Dec 2011
In the first of December’s Eneclann expert guest posts, Fiona Fitzsimons gives you a guide to what you need to know about Irish burial records and gravestones before you start research:
The importance of burial with the kin-group
Once the religious wars of the 17th Century ended, one of the few places in Irish society where there was no sectarian divide was the graveyard. Most graveyards accepted people of every denomination for burial. In part this was because in the 17th Century the Established Church, the Anglican Church of Ireland, took over the pre-Reformation cathedrals, churches and burial grounds.
For the Irish population, no matter what church they attended on a Sunday, the most important thing was to be buried with their own kindred. Religious divisions that were so important in life, were finally set aside in the graveyard. The main exception to this rule were the Quakers, who always kept their own separate burial grounds. There are also a small but significant number of ‘denominational’ burial grounds around Ireland, but these tend to be smaller graveyards that have long since fallen into disuse precisely because of changing rural populations and the decline of congregations.
Returning home for burial
Many of those who died away from home were usually brought back for burial. In general however, this tradition is only evident where the documentary records have survived, so that we have most evidence about the prosperous middle-classes, gentry and aristocracy. From the second half of the 19th Century, there’s a greater survival of Irish records, and we can see that this tradition was also observed by the ordinary working people.
A frequent problem which most researchers face at one time or another, is that although the documentary evidence clearly shows that the family remained in a locality, there are no burial records or gravestones for them. Experience has shown that what has usually happened is that earlier generations of the family originated outside of the district. As family members die, they are brought some distance from their usual place of residence, to the place where the family may have originated a generation or more earlier. Frequently, you will find generations of a family buried in an extended family plot. This emphasises the notion that in death, what the Irish wanted was to be buried amongst their own kindred.
Burial of suicides and non-baptised children
The custom of burying people with their own kin was so strong, that it was only interrupted in cases of death by suicide or (exclusive to the Catholic population) by the death of unbaptised children and stillbirths. The burials of children not baptised were never recorded in official or institutional records, but occasionally records survive amongst family papers, in private letters and diaries, or in stories passed down through the family.
Infants that died before they could be baptised were sometimes buried outside the walls of the graveyard or on grass-verges along a road. More commonly, unbaptised children and those that died by their own hand were buried in kileens, i.e. an older graveyard in the locality that had long fallen out of use.
At the root of this tradition, was the belief that the souls of unbaptised children and of suicides, were not at rest, and might be taken by the fairies (daoine sídhe).
In Irish culture, the sídhe were wild, malignant spirits, who preyed on humans. The strength of these folk beliefs should not be dismissed. In remote rural communities, belief in the fairy folk persisted into the 20th Century. In 1895 Bridget Cleary was murdered by her husband while her father and brothers stood by, in the apparent belief that Bridget had been swapped for a fairy changeling. And as late as the 1930s in Ireland, there was one known case of infanticide where the child was killed in the belief that the fairies had stolen the baby, and left a changeling in its place.
Burial registers and gravestone inscriptions
As a rule of thumb in the 18th and 19th Centuries, Catholic parishes did not keep burial registers. All other denominations in Ireland maintained burial registers and these records can provide excellent information unavailable elsewhere. Burial registers for C.o.I. parishes in Dublin city for example, record huge numbers of catholic burials. Burial records should always be looked at, alongside gravestone inscriptions.
In the last few decades local history societies and government training schemes have taken transcripts of gravestones from many of their local burial grounds. Many of these surveys have been published, and are available on line. For example Brian Cantwell’s monumental work, Memorials of the Dead, which covers counties Wicklow and Wexford, is now available on findmypast.ie
Other graveyard surveys on this site include:
Findmypast.ie also contains some earlier surveys originally published by the parish registers society in the early 20th Century. Much of this material was subsequently destroyed in 1922, so these records are particularly valuable, and include:
But if you’d prefer to get out in the fresh air to do your graveyard research, a good tip taken from archaeologist friends, is to bring white chalk. If you want to read an inscription that appears illegible due to time and weathering, chalk over the carved words to bring the inscription into relief. Failing chalk, a handful of wet-grass rubbed over the headstone, will also reveal the carving. My father showed me this ruse one afternoon, to reveal the grave of Napper Tandy of 1798 fame, buried in Castlebellingham churchyard.
- Fiona Fitzsimons
James Barnwell says: Thank you for this uery helpfull article!
Linda Williams says: Such an interesting article. I found out recently that there is a burial space purchased years ago by my grandfather right in the middle of my Irish immigrant great great grandparents’ family burial plot and I had been thinking of being buried there. This article really hit home for me.
[...] findmypast.ie blog has a post called “Irish Burial Records and Gravestones” where they look at the rituals for burials in [...]
I just recently discovered this blog and have loved reading through all your posts. You have a new faithful follower!
My understanding from speaking to the old people here in Kerry is that babies who were born still and therefore unbaptised were not part of the ‘community of saints’ because they retained the stain of ‘original sin’ and it was against Roman Catholic dogma to allow the unbaptised burial in consecrated ground. My brother Michael, born still in 1967, was refused burial rites for this reason.
admin says: Thanks for your comment, we promise to keep the great posts coming.
Your comments about the importance of being buried with kin are interesting and useful. Good pointer to look at burial places outside of the place of last known address.
However, I’m surprised that you don’t mention the fact that, during Penal times (ie 18th century), Catholics weren’t allowed to have their own graveyards. They had no choice but to be buried in Church of Ireland cemeteries. It wasn’t until the 1820’s in Dublin, for instance, that a Catholic movement was successful in establishing Glasnevin cemetery as a Catholic graveyard.
You give the impression that Catholics were sloppy in keeping burial records, when this was not the case.
Hugo Beauchamp says: Interesting article. Do I understand from this that there may well be burial records for my RC relatives (who died from the 1840s onwards) in the CoI burial registers for parishes in North east Co Cork?
Barb Mulholland says: I found the article on burial records and gravestones to be of much value as we are planning a trip abroad to England, Scotland and Ireland in May to search for family records etc. Since my husband’s family is from Northern Ireland, we plan to spend several days in Belfast hoping to find information on his great grandfather. Any information that I can pick up ahead of time will be a plus. Thank you for your article
admin says: Glad you liked it! Hope you enjoy your trip.
Thanks for a fascinating article. Rubbing with grass and chalk can work but the conservation people prefer that we use raking light, from the sun or a good torch. Failing that use cepeolite (an inert clay which does not introduce nutrients into the stone face),
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