Situation

Kilsharvan graveyard is situated along the south side of the road running from Duleek (2 ½ miles) to Julianstown on a bank overlooking the river Nanny. It is enclosed on all sides by a wall, with gates to the main road and also to the adjacent property of the

Shorter family whose gardens and woodlands form the eastern, southern and western boundaries of the graveyard. The ruins of the old church from which the townland takes its name are situated in the middle of the graveyard.

Historical note

The church was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist – "the bitter tongued one", thus giving the name Cill Searbhain, and most probably dates from the twelfth century, when several churches and foundations were established in the locality by the Normans. The Augustinian Monastry at Colpe, erected by Hugh de Lacy in 1182 was endowed with, amongst others, the tithes of the church at Kilsharvan.

Bishop Dopping in his visitation (1682-1685) describes the Church as "unrepaired since 1641" and also notes that all records of the church, bells, furniture, glazing. etc. are "wanting" . He mentions that the churchyard is not fenced in. The Ordnance

Survey Field Name Books 1829 records the Patron Day of Kilsharvan as June 11.  "The parish, partly in Lower Duleek and partly in Upper Duleek, contains 2096 acres 2 roods, 12 perches statute measure, divided by the river Nanny to give blocks of 1528 acres and 568 acres, 40 acres are planted and 100 acres woodland. One half of the total area is in tillage and the other in pasture." There are "several Gentlemen's Seats and the ruins of an old church in a burial ground".

Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) records the parish as containing 487 inhabitants of which 169 are in the Hamlet, which contains about 30 houses. He remarks " Here is plenty of limestone and on the Nanny water are extensive bleach works, the property of A. Armstrong, Esq. (ancestor of the Shorter

family), contiguous to whose tastefully laid out grounds are the picturesque ruins of the old church, the burial ground of which is still used". Tradition suggests that the mill has been here since the sixteenth century – part of Kilsharvan House and a tulip tree in the garden dating back to the 1500s, when the house was the miller's residence. In the "Bleach Field" is an interesting stone "sentry box" to keep "an eye" on the bleaching linen.