Discover if your ancestors feature in these monumental inscriptions, or memorials of the dead. The records may reveal where your relatives were buried, by whom the memorial was erected, and a brief history of the graveyard or cemetery.
Discover if your ancestors feature in these monumental inscriptions, or memorials of the dead. The records may reveal where your relatives were buried, by whom the memorial was erected, and a brief history of the graveyard or cemetery.
Each record comprises a transcript of the original memorial transcription. The amount of information listed varies from place to place and memorial to memorial, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:
Records from the late Brian Cantwell’s Memorials of the Dead include images of all of his original transcripts. These amount to: * 24,392 memorials * 60,790 names
Brian Cantwell’s transcriptions included all visible and legible gravestones or memorials in graveyards with a date of 1880 or before, and all surviving interior church memorials. The data is comprehensive for Counties Wexford and Wicklow, and additionally includes some more limited data for locations he visited in the other counties as listed below.
Each of Brian Cantwell’s 11 printed volumes had the following components:
The transcripts for each location are grouped together and begin with an introduction to that place. This is often important as it explains the history and physical condition of the monuments. The memorials for each section (either a church and/or graveyard) are organised in alphabetical order using the lead surname, which appears in capital letters. Users should note that not all the names on a memorial will have the same surname as the lead surname.
Ian Cantwell’s Memorials of the Dead holds records with dates up to 1901 and focuses upon Counties Galway and Mayo. These records do not include any images. This component of the dataset includes:
Gravestone inscriptions and church memorials are a valuable source for genealogical research and local studies. This is especially true when paper records have not survived, as is the case for many parish registers from the west of Ireland.
The late Brian J Cantwell (1914-92) was probably the best known and most industrious transcriber of gravestones and church memorials in Ireland. During the last 20 years or so of his life he transcribed and then printed 11 volumes of graveyard and church memorial transcriptions. These volumes were a comprehensive treatment for Counties Wicklow and Wexford, and also covered a large proportion of south County Dublin. Other transcripts by him were either published in journals (Galway and Kildare) or remained unpublished (Clare, Cork and Sligo) until 2005 when they were published on CD by Eneclann. His son Ian Cantwell continued his work, but with a focus on Counties Galway and Mayo.
The ‘Place’ field usually shows which church the deceased belonged to. The ‘Memorial’ field provides detailed information about the deceased. From this, you can discover the date of your ancestor’s death, their date of birth, and possibly the names and death dates of their spouses, parents, and other family members. You may also be able to see the name of the person who was responsible for erecting the grave. The ‘Description’ field reveals further information about the graveyard and its location, and often a brief history of the church and its surroundings. The description may also provide a historical background to the types of graves in that burial place; for example, graves of victims of the Irish Famine, the cholera outbreak of October 1832, and a memorial to victims of the RMS Lusitania, which sank off the southern coast of Ireland in 1915. Also included are details about the process of transcribing the memorials and whether the memorials are in English or Irish.
In Tierna graveyard in County Mayo, there is “a Holy Well dedicated to St Brendan with instructions for conducting a pattern and a stone reputed to have the knee marks of the Devil worsted in a battle with the saint.” In Partry Old graveyard in County Mayo, the description reads “A local tradition has it that the priest hunter, John Mullowney, was drowned near here by a priest and is buried in Ballintubber Abbey”. Mullowney (1690 – 1726) was a notorious priest hunter during Penal Times. The 1709 Penal Act demanded that Catholic priests take the Oath of Abjuration and recognise the Protestant Queen Anne as Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland. Any priest who refused was sentenced to death. Mullowney used his rewards from priest hunting to fund his heavy drinking and lavish lifestyle. He was murdered near Partry and his body buried in unconsecrated ground.