St Patrick's Graveyard, Kilmoganny, Parish of Dunnamaggan, county Kilkenny

This small Catholic graveyard is opposite St Eoghan's Church in Kilmoganny and in the Catholic Parish of Dunnamaggan. The Church of Ireland graveyard at Kilmoganny, surrounding St Matthew's Church, is in the Church of Ireland Parish of Kells.   That sounds confusing but is correct as the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland have differently sized and organised parishes.  All the photos are taken by Bernie.  We surveyed this graveyard in August 2016,

View of St Patrick's graveyard, Kilmoganny

The Catholic Church, St Eoghan's has some wonderful stained glass windows and one wall memorial.  The memorial reads " Of your charity pray for the repose of the soul of The Very Rev Edward Canon Coyne P.P. of Dunnamaggan who died on the 17th of November A.D 1889 aged 55 years.  For 27 years he discharged his duties of his sacred ministry with exemplary piety, rare prudence, zeal and fidelity; in his life was fully realised the high ideal of a true priest of God. Requiescat in Pace".

Wall memorial to Canon Coyne in St Eoghan's Church, Kilmoganny

There are 47 memorials in this graveyard, called St Patrick's, which we surveyed in August 2016. All the memorials face east, as one would expect, but some are very worn indeed and appear to be suffering from exposure to the weather. Strangely there are no stone markers; these are usually placed over a grave by people who could not afford to have a headstone carved.     Many memorials are of an early date and interestingly carved which points to at least a proportion of the Catholic population that could afford to erect a carved memorial over their loved ones.  It does suggest a certain amount of prosperity as there are 15 memorials here that date from the 18th century. The earliest is dated 1741 (No 22) closely followed by 1755, 1757, 1763, 1765, 1771, 1774, 1776, 1778, 1785 (x2), 1787, 1791 (x2) and 1799.   There are another 19 memorials bearing dates from 1801-1847.

A small upright stone to commemorate Catherine Kennedy alias Walsh who departed this life 5th of December 1774 aged 56 years.   This is carved by an inexperienced hand. Note that all the letters S are the wrong way round even on the IHS.  Spacing also has been a problem for whoever carved this as "Bo" is at the end of one line and "dy" (for Body) is at the start of the next line .    None of the lines are exactly straight; note the position of the number 4 in 1774.   Note also the crudely carved heart under the IHS.

One memorial (No 2) to the Grinsill family is dated 1831 and is of slate; most memorials  are of local limestone.   Several old stones are decorated with a relatively small cross within a circle at the top of the stone (No 1 Crowley for example).   Memorials decorated with similar crosses within circles can also be found at Kilree graveyard. None of these memorials have been signed by the mason who carved them although presumably carved by the same hand or from the same workshop.

 A very individual tombstone carved to commemorate Mary Kenny who died aged 3 years in 1840,

Memorial No 30 (McDonnell 1842 and signed by White of Carrick on Suir), has two small "supporter" stones on each side of the main stone simply marked M. McD with a cross.   This fashion for "supporter" stones can also be seen in Knockmoylan graveyard and also in Hugginstown Old graveyard; these "supporter" stones appear in Catholic graveyards and we have not found them in Church of Ireland graveyards.


A Celtic cross carved by O'Shea of Callan for the Rev Patrick Hurley, of Adelaide, South Australia, to remember his mother Bridget who died in 1885 and his father Thomas who died in 1888.

Memorial No 34 for the Bryan family records Margaret Bryan, alias Prendergast(died 1824) as affectionate, virtuous and honest; this is a rare description of a Catholic woman at this time in her own right.  Usually women, if described at all, are described in the context of their relationship to the males of the family be it husband, father, uncle or brother.  Memorials Power of (Nos 5 and 6) are for the family of Power of Graigue; the Power memorials in Lamoge graveyard also belong  to this same Power family.
Memorial No 12 is flat on the ground but finely decorated with an IHS and Gloria scroll. It is dedicated to John McEnery of Carrick who died in December 1801 aged 75 years. And Patrick McEnery of Ballyhoile who died in December 1815 aged 53 years.  This stone has a latin inscription which reads "Per Misericordiam Dei Requiescant in Pace".   This is taken direct form the Catholic funeral prayers read by the Priest at the place of burial and translates "By God's Mercy Rest In Peace". Catholics who are living ( known as The Church Militant) have a solemn duty to pray for souls in purgatory (known as the Church Suffering). This is why many Irish headstone inscriptions might start with the words "Pray for the Soul of.........".     Most headstones here would only record "Requiescat (singular) or Requiescant (plural) in Pace" and not the full phrase of  "Per Misericordiam Dei Requiecat/Requiescant in Pace".  

This is stone No 34 to the Carney family. It is delightfully carved with a sunburst design at the top containing crucifix with spears and a ladder and two hourglasses surmounted by skulls.  Note also the all the flourishes on the script with space saving devices such as the "e" above the "y" of ye, deceased spelt as dec with "sd" raised above it and the wonderful eccentric spelling of children as "chil" with "rn" raised above it to save space. Chilrn. 

Index to names appearing on the memorials
Broderick, Bryan, Butler, Cahill, Carney, Cassin, Cleary, Coffey, Coughlin, Coyle, Crowley, Doherty, Dunne, Feehan, Fahee, Flanagan, Forrastal, Grinsill, Hayden, Heade, Hennessy, Hughes, Hunt, Hurley, (initials only) DK, Keating, Kelly, Kennedy, Kenny, Kerevan, Kirwan, McDonnell, (initials only M McD), McEnery,  Moore, Moran, Murphy, Nolan, Norris, Pendergast, Phelan, Power, Prendergast, Read, Reade, Ready, Ryan, Sheehan, Slatery, Slattery, Tobin, Walker, Walsh.


Index of places appearing on the memorials
Adelaide, Ballygown, Ballyhoile, Carrick, Carrickatnaw, Carrick on Suir,  Cotrilstown, Cottrelstown, Cottrilstown, Dunnamaggan, England, Garryhalloo, Graigue, Kilmoganny, Kyle, Lismatage, Oldtown, Rawelarish, Rossenara, Rossennarra, Sheepstown, South Australia, Waterford.


Index of occupations appearing on the memorials
Canon, Land Steward, Merchant, Rev (Priest)


Index of masons who have signed memorials they have carved
R. Colles (place illegible but probably Kilkenny),  Molloy of Callan and Dungarvan, O'Shea of Callan, White of Carrick on Suir.

Memorial to Moira Moore opposite St Patrick's graveyard, Kilmoganny