Category: Cemeteries - Reading the Signs

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If The Hat Fits …………. Stick It On A Picture Frame

28/11/2022

It is a long time since I even thought of the headwear of the Catholic clergy.

I do recall the Canon in the local parish church regularly wearing a hat that the other priests did not wear – a black Biretta if memory has not faded too much. The Eucharistic Procession would also show that the bishop wore a mitre.

What I did not realise until a couple of weeks ago is that there were/are quite a number of different types – and I did not see real hats, paintings or photographs to realise this, just picture frames.

I was deliberately early for a meeting which allowed me to stop in Maynooth and look for the Seamus Murphy statue of St Patrick. The directions I received were spot on and there he was inside the main door of the enclosed quad – once again a piece calling out to be touched.

It was only when I had touched and photographed St Patrick did I realise the paintings along the corridor. Then I spotted the hats incorporated into the top of the frame. And then, that not all of the hats were the same.

The corridor gallery brought me back to the Capuchin Cemetery in Rochestown, Co. Cork where I went looking for the Celtic Cross headstones made by Seamus Murphy for Fr. Albert and Fr. Dominic whose bodies were repatriated in 1958 – 23 years after the death of Fr Dominic who was chaplain to both Cork Lord Mayors who died in 1920, Tomás MacCurtin and Terence MacSwiney. But there was no sign of a Celtic Cross.

The graves of Fr Dominic and Fr Albert were marked with a cross – a simple cross just like all of the others in the cemetery. A friend did ask a member of the Capuchin community in Rochestown who recalled that some years ago, a Provincial decided that all priests and brothers were equal and should be recognised as equal. The location of the Celtic Crosses removed to make way for the uniform simple cross memorials remains unknown.

The principle of all being equal in death did not extend to the African Missions Cemetery in Wilton in Cork. It appears to have been introduced in Maynooth but not retrospectively – the newer paintings appearing to have no adornment on the picture frame.

I foresee that I will be in a rabbit hole in the future trying to understand the different hat syles and meanings……

Does 164, 165 & 166 get into Top 100?

27/11/2022

Yesterday I spotted that Siobhán Doyle was a guest on Donal Fallon’s podcast Three Castles Burning and it sent my memory recall in all different directions.

On a nice May evening, in 2018, we stopped with friends at O’Connell’s bar in Skryne in Co. Meath. As I was on driving duty, I explored the nearby cemetery, as one does, and the surrounds with the younger generation.

The numbering on the seating in an outside shed did have us puzzled for a while – this is the place where one remembers to turn the lights out, not on.

Returning to the counter, the barman did confirm that these timber planks, with their numbers, did, as we guessed, come from Croke Park – the old one that was demolished.

Christmas advertising is nearly a month old this year already but I do not think that I have yet seen this year the advert showing snow at a closed O’Connell’s.

I have to travel to a meeting on Monday and the Three Castles Burning podcast will be my choice of listening.

It will be a bit longer before I find out if the Smoking Room in Skryne made it into the Top 100 in Siobhán book – this being a Santa’s letter of sorts.

Location, Location, Location……..

31/7/2022

Real estate matters - even in burial

I have spotted a couple of signs at cemeteries, recently, giving notice of upcoming Mass for the Dead. My recollection is that elsewhere these were held in October/November close to All Souls Day.

I have blogged before as to Cillíní throughout the country being recognised.

The Radio Kerry Saturday Supplement from last year visited the Cillín at Derrymore and it was said that there is an annual mass for those buried in the Cillín (05:20 minutes in) but this is the only reference that I have seen so far to such remembrances, the majority of Cillín are not recognised, let alone commemorated with a mass………. So far.

P.S.

The number of Cillíní on my To Visit list is increasing:

Annaghdown, Co. Galway

Clontallagh, Co. Donegal

Coomnakilla, Co. Kerry

Dumhnach na Leanbh, Co. Galway

Lackan, Co. Wicklow

Lislevane, Co. Cork

Lisselton, Co. Kerry

Loch Con Aontha, Co. Galway

Oileán na Marbh, Co. Donegal

Quilty, Co. Clare

Would be delighted to hear of any more Cillín - marked or unmarked - please do contact

Agnes Mallin – “My darling wife, pulse of my heart, this is the end of all things earthly…”

28/7/2022

Once again, a headstone’s simple carved message does not tell the full story

Last Sunday afternoon, I declined the option of a few hours in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and exited the car at St Mary’s Church in Clonsilla. My intention was to look for the seven graves that had a request for a photograph on the FindAGrave website.

I did manage to find six of the seven. It was only when uploading the photograph of the headstone of Agnes (Hickey) Mallin that I spotted her family tree and her much more well-known husband.

Two days prior, we had a great tour of Kilmainham Gaol – highly recommended.

It was only with time pressing at the end of our walk around the museum that I cam upon the Last Words exhibit – letters from those executed in Kilmainham in 1926 to their family and loved ones. I did stop at the section to Muriel McDonagh but did not really read any of the others.

If our visit to Kilmainham was two days after the cemetery visit, maybe I might have clicked and stopped to read of Agnes, rather than reverting to the interweb.

Baby, Catríona Kiely, d. 2008.03.08

3/7/2022

Sometimes entering or walking through a cemetery, I will notice a headstone from a distance and be immediately drawn to it.

In Abington Cemetery, near Murroe in County Limerick, at six o’clocklast Wednesday morning, the beautifully carved memorial to Catríona Kiely was the magnet that immediately drew me.

If a headstone is erected to ensure that the name of the deceased is spoken and remembered, this unique piece of craftsmanship worked.

“When there was a death in a small village, everyone knew about it. But with mass migration to the city, the old assumptions didn’t hold true. In a city, there were deaths every day. Here, a person could live unknown and die unnoticed, even by neighbours in the same district. In response to this bewildering new reality the memorial became more important and, for those who could afford it, more elaborate. It announced and recorded the loss; it was a way of keeping the memory alive, of fixing it in a place which would otherwise all too quickly forget. It was a statement of belonging, and an affirmation of individual significance. The city was always restless, shifting, reinventing itself, and a stone represented stillness and permanence. To publish a person’s name and dates there was a bid for posterity. The life might be extinguished, but the firmness of stone, and the work of the mason’s chisel, would testify forever that they had lived.”

These Silent Mansions: A Life In Graveyards
Jean Sprackland, 2020

Where Is Molly Ryan? Is someone missing?

30/6/2022

Is it a simple error?

Molly Ryan listed third from bottom of right headstone over Plot A

Molly Ryan listed second from top of left headstone of Plot B

In St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Ballyphehane (The Botanics), there are six headstones over four separate graves to The Ladies of St Mary’s Good Shepherd Convent in Sundays Well, from 1875 to 1981. 211 names are listed on these headstones.

Molly Ryan died on 14th November 1939 but she is listed on two separate headstones over two different grave plots.

It could be a simple administrative error and there ought to be 210 names. However, the benefit of any doubt has drifted away from Mother and Baby Homes such as the Good Shepherd.

If there are 211 bodies, one lady is now forgotten in death – even more so than she was in life.

Here Lies All That Could Die

29/6/2022

I cannot recall ever seeing a message like this carved on a headstone. It definitely resonated with this reader.

‘There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, some time in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time’
Metamorphosis

David Eagleman from Sum: Forty tales from the afterlife

‘As if my mother
stepped from the shuffling throng
On South Main Street
and stood before me:
“Dead? Who told you I was dead?’

Nothing Is Lost
Gerry Murphy
My Life as a Stalinist

A tweet from Louvain Rees first introduced me to David Eagleman and his story, Metamorphosis. The book was quickly published and regularly takes residence in my inside jacket pocket.

A few months back, I used that quote in the Memoriam message for my mother in the Irish Examiner. Proof, if needed, that the concept has well taken root in these quarters. Gerry Murphy’s poem conveys a similar message, only different. The two were calling out to be put together.

The recent Three Castles Burning podcast on the Stolpersteine installed at Danore Avenue in Dublin notes the message in The Talmud that a person is only forgotten when their name is forgotten

This morning, at early o’clock, in Abington Cemetery, near Murroe, I read that Winifred Frances Barrington experienced the first of the three deaths in May 1921.

Recognising The Craft

14/11/2021

At the start of our conversational Irish walk this morning, there was a brief discussion of the Irish word for Blacksmith (Gabha) and the name Smith (MacGabhann). On our way back, we passed Smithgrove Terrace.

This brought to might a recent tweet from Christy Cunniffe about a headstone at Gallen, Ferbane, Co. Offaly with carvings of blacksmith’s tools.

This reminded me of a similar carving at Kilgobbin, Camp, Co. Kerry. References to Blacksmiths and Forges have long received nods of appreciation and respect when spotted by my eyes.

These co-incidences are enough to remember Thimothy Riordan who ceased being a craftsman in 1825.

Written in Stone

13/11/2021

A while back, I mentioned the carved correction on the headstone in Crosshaven.

I have spotted some more corrections – so have put them together.

100 Not Out

12/11/2021

Thomas Franklin - d. 16 June 1766 - Aged 104 Yrs

Kilmurry, Limerick

Even with people living longer in current times, it is not very common to read of people reaching 100 years of age.

In the last year or so, I have encountered the graves of a few centurions. Reaching 100 years is remarkable in itself but to do so in 1868, 1853 or even 1762 would, I expect, have been not very common at all.

Dun Bolg, Carrignavar, Co. Cork

Sacred

To The Memory Of

ELIZABETH DONOVAN

Who Died 1 May 1854

Aged 101 Years

Kate Mulcahy - d. 1878 - Aged 110 yrs

Kilgobbin, Camp, Co. Kerry

To Kill

11/11/2021

Kilgobbin, Camp, Co. Kerry

MURPHY (Glennagalt, Camp, Co. Kerry) – June 15, 1953, in London (as a result of an accident), Frank Murphy; deeply regretted by his wife and children and all his relatives, and a large circle of friends. Remains arriving Camp to-morrow (Tuesday) evening. Funeral on Wednesday to Kilgobbin Cemetery at 1 o’c. (O.T.). R.I.P.”
Irish Press – p. 13 – Monday June 22, 1953

MURPHY – On June 15, 1953 (as a result of an accident), Frank Murphy, late of Glenagalt, Camp, Co. Kerry, and beloved husband of Mary (née Dempsey), formerly of Burlea, Glandore, Co. Cork. Deeply regretted by his sorrowing wife and children R.I.P. Funeral leaving Paddington on to-day (Monday) at 3.45 o’clock for Tralee.
The Cork Examiner – p.1 – Monday June 22, 1953

More than once, I have pondered the use of the word ‘killed’ as opposed to’died’ on cemetery headstones – John Flanagan and Breda O’Connell both are remembered as having been killed. When walking through Kilgobbin Cemetery in Camp, Co. Kerry, I spotted another headstone using the word ‘Killed’.

The death notices in the Irish Press and Cork Examiner of Monday 22nd June, 1935 notes that Frank Murphy died as a result of an accident. The headstone reads that he was ‘killed at work in England’.

Chambers Dictionary may define to ‘kill’ as to ‘cause the death of (an animal or person)’ but the classification system in my brain has difficulty with accidental killing. Accidental death, I can understand but I have not yet learned to accept the logic of accidental killing.

Equal In Death – But Not In Remembrance

8/6/2021

Whether you take inspiration from Christy Moore, John Donne or the Bible, the guiding principle is that we are all equal upon death

That may be true for whatever afterlife awaits but it does not appear true regarding the memory left behind.

A large plot inside the old gates to Drumcliffe Cemetery in Ennis contains the remains of 28 people who died when a Pan-Am airplane crashed on approach to Shannon in April 1948. The names are listed in three columns.

The first two columns are in alphabetical order. The third is not which was a bit puzzling to this reader.

Bernadine M. Feller is the last name on the headstone. Her FindAGrave entry answered the puzzle. The first two columns were passengers. The third column is for staff who are listed in order of seniority.

‘Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes. The ashes of an oak in a chimney are no epitaph of that, to tell me how high or how large that was; it tells me not what flocks it sheltered while it stood, nor what men it hurt when it fell. The dust of great persons’ graves is speechless, too; it says nothing, it distinguishes nothing.’

John Donne

‘The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.’

King James Bible

‘When the elections are all over
We’ll all be pushing up clover
And everyone in the graveyard votes the same’

Christy Moore

‘ Frank Carl Jakel, aged 35, Captain Pilot, married, from New Hyde Park, New York
Carlton Monroe Henson Jr., aged 27, First Officer Pilot, from Forest Hills, Long Island, New York
Everette G. Wallace, aged 28, Second Officer, married, from New York
Hector R. LeBlanc, aged 29, Third Officer, married, from New York
Stanley J. Frank, aged 31, Assistant Aero Engineer, married, from New York
James Victor Sexton, aged 31, Radio Operator, married, from New York
Bruce J. Nevers, aged 32, Assistant Radio Operator, married, from New York
John J. Hoffmeier, aged 40, Purser/Chief Steward, married, from New York,
Bernadine Marie Feller, aged 23, Stewardess, from New York, and Victor, Iowa’

FindAGrave

Recognising The Craftsman

7/6/2021

It was only earlier this year that twitter educated that some of the cast iron grave markers have the name of the manufacturer moulded on the marker – I went to write ‘headstone’ but it did not appear correct when not of stone.

The old cemetery at Drumcliffe in Ennis provider my first experience.

I have seen the work Shannon Foundry underfoot in a variety of iron covers, but their work to remember James Grady was a first for me.

Jane Brigdale d. 20th C

6/6/2021

Corrovorrin Cemetery in Ennis was subject of a short visit – a small cemetery off Kevin Barry Avenue.

I have seen many headstones with year of death (with and without age); with year of birth and year of death; with no year or death. Until my trip to Corrovorrin, I do not think I have seen a headstone with just century of death.

Jane Brigdale is the first.

John Flanagan Was Killed

19/12/2020

Grey Abbey, Kildare

An rud is annamh is iontach is an Irish saying which translates as ‘that what is rare, is wonderful’.

The word ‘killed’ is a rarity found on headstones, from my experience of visits to cemeteries. It does cause this writer to step back, consider, and, in the case of John Flanagen, do some further investigartion.

‘Kill - to make a person or other living thing die (transitive/intransitive verb)’ – Macmillan Dictionary

‘Kill - to cause the death of (an animal or person); to put someone to death; to murder; to slaughter; to destroy someone or something (transitive/intransitive verb)’ – Chambers Dictionary

Kill – ‘If a person, animal, or other living thing is killed, something or someone causes them to die’ – Collins Dictionary

‘Murder - to commit the crime of killing someone deliberately (transitive verb)’ – Macmillan Dictionary

‘Murder - to kill someone unlawfully and intentionally’ – Chambers Dictionary

‘Murder - To murder someone means to commit the crime of killing them deliberately.’ Collins Dictionary

Register of Death

I was unable to find any press report as to the traffic incident or the inquest. The death cert and the headstone differ slightly – Jackie derives from Jack which in turn derives from John – so that is understandable.

I have previously written as to the use of the word ‘kill’. I had difficulty in its use in a non-intentional setting. It is interesting that among the options available as to outcome of an inquest, the only ‘kill’ is ‘unlawful killing’ – that is one way of avoiding any confusion as to the interpretation of the word ‘kill’.

Some enjoy a visit to Kildare Village. My preference, by far, would be the adjoining cemetery.

The adjacent headstone is to Evelyn Flanagan, who died aged 7 weeks, in August 1934. If Evelyn was Jackie’s sister, one family would have lost two children in less than three years which may be enough to use ‘kill’ rather than ‘died’.