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.