No one yet knows when the first burials took place at Ballyeglish Old Graveyard. It was a pre-Christian site adopted by early Christianity, so the potential for thousands of years of interment exists. In terms of Christianity, however, we can confidently state that there are more then 1000 years of burials at that location, although the earlier ones might well have been at Tamnatusker, the meadow with a height to the east of the current graveyard. This unknown element lends mystery and greater interest to the story for Ballyeglish.
Today, the earliest surviving, legible headstone dates to June 19th 1702, and belongs to Patrick Mullin, who was aged 25 when he died. Born in 1677, Patrick was 13 years old when King James was defeated by King William at The Battle of the Boyne in 1690, during The Williamite Wars in Ireland. We can only imagine what thoughts were going through his young mind then, as gossip and rumours flooded the countryside. Remember, the Siege of Derry was in 1689, and although travel to that city from the loughshore area would have been practically impossible for most, tales of battles and war would have found their way to the hearths of the country people, where they would have been embellished and similarly distorted. It’s hard to know what version of events from Derry, Boyne, Athlone, Aughrim or Limerick reached the years of an adolescent. The Treaty of Limerick must have seemed an ominous thing to young ears.
Patrick Mullin’s grave marker survived because it was made of stone, no small thing at a time when funds were scarce. He clearly came from a family who had the resources, and affection for his memory, to spend so much that he be remembered. Yet 25 years was young to die, even back then. Maybe we’ll never know how or why he died, and who he really was. There’s a sadness in that.
Graveyards are archives for a community. Patrick Mullin’s short life serves as an example of how each life is its own novel. The people laugh, they cry, they love and ultimately they grieve. But seldom is it written down. Only those who found a prestigious place in society are remembered in any detail, and even then it is rarely complete. But all of the Patrick Mullins of Ireland had lives of some interest. If only we could have the means to discover their stories, then it seems obvious that we would be able to better understand how we came to this place in time, shaped as it was by those went before us. Everyone matters.
One aspect of the project to preserve Ballyeglish Old Graveyard is investigating the lives of the people buried there. It’s a big undertaking (no pun intended). Records are scant and many are difficult to access. Although documents might exists, letters in old trunks, or official paperwork in PRONI for example, researchers first need to know what they are searching for. Who was Patrick Mullin? Who were his family? What was their occupation? Faith? With this kind of lead, research is aided. Sadly, for most, the necessary information is not there and, as a result, their stories and their lives are lost to posterity.
But not all. Sometimes researchers get lucky and documents are discovered; new light is then cast onto those who have went before us. It is these possibilities that The Ballyeglish Society seeks out. Our aim is to narrate, over time, as thorough a story of all those who reside in Ballyeglish Old Graveyard and its vicinity as possible. We hope to give character and personality to the dead, so that visitors (who are hopefully living – damn you, George Romero) will better appreciate the past.
As mentioned, graveyards are archives, and the epitaphs are tantalising clues about those who lived and died in that place. When sufficient information is gathered about individuals and/or families, we hope to install story boards for them. In this way, a once neglected graveyard can eventually become not only a place of religion and remembrance, but also an open-air exhibition, so that those with an interest in the past of the area can get to more properly meet, and know, those who now lie below.
This Residents section will hold photographs of individual grave-markers, in addition to any information available on them. It will also provide accounts, as and when they become available, of the people who forged this rural community over hundreds of years. We welcome any information, especially that which can be verified, which we will gladly add to the stories. We also welcome those who might wish to pen an article about an ancestor/family buried in Ballyeglish Old Graveyard or with strong association to the place. Submissions might be edited, if required, but relevant credits will be given to the original author.
The Residents section will be updated as news articles are created. These can be accessed via the sub-menu titled Residents – Posts which can be found below the main Residents page menu.
Any other queries, just get in touch.
Bígí linn
The Ballyeglish Society 