Maynooth College Cemetery
Documentation & Enhancement Project
The second phase of the enhancement project is now completed. Ten new Celtic crosses have been commissioned to replace those removed from students' graves by vandals and this completes the rehabilitation of the student grave section (the remainder of the Celtic crosses which had been detached were still available and were re-attached in Phase 1 of the project). An entirely new marker had to be supplied to replace one that had been extensively damaged and the inscription lost; it wil be used to carry the names of a small number of students for whom no iron cross or gravestone can be found.
Major repair work has been done on the historic tombs of the early French professors (Anglade and Delahogue), Andrew Dunne (an early President) and Paul O'Brien (a pioneering Professor of Irish). Their surfaces were badly cracked with loose pieces of stone becoming detached (see completed work awaiting cleaning and enhancing of inscriptions). A small cross has also been reinstated at the entrance arch to the cemetery and a companion cross will also be replaced at the other side of the arch.
As part of this phase, a heritage marker has been designed and installed adjacent to the grave of the pioneering physicist Nicholas Callan (1799-1864) to mark the 150th. anniversary in 2014 of his death. The grave and its marker are shown prominently in the foreground of the photo below. Some further work will be done on the grave itself and the surrounds to extend the grass margin.
Special thanks to Charles Seaman, the college's project manager, for his work on this and for supplying photos of the completed project; to John Doyle and David Murphy of Signiatec, the Kilkenny firm who produced the heritage marker; and to Jimmy Kelly and his staff at Kelly Builders (Rosemount) Ltd., who carried out the civil works involved.
Project Phase 2 (2014)
Fr. Nicholas Joseph Callan (1799-1864)
Priest, scholar, teacher and inventor of the electrical induction coil
1799 Born on December 22 in the parish of Darver-Dromiskin, near Dundalk, Co. Louth to a family with extensive commercial interests (including farming, baking, malting and brewing)
1804-16 Educated at a Presbyterian-run school in Dundalk and St. Finian’s Academy, then located at Navan
1816-23 Studied for the priesthood at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, acquiring a special interest in the generation of electricity from his natural philosophy courses
1823 Ordained priest at age 23, despite a provision in a family will that he would not inherit property if he became a priest before he was 26
1823-26 Studied theology at Sapienza University in Rome (awarded Doctorate of Divinity in 1826) and continued his interest in the sciences, becoming familiar with the work of the great Italian physicists Galvani (1737-98) and Volta (1745-1827)
1826 Appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at Maynooth, a position he would occupy for almost four decades
1836-7 Developed the first induction coil, following the earlier innovations of Sturgeon (electro-magnet, 1825) and Faraday (electromagnetic induction, 1831): Using two coils of wire (one thick, one thin) wrapped in opposing directions around a metal core, he interrupted an electrical current in the first coil to produce current in the second, resulting in sparks up to 15 inches high and with 600,000 volts in power
1837-8 Developed the concept of the self-activating dynamo: By moving magnets in a pattern, he created electrical current independently of a fixed source and used this current to power a small motorised unit around his laboratory – in effect, producing an early electric vehicle
1845 Produced a 75,000-word treatise, published in the Dublin Review and later as a pamphlet under the title ‘Prelections: A Manuscript on Physics’, one of twenty such works written by him on science, spirituality and theology
1853 Developed a lead-tin mix that served as a galvanising agent to counter the effects of damp on his equipment, an innovation for which he received a patent
1854-5 Developed the ‘Maynooth Battery’, refining it to a simple single fuel cell in a cast-iron container with an acid solution: he once linked 577 of these units to create a massive power source that, when connected to an electro magnet, could lift up to two tons
1864 Died at Maynooth of natural causes on January 10, aged sixty-four years and eighteen days
His gravestone inscription reads: ORATE PRO ANIMA NICOLAI CALLAN PRESBYTER ARMACENSIS PHILOSOPHIAE NATURALIS PROFESSOR IN HOC COLLEGIO ANNOS XXXVII NATUS APUD DROMISKIN COMIT LOUTH 22 DECEMB 1799 OBDORMIVAT IN DOMINO 10 JAN 1864 REQUIESCAT IN PACE
Pray for the soul (of) Nicholas Callan Priest (of) Armagh Professor (of) Natural Philosophy in this college (for) 37 years Born at Dromiskin, Co. Louth (on) 22 December 1799 Went to sleep in the Lord 10 March 1864 May he rest in peace
This plaque erected in 2014 to mark the 150th anniversary of his death
Sponsored by the Maynooth Class of 1963-66-70
Illustration: Kieran O'Sullivan
(Design and Manufacture by) Signiatec