St. Mary's Burial Ground
Extract from typed page in the PPP addressed
to Reverend John Finlay, Dean of Leighlin, Rector of St Mary's
Church, Carlow. Signed by Lord Walter FitzGerald, (Lord Walter
FitzGerald of the Kilkea Castle FitzGeralds.)
Pat Purcell Papers.
1909.
- "A poor town but proud people."
St. Mary's Burial Ground in Carlow town. The
oldest burial-ground in Carlow is that surrounding St. Mary's
Church. It is now very much smaller than formerly, as, in the 18th
century, much of it was cut away for the erection of houses as the
town extended away from the castle. The oldest existing tomb in it
appears to be a slab dated 1707, erected in memory of Benjamin
Bunbury, of Killerrig, Co. Carlow; another, dated 1709, bears a
latin inscription to the memory of the Rev. Benjamin Daillon, one of
the Huguenots of the Portarlington colony.
Benjamin Bunbury, of
Killerrig, died on 3rd April, 1707, aged 54. He was the son of
Thomas Bunbury, youngest son (? check this information) of Sir Henry
Bunbury, Knight, of Stanney, in Chershire. Benjamin had five sons -
Joseph, of Johnstown; Benjamin, of Killerrig; Thomas of Clogna;
William, of Lisnevagh and Moyle; and Michael, of Killfeacle, Co.
Tipperary.
There is still in existence at Kilnacourt in
Portarlington the effigy-slab of an altar-tomb, which originally
belonged to this churchyard. It is dated 1594, and the effigy
represents Robert Hartpole, of Shrule, in the Queen's County, who
was the Queen's Constable of Carlow Castle. Of recent years a new
cemetery has been provided for the town.
The site selected was on
the townland of Rathnapish, lying to the north-east of Carlow. The
present Protestant Church, of St. Mary's was erected in 1732. Its
tower was taken down in 1833, and the present spire erected from a
design by a Mr Thomas Cobden. In 1724 whilst on a visit to Carlow
Dean Swift upon seeing the low tower of St Mary's "High Church" and
obviously having met some of the population the Dean penned the
following distich:-
- Carlow. "A high church and no steeple,
- A poor town but proud people."
[note added by Lord Walter FitzGerald:- So as
not to upset the present inhabitants I have added underneath - Times
have greatly changed for the better with Carlow, now with a fine
tall steeple, no longer a poor town but still a proud people?]"
"Extract from typed page in the PPP addressed
to Reverend John Finlay, Dean of Leighlin, Rector of St Mary's
Church, Carlow”.
Signed by Lord Walter FitzGerald, (Lord
Walter FitzGerald of the Kilkea Castle FitzGeralds.)
-
Source: Michael Purcell 2012