Derrynahinch Graveyard, Parish of Ballyhale

The small graveyard of Derrynahinch lies well off the beaten track down a remote country lane and  is accessed across a field that may have cattle in it..  It is not always visible from the lane but the small gate onto the lane has a cross on it - always a sign that a graveyard is within  The graveyard lies within the Roman Catholic Parish of Ballyhale.  This is a very old walled graveyard with a ruined mid 12th century church; it appears neglected but a Mass is said here annually. It is full of uninscribed stone grave markers, fallen and broken stones and rabbit warrens; the terrain can be uneven in parts,   Bernie and I surveyed the graveyard in August 2011 and at that time there were 33 memorials visible: the earliest headstone dates form 1710.

The names appearing on the headstones are:-

Anderson, Aylward, Barron, Brenan, Brennan, Clooney, Cody, Doran, Dwyer, Everit, Fagan, Forestall, Foristall, Forstall, Grant, Hanrahan, Hicky, Holden, Holehan ,Holihan, Holohan, Kearen, Kirk, Lahey, Madigan, Maguire, Maher, Moresy  Morisy, Mullan,  Murphy, O'Gorman, O'Keeffe, O'Neill, O'Sullivan, Raftis, Reid, Ryan, Walsh, Walshe, Welsh.   All the spelling is copied exactly from the headstones. 

The places recorded on the memorials are:-

Ballyconway, Ballybray, Baunskeha, Carrick on Suir, Castlebanny, Castlecosker, Castlegannon, Derrynahinch, Derrynahinch House, Kilcarrig (Carlow), Kilcullen, Kilbline, Kilkeasy, Kilmacshane, Kiltorcan, Knockmoylan, Knocktopher, Sheepstown.

The Kilkenny Board of Health and Public Assistance Register of Internments for Derrynahinch records 31 burials in the period 1941 -2006.   11 people recorded in the Internment Register as being buried at Derrynahinch in this period do not appear on any headstone. These people died between 1941-1964; all people dying after 1967 appear on a headstone.   Interestingly though some people recorded on headstones within the same period (1941-2006) are NOT in the Internment Register so have not been buried here despite being recorded on a headstone.  In the case for example of the O'Sullivan headstone 2 people have been recorded on the headstone who are not in the Internment Register, but the headstone only give the dates of death without recording where that death took place or where that person might be buried.    The caretaker or registrar has sometimes recorded the incorrect spelling of a surname such as Reade for Reid.

But wait!   There are yet more people buried here, that we know about, without headstones or any memorial.  The following is taken from the The Power O'Shee Papers(J.F. Ainsworth) in Analecta Hibernica No 20 1958, pages 216-258.  A list of births and deaths taken out of my father's William Shee's prayer book, written by him and by his father James Shee of Derrynahinch - notes by Mary Kennedy (August 31 1759) born Shee.   These births and deaths start in 1684 and in all there are 50 entries but I have only recorded those referring to burials at Derrynahinch. The spelling is as given in the notebook.

No 26.  My son George was born March 5th 1738. The child being weak was christened by Father James Prendergast, a Carmelite Friar.......My son died 10th June following and is buried near the vault in which my father lies at Derrynehinch.

No 28. My daughter Margaret was born 6th December 1743......my said daughter died the 8th September following  and is buried at Derrynehinch.

No 30.  Father Mark Shee died 10th April 1734 and is buried at Derrynehinch.

No 31.  My sister Margaret Lennon died 6th June 1734 in childbed. The Lord be merciful to her soul . And is intered in Derrynehinch.

No  37.  Monday 31st December 1753, my cossin Captain John Henesy of Bulkeley's Regt., died at Sheepstown of an obstruction in his livers and is buried at Derrynehinch.  Pray God have mercy on his soul. ( Bulkeley's Regiment was one of the Irish Regiments in the French Army.  The Battle of Fontenoy was fought in 1745 and it was thanks to men of the six Irish Regiments forming the Irish Brigade that the French were successful in defeating the British at this battle). Elsewhere there is another note "Captain John Hennesy who lies at Derrynehinch without a stone to mark where he rests was one of those who composed Balkeys (sic) Regiment at Fontenoy."

No 41.  January 13th 1756, my daughter Kennedy was brought to bed of a son called John....the said child died and is buried at Derry.

No 46.   My dear sister Eliza Clarke died May 15th 1762......and is buried in the churchyard at Derryhinch by the side of the vault.  May she rest in peace.

No 47.  My dearest father William Shee of Sheepstown departed this life 26th July 1758 being St Anne's Day, in the 64th year of his age......He lies buried in the vault that is in Derryhinch churchyard in which vault his father and mother was laid.

No 49.   My dearest Mother, Mrs Mary Shee departed this life May 30th 1773....in the 73th of her age....She is buried by my father's side in the churchyard of Derryhinch.

There is now absolutely no sign of the Shee vault but it must lie near the church. Perhaps the entrance to the vault was a flat flagstone that is now completely covered up.  The vault may also have been full and therefore sealed up.

Online Kilkenny Burial Ground Mapping

Kilkenny has about 400 graveyards and burial places with the county boundaries and these have been mapped and listed by Kilkenny County Council and Kilkenny City Council.   Information about these graveyards provides identification for each graveyard such as name, its address, the diocese and the barony in which it is located, the denomination and whether open or now closed for further burials.  Critically it lists historical details about the graveyard with bibliographic details should you need to check further.  The owner of the graveyard is also noted; this is important since most graveyards, once you have located them on the ground, have no welcoming notices giving either the name of the graveyard, nor the name of the owner.  Responsibility for a graveyard might be vested in the Board of Health, the Kilkenny County or City Council, the Church of Ireland, the Catholic Church or the Board of Works.   Some graveyards are on private property such as the one at Newtown Jerpoint.   And some ancient graveyards and burial plots are listed even if there are no longer any surface traces of burials
Historic graveyards form an important part of the social history of the county, and they contain a vast amount of architectural and archaeological artefacts.  The Historic Graveyard Grant Scheme policy is to conserve and protect historic graveyards and churches within county Kilkenny and to encourage their maintenance in accordance with conservation principles and as resources allow.  Most historic graveyards are afforded legal protection through the National Monuments (Amendments) Acts or the Planning Development Acts.
You can search online for a graveyard for up to 5 kilometres from any Kilkenny location or address, using the name of the town, townland or a street name.   The resultant overview map and graveyard list allows you to click on a graveyard for a further window to open showing a site location map, based on Ordnance Survey maps, as well as an aerial picture to further identify the precise location.  All this may be found at http://kilkennycoco.ie - then go to the A-Z directory, then Digital Mapping, then Google Mapping Allocations, then Burial Grounds Mapping Application.  This is a digitalised and interactive version of The Historic Graveyards of Kilkenny City and County: an inventory.  Kilkenny Local Authorities. December. 2005.  A Joint City and County Project.
It is a lot of fun using this finding aid and don't forget to take your boots with you if searching on the ground; many graveyards can be very uneven underfoot.

The Kilkenny Graveyard Blog

Bernie Kirwan and I have been working on recording graveyards in Kilkenny for some years.   We both have a deep interest in Kilkenny genealogy and family history; the information recorded on headstones is vitally useful in discovering more information about our ancestors.  It is not just the names and dates that are inscribed on memorials that are important.  Memorials and tombstones provide all kinds of other information if you give yourself time to discover it.   The size and position of the headstone is all important, often telling us about the family's status in society or where they thought they should be in that society, which is not necessarily the same thing.  The type of stone used and the carving will provide yet more information; for example has the headstone been carved professionally, with correct spelling and adequate spacing for letters on the stone? Who is recorded on the stone and who not?  For example the wives may not always be mentioned; does this mean they are buried elsewhere; perhaps sent back to their father's family grave plot?  There are reason why this might happen and don't assume that the wife mentioned on a headstone was necessarily the only wife - she may be a second or third wife.  A careful examination of the wording used on the stone may yield yet further information.   Long eulogies, often dismissed as unimportant or never transcribed, tell us information the person who erected the memorial wanted to impart; it may or may not be entirely accurate. Poetry and simple prayers inscribed on memorials or headstones can tell us about the educational standards of the erector and the surviving family and also reveal their emotions and how they wanted those emotions to be perceived by people viewing the memorial.  One long eulogy in the beautiful graveyard at Columcill, just outside Thomastown, ends with a verse from Alexander Pope although the poet is not acknowledged; this tells us that the person erecting this early 19th century Duigan memorial was reading books of poetry, perhaps from a circulating library or perhaps owning some books and popular literary magazines of the day. 

We collect details about the masons working in Kilkenny, their various styles and how ideas, designs and decorations have been copied from one graveyard to another and down the centuries.   We are interested too in the commemorative stained glass windows in churches, in  memorials made in the forges, in coffin rests, in killeens (the place of burial for unbaptised children and strangers to the parish), in roadside memorials which in Kilkenny date from the mid 17th century until the current day, in mausoleums; in short everything to do with burial traditions in the county.

We will look also at the history of the people buried in these graveyards. A large armorial plaque on the wall of the ruined nave at St Mary's Gowran, had puzzled us both.  The erudite Gerard Crotty, a specialist in Irish heraldry, on seeing the plaque immediately identified the armorial as representing O'Flaherty.  And what, we thought, was O'Flaherty doing in this far east in Kilkenny? Galway is O'Flaherty territory.    It was, of course an advantageous marriage, that had made an ancestor travel so far east.  Another mural stone, broken in two pieces with a large section missing almost solved the puzzle - both stones had obviously been moved and were separate from each other.  This second stone reads that here are deposited the remains of Thomas O'Flaherty, of noble ancestry, of unblemished honour, esteemed and respected, a lover of virtue and a friend of mankind.  Thomas died in 1778 aged 44 years.  Fine.  But there is a very interesting account of the murder of this Thomas O'Flaherty by his wife Susanna Bourke and their son's tutor Thomas Lonergan.   In this account Susanna is described as having "no charm of appearance or address and of being indescribably repulsive in manners".  The details of the marriage contract must have been very advantageous for Thomas O'Flaherty to take on the said Susanna. (See an article on Castlefield House by Caroline Corballis in  In the Shadow of the Steeple. 5. 1996). A very detailed account of the trial and execution of  Lonergan can be found online in The Hibernian Magazine (1781), pages 593-600 which includes all the names of the witnesses at the trial, including the servants in the house..  According to this report Thomas O'Flaherty died of arsenic poisoning on 28th June 1778.    So here we have the story behind the impressive memorial; no doubt whoever erected the memorial only wanted the attributes of unblemished honour, esteem and respect to be remembered about Thomas O'Flaherty but sometimes a little research can turn up the true story.