Gravestone Inscriptions

With civil registration of births and deaths commencing in 1864, and with the patchy survival of church registers prior to 1820, gravestone inscriptions take on a special significance. Many Church of Ireland burial registers were destroyed during the Civil War in 1922, while the registers of the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches are especially poor regarding burial entries.

In many cases a gravestone inscription will be the only record of an ancestor’s death. But gravestones offer much more than just the date of death; they frequently mention the townland address of the deceased together with the names, ages, and dates of death of other family members. Many graves are family plots and as a consequence list family members and their relationship to each other.

On identifying an ancestor’s residence (i.e. townland or parish), the local graveyards should be visited. Church of Ireland graveyards should be examined irrespective of an ancestor’s religion. Prior to the 1820s, owing to the operation of the Penal Laws, both Catholics and Presbyterians shared the same graveyards. And prior to the Burial Act of 1868, which permitted dissenting (e.g. Presbyterian) ministers to conduct burial services, the Church of Ireland clergy held jurisdiction over funeral services for all Protestants.

It is, unfortunately, true that the unkempt state of many graveyards (especially those now isolated from a functioning church) and the weathering of headstones precludes the reading of many inscriptions. It must also be said that only a small percentage of burials in any graveyard are marked by headstones.

Researchers should be aware that many old graveyards are now separated from a functioning church. With the establishment of new churches throughout the 19th century, many graveyards attached to the old church fell into disuse as new graveyards were opened beside a new church. The new church and graveyard were often located some distance away from the old church and graveyard.

Many of Ireland’s county-based genealogy centres have computerised gravestone inscriptions for their areas and these can be searched at www.rootsireland.ie. Furthermore, extensive databases of gravestone inscriptions from graveyards throughout Ireland can be found on a number of websites, such as www.irishgraveyards.ie, www.historyfromheadstones.com and www.irish-world.com/gravestones.