Kilkieran Graveyard, Parish of Templeorum, county Kilkenny: Part 1.

Kilkieran graveyard is situated in the townland of Castletown; the old church here, now long gone, was called the church of Castlan, Casslan and sometimes Cassellan.   In Irish it is called Kill-Keerawin or the church of St Kieran of Ossory.  Others have suggested that this might have been founded by Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, or Ciaran of Saighir (SeirKieran in county Offaly) but as no records  of the foundation have survived it is almost impossible to tell.   The old church was apparently razed to the ground in 1780 and the materials used to build a school.  This exact history is slightly confusing as O'Curry mentions a little church which stood near the West Cross as existing in 1834 which appears to have been eventually converted into a mausoleum used by the Osborne family of Annefield and Kilmacoliver.   This school/little church in its turn became an unsightly ruin and has now been restored as a flat stone platform (measuring 25ft, 6 inches x 14ft, 4 inches) onto which 3 memorials(nos 26, 27, 28)  have been placed flat; at least two of these erected to the Osborne family must have been inside the mausoleum at one time.

General view of Kilkieran graveyard showing the railed in sarcophagus of the Walsh family, the West High Cross and the raised platform, formerly the Osborne mausoleum

The small walled graveyard, nestling under Kilmacoliver hill and overlooking the valley of the River Suir, is beautifully maintained with most of the memorials and monuments positioned to the south of the site.  In 1985 the local community wished to re-open part of the graveyard which appeared unused and given the antiquity of the site, archaeological excavations took place, within the walled area, to the north of the present old burial ground to ascertain if it were suitable for development as a graveyard or not.   So many archaeological remains were found in this apparently unused area that its development for modern burial purposes was deemed unsuitable.   7 trenches were dug and material found there included local medieval pottery and flint tools but importantly revealed the remains of part of a stone built monastic wall with associated habitation.   The Bullaun stones listed in our graveyard survey came from these excavations. (See the article by Maurice Hurley listed below if you would like to read more).

The Bullaun stones unearthed during the excavations in  1985

 Kilkieran graveyard, Kilkenny is only about one mile from what we are calling its sister site, Aheny which is in Tipperary.   Despite being in two different counties it is evident that the local people used both graveyard. For example people from Ballinacroony, Kilkenny are buried both here and in Ahenny.  Being so close to the Tipperary and Waterford borders means that you have to keep an open mind about all these connections and there is a fluidity of movement here between all three of these counties.
There are three ancient Celtic crosses in this graveyard known as the North, the East and the West Crosses.  The remnants of a fourth Cross are also found here;  the larger surviving fragment having been used as a door lintel into the now defunct Osborne family mausoleum.   The East and the West Cross have been damaged and were described in 1851 as smashed and prostate.   These damaged Crosses were repaired in 1858, under the patronage of Mrs John Walsh of Fanningtown House (see the next blog for more information about this family), by a blind artisan from Faugheen called Paddy Laurence, who had accidently lost his sight whilst engaged in the building of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London.

In all we counted 68 stones or memorials in this graveyard but this does include the Holy Well which is marked as St Kieran's Well and a large Bullaun stone next to the Holy Well used for holding water from the well and marked "Cure for Headaches".   We have used it ourselves and can vouch for its efficacity!

The Holy Water Font full of water taken from the adjacent Holy Well - an efficacious cure for the headache!

We have surveyed the graveyard into 15 rows or sections. Carrigan(1905) says of this graveyard that there are about a dozen headstones dating from 1750 onwards; it is difficult to know exactly what he meant but we found 19 headstones or memorials with dates prior to 1850.  This includes one stone dated 1715 (No 20 erected to commemorate William and Mary Lacy who both died in August 1715) and another dated 1741 (No 46 erected for Piearse Butler and wife Catherin Shay both of whom died in the same year and both aged 60 yrs - all spellings as on the headstone).  There are 11 headstones with dates between 1750-1799 and a further headstones with dates between 1800-1850.   There is a modern stone (No 15) which is marked as "Strangers Corner"; this is to the immediate right as you enter the graveyard.  Bernie has taken all the pictures.

A very strange and pagan phallic shaped stone; there are no designs or markings on it.

Stone No 49 belongs to the Barry family, of Annsboro Mills and includes a WWII reference to Gerard (Garry) Barry who is interred in Milsbeek War Cemetery, Limburg Holland and who died on 21st February 1945 aged 36 years.   He was a guardsman in the 3rd Batt. Irish Guards and his family is recorded as being from Carrick on Suir, Tipperary.
Index of names listed on the memorials
Barry 49
Boyse 34
Butler 46
Casey 17
Clancy 52
Clear 55
Crowley 21
Cunningham 31
Cunigham 30
Daniel 34, 37
Dooly 53
Doren 50
Dwyer 6, 10
Ellis 38, 60
Gleeson 3
Honney 33
Kennedy 38, 40, 41, 57, 60
Lacy 20
Lonergan 4, 21
Mackey 42
Maher 35
McDonnell 39
Moran 24
Nowlan 27
O'Dwyer 7,8,9,24
O'Neale 3
O'Neill 24
Osborne 26,28
Phelan 9, 42,45,47
Power 24
Shay 46
Stuart 21
Villiers Stuart 56
Walsh 21, 24, 39
Whelan 56

Indexes of places listed on the memorials
Annsboro Mills 49
Ansborough 28
Ballinacroney 6,9
Ballycastlane 24,25
Ballycastle? 34
Ba..y..w.  (This is possibly Ballygown, Fiddown) 27
Ballyhenebry 41
Ballyhennebry 33
California 30
Carrick-on-Suir 24
Castletown 10,40,53
Cottrlestown 30
England 57
Holland 49
Fanningstown 24
Kilkenny county 26
Kilkieran 40,57,60
Kilmacoliver 26
Main Street 24
Newtown 42
Piltown 24, 57
Rossenara 24
San Francisco 30
Skough 21
USA 30

Index of masons who have signed memorials
Gargan, Kilkenny 57
Molloy Callan 10, 24 (top plaque only), 30, 38. 40
O'Donnell, Waterford 49
O'Keeffe and Sons, Michael Street, Waterford 9
Smith (Sculpt March 1816) 28
M.White, Carrick, 53*
* Michael White of Fair Green, Carrick on Suir is listed under Stone Masons and Stone Cutters in the 1846 Slater's Directory of Ireland.

Index of occupations or positions noted on the memorials
Irish Guards 49
J.P. 24
Nurse 49.

Decorated fragment of an ancient cross now standing near the raised platform which was once the Osborne Mausoleum. Note the typical Celtic spiral designs.

Further Reading
1. Carrigan, Rev. William. The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory. Vol IV. 1905.
2. Crawford, Henry S. The Crosses at Kilkieran and Ahenny in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Fifth Series. Vol 39. No 3.(Sept 30 1909). pp 256-260.
3. Hurley, Maurice F.  Excavations at an Early Ecclesiastical Enlosure at Kilkieran, county Kilkenny in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland. Vol 118 (1988) pp 124-134.
4. Roe, Helen M. High Crosses of Western Ossory.  Kilkenny Archaeological Society. 1962.

Horses and riders on the eastern base of  the West Cross at Kilkieran carved sometime in the 8th or 9th century.  

Patrick Power of Maudlin Street, Kilkenny, 1869

The Cork Examiner for the 16th March 1869 printed the following extraordinary story which should make all genealogists and family historians think twice about what they read on headstones.
Kilkenny: There is in a graveyard attached to Maudlin St Chapel a headstone erected since October 1868 bearing the following inscription.  "Erected in memory of Patrick Power of Maudlin Street who died in 1869 aged 73 years.  May his Soul Rest in Peace Amen".  This stone was erected by the said Patrick Power who is still living in Mauldlin Street and who confidently asserts he is to die in the month of June next or thereabouts.  Meanwhile Pat regularly visits the graveyard, says his prayers at the headstone but beyond this seems very little concerned about the near approach (according to his own account) of his dissolution.
Of course we went straight to  a printed copy of St Rioch's Graveyard Inscriptions which was published by the St. Rioch's Community Group in 2007 (St Rioch's is the graveyard of the Maudlin St Chapel, Kilkenny).   And, as it happens, in Row 11, is a broken stone, No 67, which has been recorded as engraved with the name Power but no inscription was able to be read.     There is no other Power headstone in the graveyard.
A quick search in the Irish Civil Death Indexes reveals no Patrick Power of Kilkenny dying in 1869.  There is however an entry for a Patrick Power, aged 80 years, of Kilkenny who died in 1874, which may be our man.
If anyone of our readers can throw any light on this story or if you can solve this mystery please do contact us.
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Ahenny Graveyard, Parish of Newtownlennan, county Tipperary

The ancient and remote graveyard of Ahenny in county Tipperary lies just over the river Lingaun which forms the boundary here between counties Kilkenny and Tipperary; indeed it also forms the boundary between the Irish Provinces of Munster and Leinster. Ahenny is within the Tipperary Barony of Iffa and Offa East in the Diocese of Lismore.  We are looking at both the site of Ahenny in county Tipperary and the nearby site of the old graveyard at Kilkieran in county Kilkenny because they appear to be sister sites and of course existed before county boundaries were ever thought of.  Both have important ancient Celtic High Crosses; it would not surprise us if there was an ancient pilgrim path between the two sites.

View of the Ahenny graveyard looking over into Kilkenny taken in the drought summer of 2018

Ahenny, nestling under Baunfree Hill is an ancient monastic site which had a church dedicated to St Crispin; the graveyard itself is called Kilclispeen and has a dedication stone on the outer wall dated 1843.

 The site has two 8th century Celtic High Crosses and the base of a third.  These crosses are decorated with carved bosses, Celtic interlacing, frets and other abstract designs. The bases have figured panels which are now very worn but include horsemen, Daniel in the Lion's Den and multiple human figures.

A photograph taken circa 1920 of two ladies at the Ahenny North Cross. The back of the photograph is inscribed " Betty and I Grubb of Seskin at the North Cross Ahenny, Tipperary".  Miss Isabel Grubb (1881-1972) of Seskin, Carrick on Suir, was a well known Quaker writer and historian, daughter of Joseph Ernest Grubb of Carrick on Suir, county Tipperary.  Although we do not know for sure she is most probably the lady on the left in the pale coloured coat.  From a photo in our collection.

 The third and missing stone, said to have been the most beautiful of all three High Crosses here, was supposedly stolen circa 1800 and was lost in a ship wreck off Passage East, county Waterford. The entire site is walled and accessed across a field. The route from the Kilkenny side of the border after crossing the Lingaun river takes you though a small lane of cottages, formerly the homes of some of the workers at the nearby Slate Quarry.

Picture taken of the same North High Cross at Ahenny in September 2018

With slate in plentiful supply many of the memorials at Ahenny are of slate which does not necessarily stand up well to the weather.  The graveyard is very well maintained and forms a square shape; along the wall to the right of the entrance gate is evidence of pink quartz in a stone along the wall.  At some time in the past damaged slate stones have been removed to the inside of the surrounding walls.  These have been counted by us, with all the other memorials, but only two have any fragments left of former inscriptions. There are interesting Kilkenny people buried here as we shall see further on and plenty of family history to be garnered. Altogether there are 176 visible memorials or grave markers but given the antiquity of the site there must be many more people buried here with no marker at all or whose gravestone has fallen and is now buried beneath the sod.  We have drawn an exact map of the location of all the stones in the graveyard.  All spellings are as they appear on the inscriptions.

The South Cross at Ahenny

The earliest memorials, apart from the ancient Celtic High Crosses, date from the 18th century.  There are 13 memorials which have 18th century dates of erection (1741, 1744, 1756, 1757x2, 1760, 1765, 1777, 1780, 1782, 1791x2 and 1799) and 17 stones with dates between 1802-1833 (1802x3, 1805x2, 1812, 1816x3, 1817x2, 1824 1825, 1829, 1831, 1832, 1833).   There are many old stones which bear no dates at all.  There are 26 broken and unmarked stones and additionally 67 stone grave markers.  The quality of the carving on some of the early stones is outstanding with scenes of the crucifixion and passion symbols.  Stone No 47 to the Lonergan family has very delicate cross hatching around the stone.  Other stones have beautifully incised lettering.  Sadly none of these early stones have been signed by the stone cutter or mason.

Two old slate stones at Ahenny

Amongst the many beautiful stones two stand out for special mention.  No 114 is an old upright slate headstone decorated on the top with a sunburst design with two pierced hearts at each end of the sunburst, one with the initial J in it and the other heart with the initial D in the centre.  These initials  almost certainly stand for the name of Joseph Dempsy/Dempsey.   A third heart is just below the central IHS symbol which itself  has a cross resting on the central bar of the letter H.  The inscription reads in English " Beneath this sepulchral tomb lie the remains of Mary Dempsy who departed this life January the 4th 1802 aged 17 years.  Dear parents mourn not for me, I am only dead to live eternally, when riseing(sic) from my dusty bed, I hope to reign with Christ our head".  What makes this stone remarkable is that underneath the above inscription are two lines carved in the Ogham script (the ancient Irish method of writing using straight lines and slashes on either side of the lines; most ogham stones in Ireland date to about the 5th century).  It is rare to find this old script on any "modern" stone.  The Ogham was translated into the Irish by an unknown person as  "Fa an lig so na la ata Mari ni Dhimusa o mballi na gCranibh".     This in modern Irish is " Faoin liag seo ina luí tá Máire Ní Dhíomsaigh ó Bhaile na gCranna ".    This in turn translates into English as "Beneath this tombstone lies Mary Demsey of Ballinacronny".   We are grateful to Mícheál Ó Diarmada and Máire Mac Conghail for help with this translation.  Ballynacronny, also spelt Ballynacanny or Ballynacronna in English, is just three miles from Carrick on Suir but in the Kilkenny parish of Owning. Joseph Dempsy is known in Irish as Seosamh Ó Diomusa; he was an Irish language scholar which accounts for the rare use of the Ogham on the above tombstone.   Two of his manuscripts have survived. One is in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin,  catalogued as Irish Literature Manuscript G663.  Here the author is recorded in the Irish as Seosamb Ó Diomusa, operating circa 1800; the manuscript is catalogued as Ossianic and Romantic tales in Irish with religious and other poetry.   His other surviving manuscript is in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin as part of the McAlister Collection of Irish Manuscripts; it can be found under the catalogue no 1187 as Miscellaneous 18th century Irish Manuscripts; this appears to have a date of 1796. Eamon Ó hOgáin has written of Seosamh Ó Díomasaigh of mBaillin a Chranna in his article on Scríobhaithe Lámhscríbhinni Gaeilge i gCill Chainnigh 1700-1870 (in Kilkenny: History and Society, edited by William Nolan and Kevin Whelan. Geography Publications, Dublin, 1990).  This part of south Kilkenny, around Owning and the Carrick on Suir area of Tipperary was rich in a network of Irish speaking scholars who had managed to keep their language and literature alive.  Well known amongst these is the school teacher Humphrey O'Sullivan of Callan but to add to his name is also that of Patrick O'Neill(1765-1832), a musician, historian and antiquarian of Owning, near Carrick on Suir,  James Scurryof Knockhouse, Barony of Iverk who flourished in the 1820s and of course Peter Walsh of Belline, Irish scholar and agent to Lord Bessborough. (You can read more about Patrick O'Neill and some of these others in The Golden Vale of Ivowen between Slievenamon and Suir by Eoghan Ó Néill, Geography Publications, Dublin).    The Parish registers for Owning and Templeorum start in 1803 but unfortunately there are gaps.  Joseph Dempsy of Ballynacranny and his wife Else Walsh had a girl baptised, Mary, on the 20th March 1804; this is just two years after the death of the Mary Demspsy on the tombstone at Ahenny, so both girls may have been his daughters, the second Mary being named after the Mary who died in 1802.  The sponsors for this second Mary are given as James Casey and Ally Phelan.  Sadly the registers give us nothing else on Joseph but Mary Dempsey of Ballynacronny re-appears on 6th February 1827 when she marries Richard Burke; her sponsors are Walter Walsh and Mary Nash.   There is another Dempsy family at nearby Castletown in the same parish.  Here Peter Demspy and his wife Catherine Kennedy have several children between 1805-1812. One of them is a boy Joseph baptised 3rd August 1806; sponsors for these children, nearly always relations, are recorded with the name Nash so this family is almost certainly related to Joseph Demspy of Ballynacronny.   Other Dempsys include a girl Honor Dempsy of Ballynacronny; she and her husband Patrick Dunne have a girl baptised, Ally, on 9th October 1813.;the sponsors are given as Michael Casey and Catty Walsh.   A Bridget Dempsy died at Ballinacronny aged 70 years on 17th March 1869 (so she was born 1799.)

Stone No 131 is a very early stone, lying flat and broken into two pieces: the grass will soon over run it entirely.  At the top of the stone is a carving of the sun, pincers and three nails and a ladder, a sponge, a sword, a little hammer, pick and shovel and a cross with the bones of Adam at the bottom.  This carving is beautiful.  The inscription reads  "The body of James Haw Decsd Septbr ye 26 1735 aged 82 yrs.  Also Joan Haw alis Caughlin his wife Decsd Novbr 1733 aged 70 yrs.  Here lies ye body of (here is inset a small carving of a face/skull) John Haw son to Garret Hawe (sic) and grandson to the  above Jaes decsd Janry ye 6 1755 aged 16.  His brother James Haw decsd Janry ye 12th 1755 aged 9".  The amount of family information on this stone is phenomenal: James Haw was born in 1653 and his wife Joan Caughlin in 1663.  Two children of their son Garret are remembered, John born in 1739 and who died in 1755 and James born in 1746 and who died also in 1755.  In addition there are five other stones to this family of Haw/Hawe including one to the above Garret who appears to have died in 1795.

A rubbing of the top of stone No 60 erected to Bridget Comerford who "parted" this life March ye 16the 1756 aged 16 years.  The top pf the stone is most beautifully carved with the crucifixion scene showing amongst other things the coat of many colours, a ladder, a spear, three dice and the cock crowing.  Her parents names are not listed, nor her townland

Index of names which appear on the memorials
Bolger 175, 176
Bourke 171
Brett 53
Brien 101
Byrne 127
Carroll 126
Cass 62
Caughlin 131
Comerford 57, 60
Connelly 86
Cooke 168
Davis 120, 121
Delaney 63
Delany 62
Dempsy 114
Denn 122
Donnell 72
Donovan 112
Doyle 99
Feehan 14
Finisy 51
Frisby 134
Gorman 139
Grincell 175
Haw 127, 131, 137
Hawe 14, 39, 112, 128, 129, 131
Henneberry 154,155
Hennebry 154
Kealy 120
Kiely 162
Kenny 137
Lonergan 45,46,47,48,
McNamara 65
Maddagan 65
Maguyre 13
Maher 94
Mara 135
Martin 121
Meeny 46
Millea 98, 100, 102, 103, 104
Morris 59
Murphy 99
O'Brien 101, 168
O'Danell 67
O'Donnell 72
O'Neill 43.44.84
Palmer 53
Peters 127
Phelan 120
Power 138,155
Reddy 63
Regan 53
Ryan 4, 155
Shea 107
Sweeny 65
Thompson 126
Tobin 137
Walsh 59, 113, 159, 164, 165, 166
White 122

Index to places which appear on the memorials
Aneha  134
Aheney 164
Ahenny 154, 155, 159
Attyjames 48
Austrialia 165, 176
Aylesbury 168
Ballybrunock 59
Bawnreich 122
birchwood 162
Carrick Clogher 155
Carrick on Suir 84, 107, 135, 137, 146, 168
Castlejohn 43,44,98,99,100,102,103
Clasnasmutt 47
Clasnasnutt 45
Clone 121
Clonehea 53
Curraaheen 62
England 168
Gahaduff 67
Inch 94
Kilonerry 168
Mealoughmore 175
Mountain View 168
New York 46
NinemileHouse 39
Santa Monica 112
Sydney 165
Tinnokelly 165, 171
Tinokelly 166
Tinvane 168
USA 46, 112, 171
Windgap 43, 44, 175

List of occupations as shown on the memorials
Rev. (Reverend) 112

Index of Masons who have signed memorials
Disney of Clonmel 98, 112*
Gaffney, Waterford 46**
Molloy, Callan 39, 43, 168
O'Keeffe, Waterford 72
Shea, Callan 165
Notes:
* In the Tipperary Directory of 1889 William Disney had a Marble and Stone Works in Upper Gladstone Street, Clonmel.  
** This is William Gaffney. In the 1877 Directory of Waterford he is listed as a stone cutter and at Waterside.  He is also referred to as a stone cutter in an article in the 1912 edition of the Journal of the Waterford and South East of Ireland Archaeological Society.

Advertisement for the stone mason William Disney of Clonmel in Bassett's 1889 Directory of county Tipperary.

Index of Blacksmiths who have signed memorials
Mackey, Carrick on Suir (metal cross) 146
Note  In the Tipperary Directory for 1889 Thomas F Mackey of Main Street, Carrick on Suir, is shown as running a Grocer and Hardware Store.

Details from The Illustrated London News for Sept 23rd 1848 of the uprising around Ahenny and the adjoining Slate Quarries

Ballyhale Parish Church and graveyard, county Kilkenny

According to Carrigan this is called in Irish Bolia-hael or Hale's Town or Howel's Town.  He says  that there can be no doubt that the name is derived from the Walshs, amongst whom Hale or Howel was known to have been a Christian name. Orignally it formed part of Kiltorcan.  Ballyhale's separation from Kiltorcan meant that the new townland of Ballyhale took in the church of Kiltorcan and the actual old townland of Kiltorcan was left without a church.  The ancient church of Kiltorcan was then officially situated in Ballyhale and since the Reformation Ballyhale and Kiltorcan formed part of the civil parish of Derrynahinch.  The current church at Ballyhale was rebuilt several times but sits on the same site as the old mediaeval church.  All that remains of the ancient church is a square tower at the west end which formerly served as a presbytery. Over the entrance door to this tower is a niche containing a statue of the Virgin and Child and also a shield bearing the Butler arms.  St Torcan was once the patron saint of the old church but Carrigan says that the presence of the statues of the Virgin and Child means the church was transferred to the Mother of God.  The present church was re-built in 1855 by Archdeacon O'Shea who dedicated it to St. Martin of Tours.

There are two ancients fonts, one baptismal and fluted at the front and ornamented at the top which  are now used as Holy Water fonts.  Carrigan does not say where they came from but Owen O'Kelly in Kilkenny: A History of the County. Kilkenny Archaeological Society (1969), states that they came from the old ruined church at Derrynahinch but he does not give any attribution for this statement.

Despite the early nature of the site no early dated memorial was found.  The earliest dated stone is 1809/1810 and there is nothing at all from the 17th or 18th centuries.  There are 22 memorials dating 1850 or earlier; some of these early stones are beautifully carved and at least two of these early stone stones are signed by the mason.

 Other early stones are 1815, 1817(x3), 1818, 1820, 1827, 1829, 1830(x2), 1839, 1840(x2), 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, and 1850(x2).   Lewis's Topographical Survey of Ireland (1837) says that Ballyhale contained 69 houses and 369 inhabitants and was one mile from Knocktopher.   It also stated that the parochial RC chapel was a neat building and gave its name to the Union and district comprising the parishes of Derrynahinch, Knocktopher, Aughavillar, Kilkeasy, plus parts of Burnchuch, Jerpoint and Kells. and at that time this district also contained 4 other chapels besides a friary chapel.   The lateness of the stones at Ballyhale is interesting as we found that two burials here in Ballyhale both mention on the stones(Nos 34 & 50) that this was the first burial for the family in this grave; indicating that the traditional burial place for those families had been, up to that time, elsewhere, perhaps in one of the places mentioned above.  This also indicates just how important the traditional family burial place was to the families concerned. There are at least two old stones with inscriptions or carvings on the back of the stones (Nos 14 & 58).  The graveyard has a large grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes which is near the side gate. There are 161 memorials here.

The side gate near Our Lady's grotto; the top of the gate has a high polish to it from the number of hands that have slid across it to open and shut the gate.

This has been initialled by the blacksmith that made it but we have not yet identified who he was.

Stone at the back of No 101. Front of the stone is also dedicated to John O'Shea of Ballyhale

The statue of Our Lady and Child high above the entrance door to the tower and now obscured by greenery. The Butler Coat of Arms can be seen below.,

The wonderful iron work on the main entrance gates to the graveyard.  The Blacksmith who made the gates is not identified .

Not found on a memorial in this graveyard is James Flanagan who died at Ballyhale 14th April 1859 and was buried there on the 16th April 1859 but he lies in an unmarked grave.  Why is he important?  The small disused sandstone quarry at Kiltorcan is famous for its giant fossil ferns and fossilised primitive plants; in fact Kiltorcan is one of the classic sites for Irish Geology.  James Flanagan was the man who discovered these in 1851 when mapping Kilkenny for the Geological Survey of Ireland. The following tribute was found to him in The Athenaeum No 1643 April 23rd 1859:   The Geological Survey of Ireland has lost a humble but zealous and useful follower in the person of James Flanagan who died on 14th April at Ballyhale, county Kilkenny.  He was long attached to the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, particularly the Geological branch of it under the present General Portlock, and acted as fossil collector to the Geological Survey from the time when it was made a separate department.....down to the present day. He was the discoverer of the Oldhamia of the Cambrian rocks (so called as Flanagan named this new find in honour of Professor Oldham, then local Director of the Survey), of the Kiltorcan fossils in the Upper part of the Old Red Sandstone and many other fossils rare and new to science.  

A portrait of James Flanagan with the tools of his trade.  This was drawn on 9th September 1856 by George Victor du Noyer (1817-1869), a geologist, antiquary and artist.  The portrait was sketched at Ferriter's Cove, county Kerry. It is reproduced here with the kind permission of the British Geological Survey.

According to North From the Hook by Gordon L Herries Davies, Geological Survey of Ireland 1995, James Flanagan probably started work with the GSI in 1845 having previously worked on the Ordnance Survey Triangulation of Ireland.  Both General Portlock and Sir Henry James (Director of the GSI) had high opinions of Flanagan's abilities. He was the senior of the fossil collectors and was  "an honest, industrious and accurate observer - a very useful fellow and a capital collector".    To quote again from the above book "A certain pathos surrounds Flanagan who died as it were on active service. During the summer of 1858 he was taken ill whilst collecting at the famous Kiltorcan site.  He was then lodging at Ballyhale with one Richard Ruith and was tended by Bridget Ruith, the daughter of the house.  He expired at 5am on the 14th April 1859. The then local Director of the GSI Joseph Beete Jukes came down to see his long term employee but arrived too late on the same day.  Jukes stayed in Ballyhale to attend the funeral on the 16th April which was in the nearby Catholic burial ground.  He then went straight to Ruith's house and in the presence of an RIC sergeant went through Flanagan's effects; he had very little, some letters and papers, a few books, a pistol and a gold watch and chain of very inferior workmanship and quality".  According to the records James Flanagan, was paid 5/- per day.
Index of names appearing on the memorials
Ade 74
Aylward 23,24,28,33
Baker 22, 153
Barron 19
Barry 34
Beck 48
Bookle 146
Breen 56
Brennan 61, 81
Brett 127
Brophy 25, 103, 120
Butler 86, 109
Burke 99
Byrne 8, 79, 102
Cahill 80
Callaghan 112
Campion 136
Carr 26
Carroll 34,51,53,55
Cass 125
Cassin 22
Cleary 79
Coady 88, 147
Cody 20
Collins 121, 143, 144
Comerford 143
Conway 121
Corcoran 14, 66, 90, 105
Costelloe 3, 133
Crowley 54
Dalton 96, 151
Daly 2
Darmody 33
Davis 84, 134
Delany 37
Delaney 70, 147
Dempsey 64, 84
Doody 113
Doyle 82
Drea 66
Dreay 98
Drennan 92
Duggan 74, 125, 152
Dwyer 123
Egan 85
Everit 15
Fennelly 104, 115, 126
Fitzgerald 17
Fitzpatrick 32, 39, 76, 150
Flanagan (no number as no memorial)
Fleming 29, 96
Foley 7
Forin 59
Fowler 12
Garland 158
Gaule 47, 60
Gleeson 4
Gorey 30
Grace 127
Griffin 63
Hanrahan 120
Hawe 18, 96
Hayes 12, 13, 93
Heaslip 38
Heffernan 65
Henneberry 71
Hennebry 148
Hession 113
Hickey 1
Hoban 49
Holden 5, 57, 120, 154
Holahan 35
Hoyne 59, 85, 93, 126
Keeffe 33, 95
Kelly 11, 45
Keneally 141
Kenny 21, 86
Keran 40
Kerins 157
Kearns 41, 158
Kiely 43, 72
Kirwan 156
Laherty 139
Lanigan 46
Long 11,14, 23, 25, 27, 105, 121, 125, 145
Mackey 137
McBride  4
McCarthy 26
McDonagh 139
McDonald 107
McGrath 87
McStay 16
Maher 125
Mason 161
Meighan 100
Menton 106
Moloney 9
Morrissey 119
Moynihan 106
Mulhall 71
Murphy 20, 22, 29, 34, 45, 50, 52, 53, 54, 75, 89, 92, 120, 128
O'Brien 112, 155
O'Connor 44
O'Donnell 79
O'Donoghue 158
O'Farrell 151
O feargail 77
O'Keeffe 36, 38, 42, 57, 71, 73, 96, 136, 138
O'Neill 9, 30, 52, 85, 149, 156
O'Shea 46, 88, 100, 101, 125
O'Sullivan 79, 130, 142
Pendergast 135
Phelan 11, 135, 159
Power 28, 31, 108
Prendergast 93
Purcil 15
Quinlan 27
Quinn 58, 107
Raftice 36, 37
Reade 17
Reid 148
Ring 84
Roche 97
Ryan 116, 131
Sarsfield 2
Shefflin 10
Tierney 25
Tobin 94
Walsh 5, 6, 29, 36, 37, 47, 48, 55, 57, 58 ,61, 83, 85, 91, 95, 98, 140, 145, 152
Walshe 114
Wemys 118
Whelan 110, 111
White 129, 131
Woods 124

List of places appearing on the memorials
Ball..... 99
Ballina 54
Ballinaboola 145
Ballybray 23, 105, 107
Ballyhale 3,4,5,8,10,12,28,29,30,32,34,35,43,46,51,52,53,57,61,67,71,75,76,81,82,83,87,93,100, 101,102,103,104,106,111,114,120,121,125,127,128,130,138,140,141,142,152,153,156
Ballyvatteen 47
Bawnskeha 19
Bawnskehy 33
Cappaghhayden 46,
Carrigeen 85
Cashgannon 46
Castlebanny 7,63,64,115,121,123,126
Castle Banny 48
Castlecolumb 147
Chicago 1,144
Clodagh 16
Coolmeen 11,41,80,111,130,133,137,145,159
Coolmine 40
Coolmore 6, 39
Coppanagh 23, 24
Cotterstown 110
Crowbally 94
Danganmore 90
Deansrath 89
Derrynahinch 29,33,48,91, 98
Dublin 38, 102, 110
Dunkitt 134
England 110
Floodhall 45, 113
Garnaman 17
Gorrue 92
Graiguenamanagh 24
Gyles Quay 29
Haggard 25
Hugginstown 79
Jerpoint Abbey 125
Jerpoint Church 121
Kells 17,58, 96, 100
Kilcurl 14, 139, 151
Kilfera 149
Kilkeasy 109
Killaloe 46
Killarney 112
Kilmacow 134
Kilmoganny 26
Kiltorcan 18, 38, 43, 50, 66, 72, 118, 144, 148, 161
Kiltorkan 36
Kiltorken 37
Kiltorkin 135
Knockdrinna 57
Knocktopher 39, 46,11,119,147
Knockwilliam 9,73,88,95,97,105,141,143
Knockwilliam House 46
London 105
Lower Haggard 105
Monarue 15,42
Moonarue 19
Mooncoin 158
Mullinavat 94, 136
New Church 26
New Orleans 50
New York 36, 85
Nicholastown 158
Oakwood 149
Ossory 46
Poorshill 110
Raialugh 20
St Mary's Kilkenny 46
Sheepstown 13,131
Sheestown 130, 131
Shortlestown 108
Stonecarthy 108
Station House 156
Templemore 110
The Rower 36,41
Thomastown 48,112,121
Thomastown Rd 128
Tipperary 110
Tullow 106
USA 1,110
Waterford 56

List of occupations mentioned on the memorials
Archdeacon 46
Bishop 46
Canon 76
Monseignor (Mgr) 61
National Teacher 100,142
Nun 151
Parish Priest 35,75,76,77 (in Irish), 81, 82, 83
Rev. 36, 41, 75,76,81,82,83
Solicitor 54
SRN (State Registered Nurse)
Teacher 142

List of Masons who have signed the memorials (as their names appear on the stones)
Byrne Memorials,New Ross 147
Byrne, New Ross 27
R.Colles, Kilkenny 46
Collins, Wat (Waterford) 108
Dwyer, Kilkenny 142
Gargan 28,71,73,114,139
Gargan Bros, Kilkenny 52, 83
Gargan Kilkenny 41, 82, 85, 159
Gargan, Walkin St, Kilkenny 119
M. Gargan & Brot, Kilkenny 90
Keeffe, Kilkenny 49
P.K.Malone sculpt, Kilkenny 86
Molloy 109, Molloy, Callan 1,5,6,23,26,30,38,42,44,60,64,81,94,97,102, 126, 128, 130, 133, 156,161
Molloy, Callan and Tullaroan 8, 76 (and probably 75)
Molloy, Kilkenny 144
Mullan 115
Mullan, Kilkenny 39,72,110,111,138,148,161
O’Conċubair darṁaġ. Laois. 77
O'Donnell, Philip St, Watd (Waterford), 125
O'Keeffe 132
R.O'Keeffe 6,7
R.O'Keeffe of Kilkenny 31
R.O'Keeffe, Waterford 32, 92
R.O'Keeffe, Lady Lane, Wat (Waterford) 91
O'Shea, Callan 36

Sheepstown Graveyard, Parish of Aghavillar, county Kilkenny

This is a small walled graveyard surrounding an old Celtic church in total ruins.

 You will see the sign for the graveyard on the left after leaving Knocktopher village in the direction of Hugginstown , and crossing over a roundabout that will take you onto the new motorway to Cork.  According to Carrigan, the date of the ruin is uncertain but it supposed to be earlier than the ruined church at Kilkeasy and Kilkeasy dates to before the Norman invasion of 1172.  The patron saint of  the church at Sheepstown is St Muicin of Maiglin, a Bishop, whose festival used to be celebrated here on the 4th March.  Before the Reformation Sheepstown church belonged to the Priory of Kells.  Sheepstown Castle was occupied here by the Rothe family in the 17th century and subsequently by the Catholic Shees until about 1770.  The Castle was later demolished by a subsequent owner named Kelly.   The burial place of the Catholic Shee family is not here at Sheepstown but at nearby Derrynahinch  (see our posting on 23rd Feb 2016 of Derrynahinch Graveyard, Parish of Ballyhale  for details of the Shee internments).

This very small graveyard is beautifully maintained.  Family lore of the Barron family who own the farm and land where the church is situated and whose family has been here from the 19th century states quite invincibly that the small field from the road to the old graveyard was used as a famine graveyard in the 1840s during the Great Famine.  For this reason this piece of land has never been ploughed, nor cattle allowed to churn up the soil.  

 A beautifully written book by the BBC War Correspondent, Fergal Keane, called Wounds (William Collins 2017), describes how in his native Kerry, at Teampallin Ban on the edge of Listowel, under whose thick summer grass lay the bones of the Famine dead, he was told by his father that this was hungry grass.  He was told  "walk on the graves and you would always be hungry".   Here in Sheepstown is a related family tradition and a continued respect for the unnamed Famine dead.  Sadly they are always with us.

There are only 7 memorials here. These are:-
1. Large Celtic Cross decorated with bunches of grapes and with crown of thorns in the centre..  Erected by Mary Barron, Sheepstown in loving memory of her husband John Barron 10th January 1954, Marian Year, aged 60 years.  His brother Walter died 2nd Feb 1973 aged 73. The above Mary Barron died 26th Oct 1985 aged 92. RIP.
2. This is a large plot.  In Memory of Bob and Lizzie Boyle, Maggie Hughes, Willie and Nick Kinahan. And their parents. Eileen Kinahan nee Fitzgerald wife of the above Willie died 18th Feb 2007 aged 85 yrs.  RIP.
3. In loving memory of William Voss born 19th Jan 1920, died 11th April 1980.  His brother Michael born 9th February 1916 died 30th Dec 1984.  Michael's son Patrick Joseph born 7th July 1965 died 12th November 1985. Michael's wife Nora born 23rd April 1935 died 27th June 1999. RIP. VOSS.
4.This is an upright headstone in a kerbed plot.  In loving memory of Catherine Cuddihy, Croan died 18th Nov 1948. James Cuddihy died 7th Nov 1959. Ann Cuddihy died 5th Jan 1962. Peter Cuddihy died 6th Jan 1979, James O'Shea died 31st July 1979. His wife Jospehine O'Shea nee Cuddihy died 10th May 2008.
5. Old stone with IHS and Gloria scroll.   Erected by Laurence Lee of Newmarket in memory of his father John Lee who depd this life Febry 7th 1801 aged 90 years.  Also his daughter Mary who died Decr 21st 1805 aged 18 years. Edmond Lee died Jan 24th 1896 aged 86 years.  His wife Ellen Lee nee Funcheon died April 22nd 1911 aged 88 years. Also their son John Lee who died March 22nd 1928 aged 70 years. May their Souls Rest in Peace Amen
6. God be merciful to the Soul of Bridget Purcell alias Dullahanty who depd this life the 25th April 1796 aged 32 years.  Also her father Jno Dullahanty who departed this life in the year 1790 aged 64 years.  Erected by her husband Jno Purcell of Jurpoynt.
7.Upright stone.  Erected by Richard Leahy of Sheepstown in memory of his father James Leahy died 5th Decr 1852 aged 72 years. His mother Mary Leahy died 17th June 1851 aged 65 years. Requiescant in Pace Amen.

The almost illegible Leahy stone but note the elegant and beautiful carved top with scrolls This would have been an expensive stone in its day. 

Names recorded on the memorials
Barron 1
Boyle 2
Cuddihy 4
Dullahanty 6
Funcheon 5
Hughes 2
Kinahan 2
Leahy 7
Lee 5
O'Shea 4
Purcell 6
Voss 3


Places recorded on the memorials
Croan 4
Jurpoynt 6
Newmarket 5
Sheepstown 1,7.

An interested observer!

St Mary's Church and Graveyard, Thomastown, county Kilkenny

As part of the Kilkenny Heritage Week events held in August 2018 we were honoured to be invited to give a guided tour of the memorials in the ancient graveyard and former church at St Mary's, Thomastown.  There has been a church on this site from 13th century but the present building dates from only 1818, so this was the 200th anniversary of its erection. The church building is now a private residence and we thank the owners for their generous hospitality, both to us and to the people who, despite the rain, turned out for the tour.  Thank you!  It was great to see you all including two ladies from Canada, Reverley and her daughter Camryn,  who were on a search for the burial places of their Kilkenny ancestors.

This is a graveyard with both Catholic and Protestant burials.  There are 225 memorials in all which includes 30 markers which record a burial place but without the person being identified.  The site is very old and has 13 ledger slabs or parts of ledger slabs.  There are five memorials dating from the 17th century and 32 from the 18th century.  There are 31 memorials dating from between 1800-1850. 

A display of some of Bernie's rubbings of 17th century memorials

And the dog came too!

Viewing some of Bernie's  rubbings of 17th century memorials carved with symbols of the Passion

One of our favourite stones erected by Captain Christopher O'Connor of Philadelphia in memory of his parents.

View of some of the memorials now erected in the entrance hall of the former church

The next day, we were happy to help Reverly and Camryn find some of their Raftice family headstones in Derrynahinch, Knocktopher and Ballyhale; they also got a quick tour of the Carrickshock Memorial as their people had been involved in  the battle of Carrickshock and the Tithe War of 1831.  They got quite a baptism of fire into the basic fieldwork we do, crossing fields of cows, dealing with lethal stinging nettles and thistles and also the irritating biting ants......but we all had fun and we were sorry to see them go on their way back to Dublin to catch their flight to Canada.  Come back soon!  We have actually had a really busy summer and have accumulated quite a bit of interesting material.  We will start posting some of these graveyards soon.  

We also wish to thank people for their kind comments about our article on Kilkenny Graveyards and tombstones which had just appeared in Irish Roots, 2018 Third Quarter  (issue No 107).   Thank you very much!

Famma Graveyard, Parish of Thomastown, county Kilkenny. Part 1: O'Gorman of Ballyduff.

Famma was once a parish in its own right consisting of one townland of only 492 acres, called Brownsbarn.   There is a small ruined church within the walled graveyard.

It is not an easy graveyard to access, although there is occasionally a tantalising glimpse of the graveyard from the Thomastown to Inistioge road; the route in is not straightforward and has evidently not been accessed for years. What once must have been a pathway to the graveyard is now overgrown and the way not  at all obvious. 

This small graveyard is very unkempt and untidy and has no modern burials.  But it has now revealed some of its treasures to us even though we have not yet finished surveying the graveyard.

The most fascinating memorial is now lying flat on the ground just outside the ruined church and is somewhat exposed to the weather.  This reads "This stone was erected in memory of Michael O'Gorman who lost his life on 9th July 1841 in the city of Candahar, Bombay.  He rests beneath a silent tomb, deprived of life in early manhood, not by the valiant on the (indecipherable) but by a coward's deadly weapon slain, far from his home in Ireland, he fell by the assassin's hand, whilst his (indecipherable) name shall (indecipherable) as peace win, thousands his untimely fate shall mourn and let each Christian hope ere his ashes lie, that his eternal soul has towered above the sky.   Here lie interred the remains of his brother Terrance O'Gorman who departed this life March 6th 1826 aged 24.  His sister Anastasia died Augt 1st 1838 aged 18 yrs.  His father Denis Gorman died March 27th 1842 aged 77 years. May they rest in peace Amen".    It is interesting that both O'Gorman and Gorman have been used on the same stone but apart from that minor point this memorial presented us with quite a few challenges.   Candahar (now spelt Kandahar) is in Afghanistan and is nowhere near Bombay.  And just how and why had this young man been assassinated?


The Internet can work wonders and produced the following explanation from an unsigned letter in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, 1841,  "The victim was a highly respected man, a Mr O'Gorman who had been employed as a writer to Major Todd on his mission to Herat. O'Gorman was quietly walking up one of the streets in Candahar which was rather crowded with natives. It was in a street leading to the citadel when an Afghan made up to him and thrust his chuco (sic) or native knife into his abdomen. Before he could repeat the thrust a sepoy of the 38th Native Infantry laid him low with a blow of a lattee (sic) on the temple and immediately secured him. He was then carried before the Political Agent and before I had time to reach my quarters I heard the report of a gun which blew him to a thousand pieces". 


The Freeman's Journal for Friday 12 November 1841 supplied the following further information when they published in full a letter addressed to Michael O'Gorman's sister Mrs Murphy of Northumberland Avenue, Kingstown, Dublin, from C.F. North, Lieutenant Bombay Engineers, Assistant Political Agent at Candahar.   The letter is dated Candahar July 29th 1841. " Dear Madam. it has been my painful duty to communicate to you the melancholy intelligence of the death of your brother, Michael O'Grady Gorman, who fell a victim to the knife of an assassin in the streets of this city on the morning of the 24th instant.  Your brother was returning from his usual morning's walk, when a fanatic who had come in from the country on purpose to murder some European officer to which he had been excited by the Mullahs, seeing no other victim nearby and being misled by the genteel appearance of your brother, plunged the knife into his heart. The murderer was immediately secured, and almost instantaneously blown to atoms from the mouth of a gun.  This is not the only instance of the kind in this hostile country.  Your brother lingered from seven till noon when he expired.  I received his last wishes, and read the burial service over him (there being no clergyman here the same evening) and having had everything done to his remains that his family could have wished.   He had been some time under orders here, and at Heraut, and I assure you, no one can regret his loss more than I do, as his good conduct and qualities, far superior to those usually found in men in his situation, entitled him to the respect and confidence of his superiors.  As soon as his affairs have been arranged, I will write to you again and let you know the amount of his estate which he desired to be sent to his mother - a few articles which he wished to be sent to your address will be taken by Major Lynch to Dublin, two or three months hence, who will inform you of his arrival at Kingstown or Dublin.  The articles are coins, gems, a watch, the knife of the assassin, a portrait in pen and ink of your brother, done by himself, and testimonials from the different officers under whom your brother served.   I shall have a tomb erected over your brother's grave and shall have a blank slab left for any inscription which you might wish to have carved on it.   To you I leave the painful task of breaking this affecting intelligence to the members of your family and of offering them consolation under their bereavement.  I will not attempt to describe my own feeling or those of all who knew your brother.  It is awful to see one in the pride of life and prime of manhood this suddenly, and without provocation, sent into the presence of his Maker by the knife of an assassin and veterans familiar with battle and sudden death, stand horror-struck at such an occurrence.  With every expression of sympathy in your grief and of consolation under this affliction, believe me, my dear Madam, yours faithfully C.F. North, Lieut. Bombay Engineers, Assistant Political Agent, Candahar."


The following extract from The Dublin Evening News 8th November 1841 adds a little more information and is under the heading  India - Murder of Mr O'Gorman - The only news we have from the north-west is the following letter dated 26th July giving an account of the murder of Mr O'Gorman at Candahar,   " I lament to inform you that a most respectable and well conducted European met with his death yesterday from the hands of a murderous Afghan.  He was a Mr O'Gorman who had accompanied Major Todd on his mission to Herat in capacity as writer, and who remained here on that officer's departure for Hindoostan.   He was quietly taking his morning walk  through the Chasons(sic) when the villain, watching his opportunity, quietly walked up to him and buried his murderous chaco (sic) in his bowels.....the poor unoffending European survived but a few hours, when he expired from internal hemorrhage........the felon......stated that there were seven more men in the city who had bound themselves by oath on the Koran to destroy every European they could meet with, having an opportunity."


Lady Florentina Sale (1790-1853), wife of Sir Robert Sale, a courageous and indomitable lady, kept a diary during her capture as a hostage by the Afghans during the 1st Afghan war. This was published as A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan 1841-1842.  In this she wrote a further illuminating insight into the career of Michael O'Gorman.  "...............is a man of bad character; he has lately got himself into bad repute by writing letters to the newspapers under the signature of "Sharpe".  He was also connected with a man by the name of O'Grady Gorman in a correspondence with the Russians; which was proved by a letter found amongst the papers of the latter after his murder in Candahar".   This would seem to imply that Michael O'Gorman was spying for the Russians but I have found no further information about this.  


The National Archives, London produced a copy of the Administration of the effects of Michael O'Grady Gorman, dated 7th June 1843.  In this he is described as a bachelor, formerly of Ballyduff in Kilkenny, afterwards a private in the 2nd Brigade Horse Artillery, East India Company, but late of Candahar in Afghanistan. Died 24th July 1841. His estate of £200 was granted to his widowed mother Eleanor Gorman. The mother stated that he had been secretary to Major Todd at Candahar. 


The Roman Catholic Baptism Registers for Inistioge start in December 1810 and for Marriages from January 1827 which is not that helpful for this family but the following family tree has been compiled using information from these Registers, the tombstone at Famma and from the Administration of his estate.  The parents of Michael O'Gorman were Denis Gorman (1765-1842) and Eleanor O'Grady (still alive in 1843):-
a) Michael - date of birth not known. Killed in Afghanistan July 1841.
b) Miss Gorman - date of birth not known but married Mr Murphy and living in Kingstown in 1841.
c) Terrence born 1802. Died 16th March 1824. Buried Famma.
d) James baptised March 2nd 1812.  Sponsored: Patt Ayward and Judith Hill. Ballyduff.
e) Patrick baptised 16th February 1814. Sponsors: Catherine Lee and Edmd Kenedy. Ballyduff.
f) Anastasia baptised 13th Dec 1818. Sponsors: Robert Madigan and (-----) Cody. Died 1stAugust 1838.  Buried Famma.


This O'Gorman family were not wealthy.  The Tithe Applotments for Inistioge taken in 1829 has Denis Gorman renting two small pieces of 3rd class land at Ballyduff, both of I acre, 6 perches.  Their relatively modest circumstances might be the reason why they thought that Candahar was near Bombay, although the fact that the letter of condolence came from an officer in the Bombay Engineers might have confused the matter.   Michael O'Gorman himself must have been well educated and certainly held in high esteem by his officers - that is until they discovered the letter in his papers indicating communication with the Russians.   Somewhere in Kilkenny the assassin's knife may still survive - it seems a strange thing to send home to the grieving family.  And possibly the pen and ink portrait may also survive.   Perhaps someone out there may know - we would love to hear more.........


We have tried to find transcriptions for the Military Cemetery at Candahar in the hope of locating the tomb mentioned by Lieutenant North but have drawn a blank. We did find a photograph of the cemetery taken in 1880s showing plenty of memorials, but not one transcription.  Such memorials can be listed in the records of the former India Office Library (now at the British Library), on the British Families in India website or on Eileen Hewson's wonderful site about Irish Graves in the Far East (www.kabristan.co.uk).  The Hon. Secretary for the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia has kindly searched their records which report "There is a large enclosed cemetery in Kandahar holding about 500 graves but without a single marker".  He suggests that the Army may have deliberately left  the cemetery without any markers or headstones as they expected any such markers to be destroyed by the Afghans after the British Army withdrew. 


Famma Graveyard Part 2 will follow soon.