Back in August 2021 my my first visit to this cemetery did not go well as there was very heavy rain for the duration of my visit which I had to abandon. I then had to wait for more than 90 minutes for a bus [216] back to the city centre which was really annoying as I could have walked in less than half the time. I suspect that the frequency of the service may have been reduced because of covid restrictions. I did not realise that buses run every 10 minutes between Cork and Wilton Road, stop 240571 which is close to the cemetery.
This year the weather was beautiful and I spent about an hour photographing at random. This time I only had to wait 5 minutes for the number 216 bus and when I boarding the bus the driver mentioned that the bus stopped near a very interesting old graveyard in Douglas. I took his advice.
St. Finbarr’s Cemetery in Cork, Ireland, is the city’s largest and one of the oldest cemeteries in Ireland which is still in use. Located on the Glasheen Road, it was first opened in the 1860s. The entrance gateway was erected circa 1865, and the mortuary chapel consecrated in 1867.
Many of the early burials were of the wealthy citizens of the city. Unlike older cemeteries, St. Finbarr’s was professionally laid out with numbered pathways and wide avenues.
Among those buried at St. Finbarr’s Cemetery are hurler and Taoiseach Jack Lynch; the sculptor Seamus Murphy, the antiquarian Richard Rolt Brash who was among the first to decipher writing in the ancient Ogham writing style; the English composer Arnold Bax; and Cork’s first Lord Mayor Daniel Hegarty.
St. Finbarr’s contains one of the largest burial plots of Irish Republicans who died during the 1920s. There are also more recent burials of members of the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA. This is known as the Cork Republican Plot, and among those buried there are former Lords Mayor of Cork Terence McSwiney and Tomás Mac Curtain, hunger striker Joseph Murphy. In the early hours of 17 March 1963, in protest at the unveiling later that day of a monument in the Republican Plot by President De Valera, IRA volunteers Desmond Swanton and Jeremiah Madden attempted to blow up the monument. However, during this attempt there was an explosion which killed Swanton and severely injured Madden (who lost an eye and a leg). [5] Other republicans who are buried at St. Finbarr’s, but not in the Republican Plot, include Flying Column leader Tom Barry, government minister J. J. Walsh and Dan “Sandow” O’Donovan. Commemorations of the 1916 Rising are held annually at the Republican Plot on Easter Sunday by various groups including Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, the Workers’ Party of Ireland and Republican Sinn Féin.
The “musicians’ corner” contains the graves of Aloys Fleischmann (Senior) and Aloys Fleischmann, and the composer Arnold Bax.
It also contains a mass grave containing the remains of 72 women who died at St. Vincent’s Magdalene Laundry on Peacock Lane in Cork. A family of an identified women buried in this grave have called for the site to be investigated.
On the third day of my 2022 visit to Limerick I walked from the City Centre to Mount St Lawrence Cemetery and it did not take as long as I had expected. This visit I used my Sony 24-70mm lens which I use infrequently but I do like it but I am more inclined to select a prime rather than a zoom.
The cemetery is well maintained and there are signs of improvements every time I visit.
Commencing in 2012, Limerick Archives digitised the original burial registers to preserve these unique and valuable documents. The joint project with Mary Immaculate had three specific aims. To complete the transcription process to create a searchable database of the burial register entries, to map the cemetery grave markers using GPS technology, and to produce a history of Mount Saint Lawrence cemetery. The digital recreation of the graveyard itself has allowed historians, researchers and the general public to trace their ancestors’ deaths and burial places, and it is one of the Archives’ most utilised resources.
In August 20th 2013, Mayor of Limerick Kathleen Leddin launched the online database which holds information on the 70,000 buried in the graveyard, dating from 1855 to 2008. This database will eventually contain information such as the names, addresses, times of death, position of graves, ages and dates of deaths of those buried in Mount St. Lawrence. This will contribute greatly to the city and surrounding areas. The city can use the information on the records to give accurate figures on the mortality rate, for example. It will also help to discover what the problems were in the hospitals of Limerick back in those times and why the death rate was so high.
Cemeteries in Limerick began to fall under immense pressure due to cholera epidemics in the 1830’s and the Great Famine in the 1840’s. This led to the founding of Mount St. Lawrence cemetery. Originally it formed part of the larger medieval parish of St. Lawrence in Limerick. This parish also contained a leper hospital, granted by King John, which was later returned to Limerick Corporation. They then leased some of the land to the Limerick Diocese for use as burials grounds. Mount St. Lawrence was officially opened on March 29th 1849 in a ceremony presided over by Dr John Ryan, Bishop of Limerick at this time.
The Neo-Gothic Church was designed as a mortuary chapel by architects M & S Hennessy, who also designed the tall spire of St. John’s Cathedral, which is now a notable point in Limerick City. It was designed in Celtic and Gothic Revival styles with an Arts and Crafts influenced interior. Mount St Lawrence graveyard was the primary place of burial in Limerick City for all members and classes of society, from the wealthy and powerful to those poverty stricken.
Mount Saint Lawrence has always contained plots reserved for certain groups, for example, religious graves, diocesan graves and a Republican plot.
On the 29 March 1849 Mount Saint Lawrence Cemetery was opened on an 18 acres site on Mulgrave Street to alleviate the overcrowded city graveyards. From 1849 until 1979 the cemetery was run by the Catholic Church and in 1979 it was taken over by Limerick City Council and the day to day running of the Cemetery is by the Environment Department.
Mount Saint Lawrence Cemetery was the primary place of burial in Limerick for all strata of society, from the wealthy to those who died in the Lunatic Asylum and Workhouses. The more prominent families tended to be buried along the central path close to the chapel. The ‘Poor Squares’ were located at the top of the cemetery at the left hand corner and in the bottom right corner.
Burial Records date from March, 1855 and the Burial Register records that over 70,000 individuals have been interred in Mount Saint Lawrence, up to 2009. The oldest individual recorded in the register is Mary Keane of Thomondgate, buried on 24th January, 1880 at the age of 110.
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