County: Donegal Site name: CONWAL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 53:29 Licence number: 97E0221
Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Graveyard
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 614180m, N 910702m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.943804, -7.778686
Pre-development testing in the form of trial-trenching was carried out at this site on 7 July 1997. It was undertaken in accordance with the recommendation of the National Monuments Service that an archaeological assessment take place in advance of the extension of the existing graveyard at the site. The graveyard is located c. one mile west of the town of Letterkenny, near the River Swilly, along the main Letterkenny-Churchill road (R250).
This early ecclesiastical site could date from as early as the 7th century. The Annals of the Four Masters (O'Donovan 1848–51, III, 139) refer to it in 1204 as 'an ancient parish church now in ruins'. Later in the 13th century, 1258 to be precise, the chief of the O'Donnell clan, Godfrey, was buried here after a battle nearby with Brian O'Neill. The church is described as being in ruins in 1622 by the Royal Commission (Ussher 1622, 215), while 'only the south wall, about 15 feet high and a part of the north wall which is nearly level with the ground' remained in 1835 (O'Flanagan 1927, 80). The 1st edition OS 6-inch map indicates that the modern part of the graveyard was not in evidence when it was surveyed.
The proposed extension to the graveyard consisted of a strip of land, 27–49m in width, located to the north-east to north-west of the existing graveyard.
The existing graveyard is still in use and is divided into three parts. In the middle section are the ruins of a medieval church and a rectangular cairn of stones upon which are located a number of grave-slabs and cross-slabs. In the modern section of the graveyard, located to the east, is a holy well.
Four trenches excavated by machine revealed similar stratigraphy. This consisted of topsoil, below which was found natural sands and gravels, natural subsoil or boulder clay, to the base of the trench.
No features or deposits of archaeological significance were encountered. Within the topsoil were found three sherds of modern pottery and a tiny bone fragment.
References
O'Donovan, J. (ed.) 1848–51 The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, 7 vols (3rd edn, Dublin, 1990).
O'Flanagan, M. (ed.) 1927 O.S. letters, Co. Donegal (1835). Unpublished typescript.
Ussher, J. 1622 Royal Commission. Visitation book containing an account of the temporalities and spiritualities of the bishops, with the state of the churches, etc. in Ulster in 1622. TCD MS 550.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
