Rhellick, ( Old Graveyard), Kilhoyle, Limavady, Co Londonderry

Rhellick Old Graveyard, Kilhoyle

A small circular enclosure of considerable historical, social and archaeological interest, located in a secluded and beautiful setting in a dip of the fields near the Castle River, here called Drumgavenny Burn. The river curves around the site approximately ten metres to the south and west, with the graveyard trees extending along an adjoining field boundary towards the river.

The structure comprises a rubble boundary wall, in places two metres wide, defining an approximate external diameter of eight metres. The wall has been partially removed at the lower end nearer the river, with material taken for use in the adjacent boundary wall. The interior ground is uneven and covered in grass beneath small, wind-blown trees. There are no inscribed memorials. At roughly the centre point is a dense piece of scrub beneath which can be seen a stone-capped hole, presumably marking a grave.

Historical Background

The graveyard is associated with the ancient church of Kill Chomhghaill (Kilhoyle), traditionally founded by Saint Comgall. According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1835–7, the church had disappeared by that time, but the graveyard remained in occasional use. The Memoirs also record that the ground, locally known as "Rhellick" (signifying a burial ground), stood one to two feet higher than the surrounding field. The north-east wall was then eight feet broad, four to five feet high, and overgrown with hazel, blackthorn and whitethorn, constructed with large and small stones. The south wall had been demolished by the time of recording.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs preserve a tradition concerning the nearby Balteagh Old Church. According to local account, when preparations began to build a church on the Rhellick site, masons working on the enclosure wall found their daily work demolished each night. When the assembled parishioners consulted on the matter, two ravens appeared overhead, hovered above the group for some minutes, then descended to take a plumb line from the demolished ruins. The observers followed the ravens' flight and concluded they would drop the line on a more suitable location. The line was subsequently dropped on the site of Balteagh Old Church, where the church was built and remains standing. Balteagh means "The Town of the Two Ravens".

The graveyard was used for infant burials in 1831, those being children who died before baptism. Strangers who died in the locality might also have been buried here when it was uncertain whether their burial could be permitted in consecrated ground. There is no evidence of usage in modern times.