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From Denis Bergin, Project Co-ordinator, September 1 2017

 

The final stage of the cemetery enhancement is now well under way, as can be seen from these progress photographs, showing the installation of the granite kerbing to create new narrower pathways (awaiting surfacing), the addition of soil to expand the grassed area, and the effects of the stone cleaning treatment used throughout the various burial areas. The project will be completed in the next few weeks and we hope to have an occasion in November when the 200th. anniversary of the establishment of the cemetery can be commemorated, in conjunction with the regular annual ceremonies for those buried there and their relatives.

 

From Denis Bergin, Project Co-ordinator, Novmber 18 2015

 

Research continues on the exact location of student graves in the Pioneers' Plot, where it is hoped to erect a heritage marker in early 2016 (a list of those interred is already available in the Lists section of this website, but there are still problems with the numbering system used to identify student graves and it is hoped to resolve these shortly). Work is also underway on mapping out the modern section (1880 onwards) of the cemetery, and on consolidating information on those buried there. It is hoped that some of this information will be used as the basis for a wider heritage project that will focus on broader aspects of the college's history.

 

 

From Denis Bergin, Project Co-ordinator, February 3rd. 2015

 

The work on documenting the burials in the college cemetery goes on, and as of now we have been able to provide a draft list of those buried in the 'Pioneers' Plot', which covers staff interments from 1817 to 1879 and student burials from 1820 to 1865. These have now been listed in the 'Lists' section of this website. A draft history of the cemetery is also included in the 'History' section.

 

From Denis Bergin, Project Co-ordinator, December 20th. 2014

 

The second phase of the cemetery enhancement has now been completed and the section on Project Phase 2 in this website has been updated to show the results. A total of €5000 has been raised by the members of the class, and supplemented by an investment of over twice that amount by the college authorities. Thanks to all involved and we look forward to further initiatives in 2015.

 

And as if to justify our efforts, Charles Seaman, the college's building projects manager, tells me that the workers on the cemetery enhancement site (employees of the contractors Kelly (Rosemount) Ltd.) have commented on the number of people who visit the cemetery and wander around, looking at the tombstones and gravestones and taking in the atmosphere of the place. And occasionally, someone takes the trouble to photograph the area, and put up a report on a blog or website.

 

One of those was a young student from upstate New York, now graduated and working in the museum field herself, who was attending a summer course at Maynooth named (almost incredibly) Death, Memory and Monumenta in Irish Culture. She put up an extended report on her blog at http://pagepaige.blogspot.com/2013/01/st-patricks-college-cemetery-maynooth.html

 

Like many others, Paige was fascinated by the story of the two young Maynooth men (John O'Grady of Limerick, who died in 1841 and Thomas McGinn of Kilmore, who died in 1860) who committed suicide, and also by the myth that they were buried in unconsecrated ground. But from the research I have done, there is no unconsecrated ground in the cemetery, since there are burials (of domestic staff and sisters) all around the margins of the ground. And both John and Thomas are included in the official lists of those buried in the 'iron crosses' section, a plot where students may have originally been buried in unmarked graves from 1820 onwards, but which was  reorganised in 1907 to allow each grave to be marked by a numbered cross, with an inscribed list (of numbers, names, clerical status, dates of birth and dates of death) placed in stone at the entrance to the cemetery. In fact John's resting place would seem to be immediately adjacent to that of Francis Power, the vice-president of Maynooth who was the first person to be buried in the cemetery.

 

From Denis Bergin, Project Co-ordinator, November 1st. 2014

 

- Plans are now in hand for the work on Phase 2 to be finalised. It will consist of the rehabilitation of the Pioneers Plot, which contains the graves of over twenty early staff members and thirty students who died between 1820 and 1866, most of the latter in graves unmarked except for numbers inscribed on simple iron crosses. A heritage marker for the grave of Nicholas Callan, the scientific pioneer, will also be installed in this the 150th. anniversary year of his death in 1864.

 

- An informal meeting took place at the college on October 17 to discuss how the cemetery project fits into the larger picture of Maynooth's heritage. It was attended by five members of the class and five representatives of the college (including those responsible for archives, special collections, museum curation and project management). The day also included visits to the college museum and the cemetery, and a number of areas of common interest were identified for further investigation in 2015.