Lynastown Burial Ground

The Lynastown Burial Ground is considered to be potentially the oldest Quaker Cemetery in Ireland. Located today in the town of Moyraverty, the burial ground occupies an area of about 35  by 25 yards, surrounded by a stone wall. The first burial there, according to records from the Quaker Lurgan Meeting, was in 1658.

The burial ground is of great significance to descendants of Valentine Hollingsworth Sr., as his first wife Ann is buried there. Ann died on 1 April 1681. Ann was the mother of Valentine's first four children, Mary, Henry, Thomas and Katherine.

Looking at the burial ground you will notice a lack of headstones. This is because the Quaker's of the time did not believe in the use of headstones, so no memorial markers were placed to mark specific grave sites. Records were kept of each burial and the location of the grave, but no marker was erected

Valentine subsequently remarried, and he and his second wife Anne Calvert journeyed to America in 1682. Valentine and his second wife had an additional seven children.

Posted at the entrance of the burial ground is a list of names of the various Friends who were buried there, as shown on the photo to the right. Ann Hollingsworth is the ninth name  on the section of the list shown,  her interment date listed as 1681.*

* Lynastown Name list courtesy of the Craigavon Historical Society