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Carndonagh graveyard, Cardonagh, Donegal

Location
(55°14′59″N, 7°16′21″W)
Carndonagh
C 463 450
pre-1974 traditional (Republic of Ireland) Donegal
now Donegal
medieval Raphoe
now Raphoe
  • Rachel Moss

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Feature Sets
Description

This site, which is one of the main ecclesiastical centres in Donegal, comprises a modern graveyard surrounding an 18thc. church of Ireland church. Within the precinct of the graveyard are a number of early Christian carved stones, a Romanesque lintel and fragments from a 15thc. building, some of which have been incorporated into the church.

History

The original function of the site is unclear. It is said to have been founded by St Patrick for Bishop McCairthen of Clogher. In the 17thc. John Colgan in Triadis Thaumaturgae described it as the 'Penitential bed of St Patrick surrounded by polished stones'.

Features

Loose Sculpture

Comments/Opinions

There has been some dispute as to the date of this stone. On the basis of close similarities in the handling of the base of the Dysart O' Dea cross and the characteristically Romanesque framing, McNab has dated it to the 12thc.

Bibliography

J. Colgan Trias thaumaturga (1647). ed. E. Burke, Dublin, 1997.

P. Harbison, 'The Biblical Iconography of Irish Romanesque Architectural Sculpture'. In From the Isles of the North; Early Medieval Art in Ireland and Britain, ed. C. Bourke, 271–280, Belfast, 1995.

F. Henry, Irish Art in the Early Christian Period: to 800 A.D., London, 1965.

B. Lacey et al, Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, Lifford, 1983, 249–251.

S. McNab, 'Irish Figure Sculpture in the Twelfth Century'. PhD Thesis, Trinity College Dublin, 1987, 301–2.