 and in 1924 the facade was altered by Francis P. Russell.

Among those interred in the graveyard are some prominent legends in Irish history, most notably A.J. Kettle (1833-1916), the famous Irish patriot who was known as Parnell's "right hand man"....