Named for St. Rynagh who was a sister of St. Finnian of Clonard. She moved from Clonard to Clonmacnoise and later to Banagher in order to become Abbess in the 6th century of a religious house possible located on this site.
According to memorials in this graveyard is was evidently in active use from approximately 1576 to 1918. Steeped in history there are graves dating to the cholera epidemic of the 1830s and the Famine in the 1840s and holds the graves of members of historic landed families of the area. These families include the MacCoghlans and the Armstrongs as well as members of the Banko, Harton, McIntyre, McKeon and Woods families. The graveyard also contains the graves of military personnel including the particularly accomplished diarist and artist Captain William Bamford who was a lieutenant in the 40th Regiment of Foot during the French and Indian War, and a captain in the same regiment during the American Revolution. The graveyard gradually closed over a period of fifty-two years between 1872-1924.