Mullinavat Parish Church and Graveyard dedicated to St Beacon

 

 In the words of William Butler Yeats "a bee loud glade'  a tiny space in the Parish Graveyard of Mullinavat co Kilkenny
  

This beautiful little herb garden commemorates the sad loss of a little girl Blanàid with generations of her relatives. What a joy it was to come on the little space which was always alive with bees and butterflies, and the scent of herbs and flowers.

We were recording here last autumn before the weather put an end to our endeavours.  This is a very historic place and the Catholic graveyard enormous; so far we have transcribed about 280 memorials but there is more to come.  Everyday here was an exciting project for us and we will be out again shortly when the weather works with us.  This graveyard has important headstones including one commemoration James Scurry (1790-1828), the south Kilkenny Irish scholar. His headstone has part of the inscription in Ogham.  The earliest stones seem to date from circa 1800/1810.   Older and very ornate memorials may be found in the graveyard of Kilbeacon which is just across the road from from this graveyard.  We will also be including Kilbeacon is our work as the same families are recorded in both graveyards.  Thanks to Father Barron, the Parish Priest, we have also been able to record the memorials inside the church.