Grave Memorials in St. Michael's Cemetery Athy

It’s almost 40 years ago when with the assistance of FAS, the Industrial Training Authority, I organised a project intended to record all the headstones and grave memorials in the original St. Michael’s Cemetery. Regretfully it was a project which was not completed until many years later. The mammoth task of recording and mapping all the memorials in St. Michael’s Cemetery was eventually done by Michael Donovan, who is one of the unsung heroes of Athy and South Kildare. Michael has devoted many years of his life to recording cemetery memorials, not only in and around the immediate environs of Athy, but also further afield. To date he has completed 42 graveyard surveys, the results of which will be handed over to Kildare County Council to be made available to the general public. For many years tombstone inscriptions were an untapped source of Irish genealogy. They were largely unnoticed, except by those looking for obituary details. The work of copying tombstone inscriptions requires patience and attention to detail and Michael Donovan has spent years in recording memorial inscriptions and by doing so preserving for future generations details of families whose names are no longer familiar to us. He has also photographed the memorials and to date for the 42 cemeteries surveyed he has amassed a collection of almost 6,000 photographs. These, together with the mapping and numbering of graves in the cemetery surveys, ensure the ready identification of the location of every memorial. Grave memorials are an important part of a community’s heritage. They record lives from the past and the various types of monuments or memorials represent in many cases Irish folk art which has survived over the years. A headstone is the only piece of sculpture that most people will ever commission. In Victorian times cemeteries for the rich were gardens of stone, while the buried poor were seldom marked or noted. The local iron foundries provided metal crosses, many of which can still be seen in St. Michael’s Cemetery. The most common iron memorial comprised a cross within a circle with space for a painted inscription. Unfortunately these memorials tend to lose their painted inscription after some years. St. Mary’s Cemetery, where the remains of Workhouse inmates were laid, had quite a number of metal crosses, all of which regrettably were in recent years removed from the graves they marked. In St. Michael’s Cemetery and St. John’s Cemetery, which Michael has also surveyed, there are many fine examples of altar tombs and chest tombs. In St. John’s Cemetery he discovered a small gravestone, previously unrecorded, marking the grave of William Watson who died in 1637. Tankardstown graveyard, which surrounds the original Tankardstown Parish Church, has two 17th century memorials. Throughout St. Michael’s Cemetery can be found many elaborate monuments, mostly the work of 19th century carvers and stone masons. The practice of erecting headstone memorials did not develop until the latter part of the 18th century. Before that many graves were not marked, or if they were it was by footstones, so called as they were small plain stones placed at the bottom of graves. The Shackleton Museum holds two medieval grave slabs, believed to be of the 14th century, which were removed from St. Michael’s Cemetery for safekeeping some years ago. Monumental inscriptions to be found in St. Michael’s cemetery are generally of the genealogical epitaph type where family relationships and dates of birth are outlined. Michael has also recorded interesting supplementary details, generally quotations of a religious nature. One interesting grave memorial located within the medieval church, known locally as ‘the Crickeen’, reads:- ‘This venerable and justly loved Christian died in the 82nd year on 25th November 1849. She closed her edifying life by the fervent practice of those religious duties that ever marked her holy career. Her remains were accompanied to this earthly dwelling by an immense number of every class and creed of the entire neighbourhood which she so long adorned by her eminent and unostentatious virtue. She expired, consoled by her cherished text, from the 6th chap. 55th V of St. John. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood had everlasting life and I will raise him up on the last day.’ In addition to his survey and recording work Michael Donovan, together with Clem Roche, have just completed recording the names of the 3,891 inmates who died in Athy Workhouse or the Fever Hospital between 1871 and 1921. Theirs is a work of great importance, rivalled only by Michael’s extraordinary solitary work in mapping and recording so many cemetery memorials in and around this area. Michael Donovan’s plans for this year are to survey cemeteries in Ballybracken, Kileen Cormac, Kildangan, Timogue, Harristown and Crookstown.

Memorial, plaques and signs in and around South Kildare

Kildare County Council has recently embarked on a survey of memorials, plaques and signs throughout the County of Kildare.  They are part of our cultural heritage, marking as they do people of the past, historic events or heritage landmarks of town and countryside.  This is the first attempt to collect this information and when the project is completed it is intended to make its results available to the general public.  In turn the public’s help in identifying and recording local memorials, plaques and signs is sought.

The Heritage Officer of Kildare County Council has prepared guidelines for the survey.  While advising that graveyard memorials are not included almost every other form of commemorative memorial or plaque is deemed worthy of recording.  Even what the guidelines describe as ‘significant street names and laneways’ are to be included.  Interestingly bench marks, armorial plaques and mile markers also come within the ambit of the survey.  The Council’s Heritage Officer Bridget Loughlin who is overseeing the survey would like to get the following information.  The memorial/plaque name, where it is located, a brief description with any background information and a photograph, although I suspect the latter while helpful is not essential. 

In recent years probably more plaques have gone up in or around Athy than in any other time in the past.  Nelson Street has a plaque to Johnny Lynch, musician, while the Dominicans are honoured with a plaque on the entrance wall to the former Dominican Church.  The Christian Brothers are remembered with a handsome memorial in Edmund Rice Square, while the Sisters of Mercy have the riverside car park opposite the Parish Church dedicated to their Order.

Until recent years the Town Hall had a large plaque commemorating the founding of Macra na Feirme and its founder Stephen Cullinane but it was removed when the Macra monument was unveiled by President Robinson some years ago.  I wonder where that plaque is today?  The impressive Town Hall has in more recent years received plaques honouring the local men who fought in the 1914-18 war, as well as a plaque honouring Ernest Shackleton, the polar explorer.  This year as part of the centenary commemorations of the 1916 Rising a plaque was affixed to the west wall of the Town Hall. 

A few years ago the Enterprise Centre arranged for tourist plaques to be placed on the more important buildings in the town.  Whites Castle, Canal Harbour, Crom a Boo Bridge, St. Michael’s Church of Ireland church, Methodist church, St. Vincent’s Hospital are but some of the buildings highlighted in this way.

Bench marks will be seldom recognised but offhand I can recall bench marks on the Town Hall, Crom a Boo Bridge and St. Vincent’s Hospital.  There are a few more around the town awaiting to be identified.  Memorials are less scarce and in the main square of the town we have the water fountain presented to the people of Athy by the Duke of Leinster.  Just behind it is the more recently unveiled memorial to the men and women from the locality who in 1798 sought religious and civil liberty. 

Would the stone archway taken from the ruins of the cavalry barracks in Barrack Lane and reassembled in Woodstock Street come within the definition of a memorial?  I would think so, as undoubtedly will the superb canal lock gate which adorns the roundabout on the Dublin Road.  The various pieces of sculpture provided by Kildare County Council under the percentage scheme for major capital projects must also be included in this survey.  Examples are to be found at the Flinters Field site, at Butlers Row and the Fairgreen housing site.

What the Council refers to as ‘significant street names’ may pose problems when it comes to their inclusion or exclusion from the survey.  I cannot imagine that any one street name is any less or more significant than another.  Our principal street names commemorate members of the Duke of Leinster’s family, while many of the laneways bear the names of long forgotten property owners.  The building boom of the Celtic years which came somewhat later to Athy than elsewhere resulted in the creation of a lot of housing estates with names which do not resonate historically or otherwise with the ancient town on the River Barrow. 

If you can help the County Council in its countywide survey of memorials, plaques and signs do contact Bridget Loughlin, Heritage Office at the Council Offices, Naas, ph. (045) 980791 or email Bloughlin@kildarecoco.ie. 

Another project recently initiated by Kildare County Council is a building survey of the county which seeks to identify buildings of historical interest or architectural merit.  Athy has a wealth of such buildings and indeed in the opinion of many is the most interesting town in the county of Kildare in terms of its layout and architecture.  If you are contacted by the team involved in the building survey do give them every help in identifying and recording the building which may be your home or your business address.  It is purely an architectural survey and is in no way connected with property tax, rating systems or anything that is detrimental to your interests.  Your cooperation with the survey team would be much appreciated and will undoubtedly be reflected in the quality of the survey teams final report

Memorials in Athy

Memorials to the past, artistry in stone, whatever you may wish to call them, were not favoured in Irish provincial towns during the 19^th century.  Understandable perhaps, when considered against the pressing needs of the day which allowed little time or opportunity for engagement with the arts.  Statues and memorials to prominent men, and indeed to some of doubtful prominence, were the vogue at a time when landlords and tenants were representative of a divided social order.  How many times in your travels around Ireland have you come across memorials to now long forgotten landlords or lords of the manor erected by so called grateful tenants.  Incidentally, it is almost always the men who are honoured in this way and seldom, if ever, were women commemorated in stone.

I was put in mind of this as passing out of Edmund Rice Square this evening I drove past the memorial erected in 1994 in honour of the Christian Brothers contribution to education in Athy.  It was a richly deserved honour and most appropriate given that after a presence in excess of 130 years in Athy the Christian Brothers are no longer involved in the local schools.  A few minutes later, driving through Emily Square, I passed the small monument  unveiled by President Robinson in the same year to mark the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the Macra na Feirme.  Scattered around the town, but not always clearly visible to the passing public, are a number of artistic works commissioned by the Town Council to mark the opening of various housing schemes.  They are to be found at the top of Butler’s Row, Flinter’s Place and Bothar Bui.  While the latter pieces have some artistic merit, the absence of any link with the town’s history makes these public sculptures less interesting than they might otherwise appear.

Given the local Council’s apparent difficulty in getting together the necessary funds [or is it the will] to erect the ’98 memorial which was commissioned in 1998, it struck me that future housing schemes might be enhanced by memorials which have a direct link with the town’s history.  In that way a much more interesting level of public ornamentation could be provided which even as pieces of street furniture would be useful additions to our urban landscape.

If the local Council took on the idea in a favourable light then several suggestions for suitable memorials in the town could be considered.  First of all, of course, the erection of the ’98 memorial in Emily Square should be given priority to ensure that Athy does not get into the Guinness Book of Records for the most delayed commemoration of a bicentenary event.  Once the ’98 memorial is in place we can then start thinking about other memorials and commemorative pieces which could and should be raised to honour people and events from the town’s past.

Two immediately come to mind.  It is just a few years since the Sisters of Mercy vacated their convent which will shortly re-open as a hotel.  Since 1852, successive generations of Sisters of Mercy had lived and worked in the convent and the adjoining schools, not forgetting the local hospital, or workhouse, as it was when the nuns first arrived there.  How many nuns have come and gone in the intervening 153 years?  I don’t know the exact number but I remember counting the graves in the convent cemetery sometime ago and coming up with the figure of 94 burials.  To that must be added those nuns who left Athy to open convents in Callan, Rathdrum and Australia and then there are the more recent burials in St. Michael’s cemetery which at the last count came to thirteen, all of which occurred since 1996.  There are eighteen Sisters of Mercy left in Athy, living amongst the local community at four different addresses around the town.  They are for the most part elderly and the primary works the Sisters were engaged in for 150 years, education and hospital care, no longer engage their time or energies.

I recall receiving a query sometime ago concerning a Miss Ellen Moore who was granted a Certificate of Competence as a teacher in February 1875 and whom I understand taught for some years in the Turnpike school.  The Turnpike school consisted of two houses on the road leading out of Athy from the Canal bridge which in the 19^th century was still called the Turnpike Road.  There was an unexpired lease of sixteen years on the houses which passed to the Sisters of Mercy and the nuns decided to equip the houses as an infant boys school and was referred to as a girls out school.  This was done to encourage children living in the area known as Beggar’s End to attend the school, as it was felt that the existing convent school in Rathstewart was too far away for young children to attend.  Two former monitresses of the convent school were appointed teachers, while two Sisters of Mercy came each day from their convent to help with the children.  The Turnpike school eventually closed in 1882 when the lease expired.  It was just another part of the town’s education system presided over by the Sisters of Mercy at a time when educational opportunities were limited.  The buildings which housed the Turnpike school no longer exist but the Sisters of Mercy who served the people of Athy over many years still have a presence amongst us.

Would it not be appropriate for the townspeople of Athy who were fortunate enough to benefit from their work to mark in some permanent way the contribution of the Sisters of Mercy to the town.  This brings me to my first suggestion for a commemorative piece sited in some suitable and permanent position in the town to acknowledge the charitable work extending over a century and a half of the Sisters of Mercy.

My second suggestion for a piece of public sculpture, which if created imaginatively could be an attractive and interesting addition to the townscape is a memorial to the war dead of Athy.  I have debated for a long time as to whether it would be appropriate for a town in the Republic of Ireland to erect a memorial to Athy men killed in World War I.  I always felt that the catastrophic loss of life amongst the local men in the 1914-18 war justified such a memorial which if erected would not in any way undermine our political beliefs or aspirations.  As against this there is the issue of commemorating local men who died in the War of Independence or subsequent Civil War and those not from this area who had the misfortune to be killed in this locality during those periods.

In the First World War the loss of life for Athy and many other towns throughout Ireland and Britain was on a scale unprecedented in history and never since repeated.  It was a war which started off with the full support of almost the entire Irish population but as those who survived found out to their dismay, that support faded away in the face of an emerging and ultimately successful Republican movement.  The war dead were forgotten, while those soldiers who thought themselves lucky to return home, were ignored.  Both groups were written out of Irish history, that is until the slow process of reclamation which began ten or so years ago brought their stories back into focus and regained a level of public acceptance which was previously lacking.

Any memorial to the Athy dead of World War I would serve as a memorial in the normal sense of the word, but also would right a very grave injustice perpetuated for so long against those men, mostly young men, workmen and unemployed alike, who with the encouragement of church and society leaders of the day enlisted to fight in the war.  The numbers who died in that war warrant some form of commemoration and a piece of public sculpture might be an appropriate way of remembering those unfortunate men.  I certainly believe that those who fought and died in the War of Independence and the Civil War should also be commemorated in the same way as their brothers, friends and neighbours who died in the Great War. 

I would like to encourage discussion on what is suggested in this article and whether you agree or disagree with the idea of public commemoration of this kind, let your views be known.  Memorials, like all forms of public art, can be interesting and informative, while at the same time enhancing the streetscape and providing a focal point for public open spaces.  Athy could with advantage add to its existing collection of such pieces while commemorating those who deserve to be remembered.

Memorials in St. Michael's Cemetery noted in Irish Memorials of the Dead

Local cemeteries hold not only the remains of our dearly departed but are also a treasure  trove of information waiting to be gleaned from the monuments to be found there.  St. Michael’s Cemetery, the old cemetery as distinct from the new cemetery of the same name, has a number of interesting inscribed tomb stones which recent good work by the new caretaker has exposed after many years of neglect.

Just over a hundred years ago the Irish Memorials of the Dead published the first volume of its intended multi volume account of Irish grave stones and grave markers.   The information published in the memorials was collected by volunteers, amongst whom was Lord Walter Fitzgerald of Kilkea Castle, Fr. John Ryan, Dominican priest of Newbridge and many others.  Recently going through the thirteen published volumes of the Memorial, the last two volumes of which covered the period 1926 to 1934, I was delighted to read a number of entries relating to local cemeteries in South Kildare.

In 1897 Fr. Ryan O.P. wrote of two tombstones in St. Michael’s Graveyard which had been erected to the memory of the Dominican Fathers of Athy.  At that time, one tombstone was still standing while the other was lying flat on the ground.  The erect stone had this inscription.

            “Here lies the body of the Very REV. JOHN KENNELLY O.S.D.  He took the habit of his order at Louvain in Flanders in 1787.  He was elected Provincial in 1820.  He reared five relatives for the church of God; a brother and four nephews; he died 25^th Decr., 1842, aged 78 years.  Also the revd. THOMAS M`DONNELL, S.T.P., of Limerick, died Novr. 25^th, 1878.  Ann. Prof. 64, aged 84 years.  Dominican Priory, Athy, Requiesant in Pace.” 

On the flat stone the following inscription was found 107 years ago.

            “Here lies the body of the REV. FRANCIS CUMMINS, of the Order of St. Dominic, who during a residence of upwards of 40 years in the town of Athy by the exemplary and unaffected piety of his life had endeared him to all ranks of people that in compliance with the wishes of his numerous friends, select ones erected this tomb in testimony of their esteem for him and in veneration of his memory, he died October 1788 aged 88 years.

            Requiescat in Pace.  Sat ubi DEO vixit heu citius amicis absumitur.  Also the body of the REV. JAMES DUNNE of the Order of St. Dominic being Residentor of Athy for 98 years.  Department this life June the 27 1797 aged 115 years.

            Requiescat in Pace.  Also the body of the REV. MICHAEL M`MAHON who died April the 8^th 1829 aged 29 years.”

Other tombstones in St. Michael’s recorded in 1901/03 included one then regarded as the oldest lettered tombstones which stood on the right hand side of the pathway near the main entrance.  The stone which was broken at the top commemorated “JAMES GRAHAM”  who died in November 1701.  Nearby was also a narrow slab stuck upside down in the ground with an inscription, the only visible part of which read “and daughter of RICHARD PEARSON of Athy who departed this life on the 24 year of her age the 11 March 1716.”

Another flat broken slab recalls the faithful servant of COL. THOMAS FITZGERALD who figured prominently in the Rebellion of 1798 and its aftermath.

“This stone is erected in St. Michael’s Churchyard, Athy by COL. THOMAS FITZGERALD of Geraldine in memory of HENRY PHILLIPS of Hampshire, England who served him faithfully for twenty years and who departed this life the 30 of December 1816 aged 45 years.  Lord have Mercy on his soul.  Amen.”

An interesting reminder of a family whose name has been recalled by me in different articles over the years was to be found in 1901 on a flat slab under the South wall of the ruined church.

“This tomb is Erected by M^R. GEORGE DAKER of Athy for the use of his Family

            “Here lieth the Body of ANN DAKER deceas^d. 1729  Aged one y^r  and MARGRET DAKER deceas^d 1743  Aged 2 y^rs  - Also ANN MARY MANSERGH deceas^d April 18^th 1768  Aged 3 y^rs. - And GEORGE DAKER MANSERGH deceas^d Janu^ry 1769  Aged 2 y^rs

            “M^RS. ANN DAKER departed this Life the 9^th of July 1786 aged 72 years

            “Here lieth the Body of GEORGE DAKER Esq^r. who was called from this Life on the 1^st day of Decembr 1794 His name written in the Book of Life and held dear by mourning friendship needeth not monumental Praise.  Here lieth the Body of GEORGE DAKER Esq^r  who departed this Life 2^nd Feb^y. 1799  Aged 57 years.”

George Daker owned a tannery in the area where Dr. Reeves surgery is located and nearby Riversdale Home which now houses the Dominican Friary was built by George Mansergh.  I was not aware of any connection between the Dakers and the Manserghs but quite obviously there was as indicated by the inscriptions on this tomb stone.

Close at hand there is a table-tomb with an inscription which could still be read at the turn of the 20^th century.

            “Near this spot lies the remains of GEORGE KING for many years Sovereign of this town, a justice of quorum and one of the Coroners of the Co. Kildare, he died the 4 January 1777  Aged 60 years  Also MARY his wife died in 1769 aged 39, as also several of their children.  Here also lie the remains of JULIANNA KING otherwise ARMSTRONG, Daughter-in-law of the above named GEORGE KING, died 25^th March 1849  Aged 85 years.  Her husband RICHARD KING having been buried in St. Luke’s Church Dublin  Died 1^st Febr^y. 1824  Aged 58 ^yrs.”

Lying near the church ruins as reported in Volume 5 of the Irish Memorials of the Dead was a small fragment of a large slab, bearing the remains of an inscription in deeply cut incised capitals with the date 1712.  The only part of the inscription which could be read referred to the death in 1712 of the Parish Priest of Athy.  The slab must have been placed over the grave of Fr. John Fitzsimons who died on 18^th November 1712 aged 61 years after 27 years as Parish Priest of Athy.

St. Michael’s Cemetery holds a very important record of our past history and the work done by those volunteers over 100 years ago in recording some of the more interesting tombstone inscriptions was commendable.  Sometime in the future perhaps something can be done to restore the old gravemarkers which have been damaged over the years and maybe even the old church ruins might receive some attention also.  Most of the North, West and South walls of the 14^th century church are standing but there are no cut stone work remaining in the doorway.  Nevertheless the ancient ruin is worthy of conservation and the hope is the local Council would recognise the desirability of carrying out some restoration work in the not too distant future.