Local history: The old cemetery in Castlebar

By Tom Gillespie

THIS is a photograph of the former entrance to Castlebar’s old cemetery on the old Westport Road.

Only those who grew up in the county town in the 1960s and ‘70s will remember the long, downhill lane that led from the old Westport Road, beside the Travellers Friend Hotel (TF), to the graveyard.

What remains of the lane is now dwarfed by the highway that has intersected it on Lannagh Road.

The lane joins Lannagh Road between the Ellison Hotel and the new headquarters of the Boy Scouts.

The narrow lane could only accommodate a single line of traffic, usually made up of the funeral hearse, pedestrian walkers and the vehicles conveying the mourners to the graveside.

At the top of the lane, on the TF side, was a bungalow which housed the family of the official gravedigger, Martin Murphy, and on the left hand side was Griffin’s shop.

In those days all the graves had to be dug by hand as the age of mechanical diggers had not yet dawned.

The Murphy site was later purchased by the proprietors of the TF and now forms part of the car park in front of the Royal Theatre.

Indeed, the proximity of the TF to the old cemetery made it an ideal location for post-funeral functions, a situation that was well appreciated by the then owner, the late Paddy Jennings.

In the graveyard itself the narrow, circular pathway enabled the hearse and other vehicles to complete the circuit and exit again onto the old Westport Road.

My earliest memory of attending a funeral there was that of my grandmother, Katherine Gillespie, who died on April 22, 1959, when I was nine years old. My grandfather, T.H. Gillespie, had passed away on March 31, 1935.

My grandmother was the first and only corpse that I have ever touched. My father, Dick, took me to her home at Creagh Villa, where she was laid out, and I had to place my hand on her cold forehead.

The old graveyard holds a wealth of information on the history of the families of Castlebar. This cemetery comprises about 4,347 individual records in 1,647 graves - names from Acking to Young - and the earliest grave dates back to 1796.

The old cemetery overlooks Lough Lannagh and history has it that an early Christian church, from which the parish, Aglish, gets its name, was located there. There is a large ‘green’ section to the right of the present entrance, in front of the Mayo Peace Park, where dozens of former residents of the old St. Mary’s Psychiatric Hospital are interred.

There are many large vaults, elaborate headstones and graves with railings dotted throughout the cemetery, but particularly on the older section on the hill overlooking Lough Lannagh. Intermingled among them are several large yew trees, a long-standing tradition in Irish graveyards.

The origin of the name of County Mayo comes from the Irish words ‘Maigh Eo’, meaning ‘Plain of the yew trees’, and originates from the village of Mayo nowadays known as Mayo Abbey.

Family plots in the old graveyard are still in use but it also contains graves from the 19th century. Unfortunately, many of the older ones have deteriorated over the years.

However, Mayo county library holds records of surveys done of the grave plots, including transcriptions of inscriptions and photographs. This proved of great value when researching 19th century ancestors buried here, as the actual inscriptions on the graves were no longer readable.

Most of the older residents of Castlebar would have relatives buried in the old cemetery while in more recent times interments took place in the plot over the bridge facing Lough Lannagh and more recently still in the new cemetery on the Newport Road.

Great credit is due to Mayo County Council for the manner in which they maintain the old cemetery in particular, and graveyards in general.

The old cemetery grounds, particularly on the hill, present many challenges as the graves are not uniform as they are in the new cemetery where regulations are in force as to headstone and plot size, making it easier to maintain.

My grandmother and grandfather on my mother’s side - William and Sarah Fahey - and their son Denny, who died in July 1980, are also buried in the old section.

There are dozens of tracks, off the main paths, that can be explored in the old graveyard which yield up an interesting history of those buried there.

Many years ago, in the heydays of the showbands, who attracted thousands of dancers to the Royal Ballroom attached to the TF, courting couples, who had not the convenience of a motor car, often took the short stroll from the ballroom down the lane to the graveyard, where they knew they would not be disturbed.

I don’t know what happened to the Castlebar Cemetery sign (as pictured) but it would be a nice touch if it were located and placed over the now ‘new’ entrance to the old cemetery off Lannagh Road.

Among those buried in the old cemetery is Canon Patrick Lyons who was based in Castlebar from 1878 until the time of his death in 1911. He spearheaded the erection of the Church of the Holy Rosary, among other buildings, and had the foresight to establish the bacon factory in the county town.