Burnchurch Graveyard, Parish of Danesfort, co Kilkenny

Burnchurch graveyard, and nearby ruined tower house, is one of the unsung glories of rural county Kilkenny.  This beautiful walled graveyard contains both Church of Ireland and Catholic burials and is of historical interest.   It is a very ancient burial place with memorials dating from the 15th century. Apart from these very early memorials of obvious historical interest there are 21 stones dating from the 18th century (1751, 1760, 1761, 1763(2), 1770, 1771, 1775(2), 1776, 1784, 1788, 1789, 1791, 1792, 1794(4), 1796 and 1797.  Most of these early 18th century stones are Catholic.   Additionally there are another 25 memorials bearing dates of erection for the first half of the 19th century (1806, 1808, 1810, 1812(2), 1813, 1815, 1816, 1818, 1824, 1825, 1826(3), 1829, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1838, 1840(2), 1841, 1844, 1845, and 1848). As is usual in these ancient graveyards there is an enormous amount of family history and genealogy to be gleaned from these old stones.  All these photographs have been taken by Bernie.

Burnchurch castle or Tower House was built and owned by the Fitzgeralds, otherwise Barron, of Burnchurch  who descended from Maurice Fitz Maurice whose father was most probably Maurice Fitz Gerald one of the first of the Anglo-Norman invaders into Ireland and ancestor of the different branches of Fitzgeralds in the country.  The Fitzgeralds of Burnchurch, known also by the surname of Barron, account for the wide distribution of the of surname Barron in this part of county Kilkenny.  They lost their lands to Colonel William Warden in the mid 17th century under the Cromwellian settlements.  The property later passed by marriage into the Flood family.  

The Round Tower would have originally formed a corner of the walled bawn or enclosure attached to the Tower House.  

Plan of the interior of the well preserved square Tower House built by the FitzGeralds, Barons of Burnchurch on display outside the ruin,

The photograph used to illustrate this blog's front page is a picture of an end panel of an altar tomb taken in this graveyard, although now the end panel is now safely behind a locked iron gate at what was once the entrance to the ruined early 19th century Protestant church.

Highly decorated end panel probably from a FitzGerald tomb showing he crucifixion of Christ

 As can be seen from the picture the end panel has a carving, in relief, of the crucifixion.   At the right side of the cross are the words "Jesus a(n)i(m)a(bus)" and on the other side are the Roman capitals R.I.F.D which, according to Carrigan would indicate a full Latin inscription of "Jesus animabus requiem indulgeat fidelium defunctorum" or "May Jesus grant rest to the souls of the faithful departed".  Carrigan suggests that this may be part of the damaged tomb erected to Garret Fitzgerald of Burnchurch, gentleman, who was pardoned in February 1561/2 and who was still living in 1569.    In fact there is a damaged covering slab of a large altar tomb which reads "......ome fitzgeralde nuper de Burnchurch generosus, Constabul.....Castelli  kilkenie q obit p die Martis 1586........m quod eris fueramq.......or ora,  Walterus Kerin fabricabit".   This translates as "(Here lies Garret fitz?) Thomas Fitzgeralde, late of Burnchurch, gentleman, Constable of the Castle of Kilkenny, who died March 1st 1586. (Whoe'er thou art that passest by, stand, read, lament).  I am what you will be; I was (what you are) Pray (for me I beseech you).   Walter Kerin made the tomb",    Walter Kerin was one of the family of master stone carvers operating in Kilkenny in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Their concept of the crucifixion, together with all the symbols associated with the crucifixion such as the coat of many colours, the flails or scourges, the hammer and the round faces of the sun and the moon, have been widely copied by later 18th and 19th century Kilkenny stone masons in the surrounding graveyards.   As have the words inscribed on this tomb although undergoing slight alterations from stone to stone and graveyard to graveyard; whilst the wording may sometimes slightly alter the sentiment remains the same. 

A ledger slab with an eight pointed cross in relief and highly ornamental carvings of gothic type windows. This slab has an inscription which reads "Here lies Rich(ard) Fitz Roulard Moryss and Johanna White his wife AD (date worn away but Carrigan says it can be safely assigned to the second half of the 15th century)

Other early but damaged memorials, here translated from the latin read  "Here lie (Rouland Bar)on, Lord of Burnchurch and Anastatia St Leger, his wife, who died Feb 1st 1544-5. (On whose souls may) God have mercy.  Amen.   Be my witness, O Christ, that this stone does not lie here to ornament the body but to have the soul remembered.   Whoe'er thou art that passest by, stand, read, lament. I am what you will be; I was what you are. Pray for me I beseech you.    (Here lies John Baron)  son and heir of Rouland (who died)  AD1552.   On whose soul may God have mercy.




The family of Flood were also prominent here as their estate, Farmley, lies nearby.

Sign on the outside wall of the graveyard near the entrance gate

This is the family of Henry Flood, the politician and orator and he lies in the graveyard beneath a stone commemorating his father, Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice for Ireland, and his mother Isabella Whiteside.

Memorial to Warden Flood and Isabella Whiteside, the parents of Henry Flood

 Henry Flood, for whatever reason was born in 1732 before the marriage of Warden Flood and Isabella had taken place; there were several other children born after the marriage.   Henry Flood died at Farmley on 2nd December 1791 but his illegitimacy caused problems over his Will; after making provision for his wife and other bequests, he left the bulk of his Estate to Trinity College Dublin for the study of the Irish language.  Naturally the Flood family challenged this Will on the grounds of his illegitimacy and stating he was not entitled to the Farmley Estate in the first place.  The Estate was eventually awarded to his nephew John Flood of Flood Hall. (See Henry Flood by Mary Kennedy in Old Kilkenny Review 1983, pages 518-525.  And Observations on the Bequest of Henry Flood Esq., to Trinity College, Dublin by Lawrence Parsons, Dublin 1795. This publication includes a complete copy of the last Will and Testament of Henry Flood of Farmley in the county of Kilkenny; Will dated 27th May 1790).

The Flood Mausoleum

Additionally in the graveyard there is a large mausoleum belonging to the Flood family with interments dating from 1836 which recorded on a plaque attached to the exterior wall of the mausoleum.

The church of Ireland Church, now empty and a ruin without a roof.

Amongst the other memorials here at Burnchurch is a flat stone to the Huson family which was erected by George Huson in memory of four of his children who died young, namely  Elenor, Ann, Frances and Jane and also recording the burial here of George himself, his wife Ann and their daughter Mary.  Also recorded on the stone is an inscription to the memory of Mary Ann Huson, wife of (indecipherable) of London, who died 19th January 1844 aged 27*.   The variations of the spelling of the name Huson include Hewson and  Hewetson and it is as George Hewetson, Gentleman,  of  Marsdale (sometimes spelt Moorsdale), county Kilkenny, Union of Burnchurch  that an Ossory Marriage Licence Bond records his marriage on 18th August 1769 to Ann Walton, spinster.  Both are marked as Protestant.  There are references to George in The House of Hewetson or Hewson in Ireland (1901).   George was the son of Rev Monsell Hewson (born in Briska, Diocese of Down, who married in 1728 Mabel Bolton) but there is no further information about this particular George in the book.   His children are not recorded.  Nor the Mary Ann* who died in 1844.  However George was the brother of John Hewson/Hewetson of Suirville, county Kilkenny, Justice of the Peace for Kilkenny, who died in June 1798 at the Rectory, Kilmacthomas and who was interred in Rathkieran churchyard.   George Huson's employer was the above mentioned Henry Flood of Farmley who bequeathed him "his old and faithful servant " £1000. - a considerable amount of money in 1791.  Henry Flood of Farmley has two adverts in the Freemans Leinster Journal relating to this property called Marsdale; one dated 1782 is an adverts to let the House and Desmense of Marsdale. The other advert dated 28th June 1786 is also to let the same property, the House and the Desmense ofMarsdale at Bennetsbridge.  George Huson is also referred to in Notes on Kilkenny Inns and Taverns by John G.A. Prim in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1862.  All this family descend from the Hewetson/Hewson family of the city of York, England.
 
 * There is 1838 marriage in St George in the East, London, of a Mary Ann Hewson to a James Robbins; this may be her.  Mary Ann would have been born in 1817 and therefore aged 21 at the time of this marriage. 

Impressive memorial to Walter Brennan, Master Mariner and to members of the Murison family.

Amongst the other interesting memorials is the following "In loving memory of Walter Brennan, Master Mariner, beloved son of Rev John Brennan Kilkenny died November 14th 1909 aged 28years".  The rest of the memorial is to the Murison family. " In loving memory of Margaret MacDonald, wife of Robert Murison, Farmley who died 2nd Sept 1917 aged 59 years and Robert Mitchel Murison, Farmley died 4th November 1942 aged 93 years. Lizzie Burroughs Crumplen, elder daughter of the above died 2nd February 1954 aged 70 years.  In memory of Eva beloved wife of William Lowe, Farmley died 19th Nov 1959 aged 66 years".  There are other members of this family recorded on an additional plaque.


Walter Brennan, Master Mariner married Lizzie (Elizabeth) Murison early in 1909, but Walter died in Callan in November of the same year. Walter Brennan can be found in the Registers of the Board of Trade where he applied for and was awarded his Master Mariner's certificate in June 1909.   His birth was 20th April 1881 and place of birth is given as Loughgall, Armagh.  These board of Trade papers describe Walter as 5 foot 9 inches tall with brown hair and blue eyes.  They record all the ships in which he sailed.   He gives his address as The Manse, Ormonde Road, Kilkenny where his father, the Rev John Brennan was the Presbyterian minister.  The 1911 Census has Lizzie, aged 27 yrs, a widow, was living back with her family(although she did eventually remarry Harold Carter Crumplen in  1920).   Her sister Eva married 23rd March 1926 William Albert Lowe, a farm manager of Burnchurch, county Kilkenny; Eva can be found in the Royal College of Nursing Registers from 1919 when she was working at the Adelaide Hospital in Dublin.  Her residence in 1921 is given as Cuffe's Grange, Kilkenny. Their father Robert Murison is described as a Land agent in the 1911 census, from Scotland and a Presbyterian but in fact he was invited to Kilkenny to manage the Farmley Estate by Colonel Beresford Flood sometime in the 1880s.  However in the British Parliamentary Papers for 1895 under Agricultural Statistics for that year he is described as Steward to Colonel J.C. Hanford, 18th Hussars, of Farmley, county Kilkenny.


The Burial Register for St Peter's Church of Ireland, Drogheda (1702-1899) records the burial on 3rd August 1887 of Jane Murison of Farmley, Kilkenny, aged 68 years, a Presbyterian.

General view of Burnchurch graveyard.

The next interesting memorials are those erected to the memory of members of the Shirley family.  The most impressive is No 84 on our list which is a High Cross. the inscription reads " Sacred to the memory of James Shirley, Coroner, who departed in the genuine peace received from the Roman Catholic Church on the 13th of January 1888.  He was ever a kind and faithful husband and a fond and indulgent father.  At his door the poor ever met with charity and kindness and the troubled blessed him as a restorer of peace and a uniter of their families.   Erected as a tribute of respectful love by his daughter Marion.  His wife Elizabeth 1826-1912, sons and daughters.   On the left side: Richard 1887-1962, Catherine O'Brien. Kells and late of Purfleet, Essex".  

 Shirley High Cross erected to the memory of James Shirley, the Coroner.

Stone No 86 reads " This stone was placed here by Mr John Shirley Burnchurch in memory of his dearly beloved spouse Mrs Mary Shirley als Rice who God called from this frail and fallible world 27th June 1825 aged 39."   Mary Rice, a catholic and the daughter of a half sister to Edmund Rice, (the founder of the Christian Brothers), married John Shirley,  a Protestant.  As was usually agreed in those days of a mixed marriage, the sons of the marriage were to be brought up as Protestants and the girls in the religion of their mother, as Catholics. There were eight children of this marriage.  It is said that Mary Rice requested Edmund Rice to pray for the conversion of her husband and sons to the Catholic faith and this duly happened.     Sometime in 1849 the Shirley family were evicted from their 46 acres farm at Burnchurch which they held from the landlord W.L. Flood Esq.,   It was originally believe that this eviction took place because of the conversion of the Shirley males to the Roman Catholic religion but the real reason was non payment of rent.  In any event the incoming tenant, Richard Holohan of Knocktopher, whilst trying to take possession of the Shirley farm met with considerable resistance and violence from the local people who did not take favourably to his tenancy and Richard Holohan had to retire.   Richard Shirley aged 30 years and brother of Henry Shirley who had lost the farm at Burnchurch  was subsequently sentenced to transportation to Van Dieman's Land and arrived in Hobart in August 1852.   (You can read about this further in an article entitled The Shirley Eviction from their farm at Burnchurch in 1850 by  C. Ashton Shirley in The Old Kilkenny Review 1999).

View of the Tower House from the graveyard

Index of names appearing on the memorials
Baker, Barden, Barron, Blake, Brennan, Brophy, Browne, Bryan, Burroughs, Butler, Byrne, Carmichael, Carroll, Claxton, Comerford, Corr, Cox, Crumplin, Dalton, Dea, Desert (Earl of), Douglas, Dowe, Dunne, Edgar, Egan, Fisher, Fitzgerald, Fleming, Flood, Forbes, Grace, Harford, Hawkins, Haye, Hays, Heltzel, Howard, Howison, Hoyne, Hughes, Huson, Izod, Jackson,Keenahan, Kelly, Kemlo, Kenahan, Kidd, Kinahan, Kinehan, Lawles, Lowe, Maher, Mains, Mangin, Manning, Marnel, Marnell, Martin, Mason, McDonald, MacNaghten, Miller, Moryss, Mullins, Murison, Nolan, Norman, Nowlan, O'Brien,  Phelan, Rice, Ridell, Roberts, Rodgers, Rutherford, Ryan, Sallinger, Shee, Shirley, Sim, Skey, Schorlock, Smith, St Leger, Sweetman, Thompson, Townsend, Waggett, Walsh, Welch, Wellerman, Whiteside, Whytte.




Skull and crossbones on Grace stone

Index of Places appearing on the memorials
Ballanlina, Ballyroberts, Ballymack, Ballymack House, Blenheim House, Booley, Burnchurch, Callan, Coalisfarm, Comerford/Commerford Grange, Cork county, Croan, Cuffesgrange, Danesfort, Darreen House, Desart, Desert, Doorpool, Dublin, Dundee, Essex, Farmley, Glasgow, Grange House, Highrath, Hyrath, Kells, Kilkenny, Kilmore, Leeds, Linlithgow, London, Maiden Hall, Meath,  Newland, Oldtown, Patrick St, Paulert (Paulerth), Pigeon Park, Priest Town, Purfleet, Racecourse, Rothstown, Roxburghshire, Scotland, Seven Houses, Sevenhouses, Tennypark, Tullamaine, Viper, Waterford, Wicklow, Wyper.

One of two winged angels representing the departing soul - on the stone erected by Martin Nowlan for his posterity and to his three sons who died in 1794 ( John), 1806 ( James)  and 1807 (Laurence).  

Occupations, titles, regiments or honours appearing on the memorials
Bengal Light Infantry (not on memorial but found by research), Captain (not on memorial but found by research), Chief Justice of Ireland, Colonel, Constable (of the castle of Kilkenny), Dublin Militia, Gamekeeper (not on memorial but found by research), Gentleman, Indian Staff Corps, K.G.C.L.H.E (not yet identified), Lieutenant Colonel, Lord (of Burnchurch),  M.D (Doctor), Master Mariner, Orator, R.E. (Royal Engineers), Rector, Rev (Reverend), Statesman, Steward (not on memorial but found by research), Surgeon, Vicar.






Masons who have signed memorials
Walter Kerin 1586 (Fitzgerald memorial),
Molloy, Callan (Claxton memorial)
O'Shea Callan (Forbes memorial)

Wonderful headstone erected in 1751. God be merciful to the soul of William Shee departed this life September 8th 1751 aged 57 and  2 of his grandchildren belonging to Michael (rest buried).   Note the very ornate capital G at the start of the inscription.  Also the top of this stone is decorated with a cross in a sunburst and a spear and sponge on a reed on each side of the cross, plus two hourglasses at each side of the sunburst and 2 skulls.