‘These graves are having family visit them again’

What started out as a graveyard clean-up has now turned into a full-blown research project conducted by the Cavan Tidy Towns Committee and the local community.

By pulling away some briars and weeds, they have uncovered years of history in the Annagelliffe graveyard site, some of which remains a mystery.

They have found headstones dating back as early as 1730, a grave belonging to the late John Brady, which sits on top of a drumlin overlooking Cavan Town.

With each patch uncovered, a new story surfaces and the committee is asking for the public’s help on one grave site in particular.

A large rectangular plot surrounded by concrete walls sits slightly to the right as you enter to the graveyard, with no names or indication as to who might be buried there. It has spurred committee members to put out the call for more information.

“We came across this grave here,” says Paul Lynch, who is chairperson for the Cavan Tidy Towns committee.

“It’s quite modern compared to everything else because it’s plastered.”

Delving into which family the grave might belong to; the committee discovered a similar project undertaken by the Loreto College girls in 1986, under the direction of teacher Bríd Cahill.

“We got a hold of the project,” he reveals, describing how they obtained photographs of the same grave from 1986 when there was a “small cross” at the top of it.

“That cross is not there now but we haven’t come across it during our clean up.”

Due to the size of the site, he suggests that it may have belonged to “paupers” or “infant deaths”.

“Or it could belong to maybe a religious order,” he further suggests.

“What we’d like to do is ask if anybody has any information about it, or indeed does anybody have any information about the graveyard that they’d like to share.

“There’s very little history about the graveyard,” he said, describing how the information they have has been obtained by transcribing the gravestones.

A couple of metres to the left of the plot is the site of a former church, which the committee have also conducted research on.

“This church here predates the Abbey in Cavan Town. This was the original hang out spot for the O’Reilly clan in Cavan.

“You’re talking a couple of hundred years old, possibly a thousand years old.”

Currently, there are graves within the church ruins belonging to Armstrong and Hislop families dating from the 1700s and 1800s.

They have enlisted the help of Martin Brady to try to find out more about the area. His family would have maintained the graveyard over the generations, and held the burial book, which showed the record of deaths from the 1940s onwards.

They also looked through some Church of Ireland records from Belfast to determine who might be buried in the graveyard, however the records specify the deaths in the parish, and “very few” reveal where the people were buried.

“More questions than answers,” is how Paul surmised the project.

“We’re trying to do the best we can,” he outlines.

Still on a quest to find out more about the history of the site, the work already done by the committee is hugely impressive. Before, the graveyard was an impassible tangle of nettles and briars.

People came to see their ancestors’ burial place and turned away disappointed; so thick was the overgrowth that nothing was visible. Now though, the committee has given people the opportunity to visit the graves of their ancestors, while also giving others the opportunity to uncover their family roots.

“This place was a jungle before we arrived,” he recalls

One such family is the Cartwrights, who read about what CTT were doing at the graveyard and got in touch to say one grave belonged to their family member.

“They came up and they placed a little plaque on the grave. That grave now has a name.

“When you look at the scale of the project we’re doing, that’s amazing. If nothing was said that grave would have stayed there without a name on it for another five or six hundred years.

“It’s turned into something very positive, it’s a different project for Cavan Tidy Towns. Sometimes we’re obsessed with litter picking.”

Since January, the committee have been cleaning, looking after biodiversity, cherishing and preserving Cavan’s history.

With every grave they find, they are researching the families via a research team led by Paul’s wife Rachel.

Another grave matched with family members is the Armstong grave, located within the former church. The family had actually conducted research previously, and were intrigued when they read what the group were doing.

“They were all based in Monaghan but they could never figure out where their family was buried. So they seen the grave on Facebook and social media and they came down.”

The Armstrongs have family based in Monaghan and Belfast, and representatives of both came to look at the graveyard and help out. Another man, Ed Boothe who is also related to the Armstrongs and is now living in America “really wants to get over” to see what the committee have done.

“Another character in the graveyard would be Thomas Hislop,” Paul describes, adding how this man was a doctor in the workhouse in Cavan.

“He came back to Ireland to look after people during the famine. So his family are from County Down, and they came down to us two weeks ago to see the grave.

“The family member, he came up and met us here and he literally cried.

“There’s little stories there,” Paul explains.

“We’re putting a bit of life back in, these graves are having family visit them again.”

Clockmaker

While they have been matching families to graves, they have also uncovered stories such as that of John Mertz who was a famous clock maker in the town buried in the graveyard. Mertz was originally from Germany and came to Ballyjamesduff to start his business and eventually moved to Cavan Town.

Hugh Reynolds, the last man executed in Cavan jail, is also buried in the graveyard.

“He was executed for kidnapping a lady, supposed kidnapping, but I think if you read the story, it was actually a love story. He was running off with this girl.”

According to the Dúchas archive, Paul’s account is in line with that of The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0718, Page 116 collected by the National Folklore Collection, UCD, which reads:

“Dawn! And the chill of an early sun and a scaffold out on the public highway, with thousands of Cavan people, McCabes, Reynolds, soldiers and sherrif’s men indiscriminately mixed, waiting for the executioner to show his skill. Dawn: and the end of a dismal love affair, Hugh Reynolds meeting his grim death in peace, though his thoughts must have been bitter indeed.

“The girl willingly left home with me,” was all he told the spectators of his execution.

Hugh was found guilty and executed in 1826, however they have not found the grave and believe it is unmarked.

“They’re a few of the stories, the graveyard is really fascinating and it’s a real picture of Irish history,” remarked Paul.

“If anyone has any information about the graveyard, or about any of the graves or indeed if they have family here and they want to get involved in the project they’re more than welcome.”

A former Anglo-Celt reporter Bridie M Smith Brady did a lot of work on the graveyard in the 1920s, where she took a written survey of each headstone on the grave. Her work is in the UCD Folklore Archive.

“She had seen a headstone from 1599 in this graveyard,” said Paul. They have asked if anybody has more information or a copy of her work to contact them.

“It’s all relevant to us, it’s like a big jigsaw that we’re trying to put together.”

Biodiversity

Meanwhile people are welcome to come and view the graveyard, so long as they “respect” it. The committee have also factored biodiversity into their project, which plays a big part in the graveyard, and have marked paths where people can walk.

To get in touch with the committee, you can email tidytownscavan@gmail.com or find Tidy Towns Cavan on Facebook.

Gathering of the Clans

In August, they hope to do a ‘Gathering of the Clans’ event with representatives from “as many” families as they can reach. In future, the committee outlined their hope of having an archaeological survey done on the site.

“It’s archaeologically important to Cavan and it’s important that it’s managed.”

Speaking on the project, Cavan County Council Heritage Officer Anne Marie Ward said it’s “amazing” what the community have achieved.

“Hopefully we will get a survey done now,” she said, adding that the committee have also applied for funding under the Adopt a Monument Scheme.

“It’s just been great, it’s fantastic,” she said.