Survey Data
Reg No
40502223
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Historical, Social
Previous Name
Letterkenny Union Workhouse
Original Use
Graveyard/cemetery
In Use As
Graveyard/cemetery
Date
1865 - 1870
Coordinates
216998, 411877
Date Recorded
28/11/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Burial ground, opened 1869. Relandscaped, 1975. Set in grounds shared with Letterkenny Union Workhouse.
Appraisal
A burial ground contributing to the setting of the much diminished Letterkenny Union Workhouse complex (see 40502222). NOTE: A recent monument commemorating 'THOSE LAID TO REST HERE WHO DIED...DURING THE FAMINE YEARS [1845-9]' is misleading as the unclaimed remains of inmates were traditionally interred in the graveyards at Conwal [DG053-029007-] and Leck [DG053-033004-]. A committee had been set up in 1847 to select a suitable site for a burial ground but a site adjacent to the workhouse was only obtained in 1868. At a meeting of the Board of Guardians of the Letterkenny Poor Law Union (9th January 1869) it was resolved that 'the Guardians have inspected the grounds allocated for a cemetery and feel rightly satisfied with its appearance, and [they] desire to record their approval of the tactful manner in which the Master has completed its enclosure and laid out the grounds, and direct that several Chaplains be noticed that the cemetery is ready for interments'. A road widening project in 1975 uncovered seventy-five skeletons and the remains were reinterred in the graveyard at Leck.