Cemetery: Coleraine Graveyard & Dungiven Priory Church

***********************************************
Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives
Derry Index
Copyright

************************************************

Contributed by C. Hunt & M.J. Bradley

CEMETERY: COLERAINE GRAVEYARD & DUNGIVEN PRIORY CHURCH

COLERAINE GRAVEYARD

'On the east wall, north  side of chacel, interior':-Sacred
to the memory of Henry Blacker Esqr of Milburne in this
parish, who died 1st of September 1827, aged 71 years.
This monument is erected as a tribute of grateful affection
by his nephew the Rev Richard Olphers.
[B.H.B., 1871]
_______________
DUNGIVEN PRIORY CHURCH

Previous page shows:
Cooey-na-Gall O'Kanes Tomb in Dungiven Abbey 2385
Dungiven Priory Church
[From "The Journal of the R.S.A.I., Vol. xxxii, p. 811*]

'This church was founded in 1100 by the O'Cahans
(O'Kanes)- In the chancel is the tomb of Cooey-na-Gall, a
chieftain of that family. It is a fine example of the late
fourteenth-century decorated period and contains the
recumbent effigy of a knight.  The front of the tomb is
ornamented with niches containing sculptured figures  of
men in armour (? Galloglasses). 'Of the death of Cooey-na-
Gall (i.e. Quintin of the English) the following entry is
given in the "Four Masters'":-

"The age of Christ 1385 Cooey O'Kane, Lord of Olreach Ur
Cathain (a district in the County Derry), died while at the
pinnacle of prosperity and renown."

R.S.A.I.- Royal Society of Antiquaries Ireland

Pg. 116

'There is here a Holy Well, formed in a bullaun-stone,
which is  reputed never to be without water.  It is largely
resorted to, and the tree adjoining is thickly covered with
the votive offerings of pilgrims in the  form of rags,
buttons, etc.  A St. Nechtain, who was venerated on the
8th of January, is said to have founded the original church
here.  (See Cannon O'Hanlon's "Lives of the Irish Saints,"
vol. I, p.127.)

'The new issue of "The Dublin Penny Journal" (vol. ii, p.
617) states that: "The following letter, giving many
interesting details, signed 'A Celt,' has appeared in 'The
Derry Journal' a few days ago:

"Referring to the late disfigurement of the above tomb in
the  old graveyard at Dungiven, it will be well to remember
that on two or three occasions previously in recent years
this monument has been defaced.

"About a quarter of a century ago the late Mr. James Ogilby,
D.L., of Pellipar, caused considerable repairs to be made to
the chancel of the old church, to the effigy and the fine
tracery above it. This was done in such a way as to preserve
the original lines of the antient structure, and at the same
time so solidly as to properly buttress the parts repaired;
and had not such been done this most interesting ruin, of
the date 1100 A.D., would have been in a short time simply
an indistinguishable mass of debris.

"The generosity and public spirit of this act" that of a
mere Planter, with no touch of the old Irish, done in honour
of the Church of a great chieftain of the 'mere Irish,'
will long be Remembered to Mr. Ogilby's credit by the
clansmen of the O'Cahan in the valley of the Roe, and very
far beyond it.

"But, on two occasions since, the effigy has been
maltreated- let us hope by the hands of thoughtless or
ignorant youths rather  than of malice aforethought.  The
recumbent figure of Cooey has  reposed here since the
fourteenth century.  It has withstood the ravages of time
and of the elements, and outlasted the withering racial
feuds and hates of the dreadful sixteenth, seventeenth, and
eighteenth centuries; and it is a sad reflection that it
should be reserved for these latter days to witness the
vandalism that has recently been perpetrated on it.

"I think it rests on the people of Dungiven to move in this
matter, and by whatever means they can effect it, to create
and foster a public feeling in the neighbourhood which will
render such acts impossible in the future, and so preserve
to posterity what is certainly the noblest and most
important monument in this county."
W. FITG.

Source:
Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the
Memorials of the Dead in Ireland Vol 6 (FHL # 0258795)