Donaghcomper Cemetery, Celbridge (Co. Kildare)

One day we were feeling a bit lazy and unsure the fine weather would last, so rather than go on a cycling adventure, we decided to simply visit the main cemetery in our own town - Donaghcomper (yes, there is another one...). Having visited Confey graveyard in Leixlip before, we thought this would be a similar, modern Irish graveyard, certainly interesting but probably nothing very new. Let me tell you now: we were as wrong as wrong can be! Donaghcomper is a fascinating place, mixing on the same grounds the old graveyard, the modern one, and even what might be called a post-modern cemetery (you'll soon see what I mean). It is so rich with old stones, continuing traditions, and discrete resistance to new stadardised rules it could almost summarise Ireland as a whole. From Celtic crosses to fairy trees, to the unmistakable children's graves and the maintenance of community and fun beyond death, Donaghcomper is so rich I will most probably detail some aspects of it in separate posts, and start with simply a quick overview.

Because there was originally an old churchyard, I'll start with some of its history. According to the presentation at the old entrance, the name Donaghcomper comes from the Irish words Domhnach (church) and cumar (a confluence), so it could basically translate as "the church where the rivers meet". The main entrance actually bears the name "Donaghcumper", with a U which makes it closer to the Irish version (but I've seen it with an O everywhere else). It is the name not only of the church and graveyard, but also of the townland and the nearby manor.

Contrary to many churchyards where the old church is simply there and can sometimes even be entered, in Donaghcomper it is so old it was deemed too dangerous and is surrounded with protective barriers. The church itself is thought to date back to the mid-12th century, with 14th century additions visible in the shape of the windows, while the monastery of St Wolstan which ruled it was only founded in 1202. It would be suppressed by Henry VIII's reform in 1536, and the Church became Protestant. This picture is a good summary of how damaged and unsafe it is, although relatively well-preserved for such an old building.

---

The graveyard itself looks much like a usual old Irish cemetery, with its scattered old stones, tall trees (many of them yew trees), and of course the inevitable "Celtic" cross. This one is original compared to most modern versions of the early Christian Irish crosses. The medieval high crosses that are so famously and typically Irish evolved from being represented on slabs to actual standing crosses, first with mostly abstract motifs (human representation was extremely rare and highly stylised in pre- and early Christian Ireland), and later with representations of scenes from the Bible. They came out of fashion for a while, and have become an unmistakable feature of Irish gaveyards since the late 19th century and the Celtic Revival. Yet the Revival itself being very much about promoting an indigeneous Irish identity, including its "heathen" characteristics, the modern versions of Irish crosses tend to resemble the intermediary phase of medieval crosses - fully carved out and standing on their own, but still abstract, using the highly adaptable pre-Christian motifs rather than human representation. Yet this modern, post-Revival version of an Irish cross looks much more like a later medieval cross, with biblical scenes all along the pilar, and a crucifiction at the centre of the circle.

This impressive, original cross is the centre of a plot occupied by all the graves of the Kirkpatrick family. Four generations of Kirkpatricks lived at Donaghcomper house from the early 19th century to the death of Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick, in 1954. The gravestones themselves are all similar and comparatively humble.

---

The above picture of the Kirkpatrick plot highlights the background of a typical old Irish graveyard, as well as its visible, physical separation from the more modern, more organised cemetery. But this is misleading. One of the striking elements of many Irish cemeteries is the continuity that seems to operate between ancient and modern burial grounds. In France, such continuity is almost invisible beyond the 19th century. When the large urban cemeteries (like the famous Pere Lachaise) were created, the vast majority of existing graveyards simply disapeared. In Paris, the old, central Cimetiere des Innocents was simply destroyed and the remains kept there are still famously kept in the Paris Catacombs. In rural villages, the graveyard is usually still adjoining the Church, and some of these churches are extremely old, and yet no such old graves can be found there. Visiting Irish places of the dead makes me want to find out more about what happened to these old graves in my own country, but I fear bodies were probably simply moved after a while, to make room from new ones. In Ireland, ageless, nameless stones are kept in the same place where newer graves will be added, sometimes necessitating an extension. In Donaghcomper, this culture of continuity is made all the more visible by the presence of at least two stones paying homage not to a specific person or family, but to "all the unmarked graves", thus including in the community of the dead those whose families might not have been able to pay for a headstone, or emigrated and could not tend it.

(the third image in this gallery is not dedicated to unmarked graves, it was simply on a headstone behind the first and is a fine example of a stylised crucifixion which reminded me of early human representations found in this country, so it does represent continuity in its own way)

Also, when you are standing in this part of the old graveyard, all you have to do is turn around to see the more recent section, with its kerbings and occasional polished granite stones. This tomb of an anti-treaty soldier who died in early 1923 is only a few meters away from the "old" graveyard, with no physical separation between the two (the Kirkpatrick cross is there, at the top left). Anthony O'Reilly's tombstone was erected by the National Graves Association in 1938, and is very similar to the 1916 graves I mentioned in my post about Glasnevin. It is barely visible, but at the top of the roll are the two Fs of Fianna Fáil within a bursting sun (an republican symbol since at least the 19th century). The sentence in Irish would translate literally as "May God have mercy on his soul", more or less an equivalent to the English "Rest in Peace".

---

The headstones in the "modern" part of the cemetery are mostly simple slabs, but that simplicity does not prevent originality and personalisation. For example, the sportsteam flag is a recurring

feature of Irish graveyards, such as the flag of the Dublin Gaelic Football Team - the most frequent flag in the area. In this case, it was simply planted in the ground in front of the grave, but the corners of the kerbings - or even the headstone itself - can also be used as a space for personalisation. There were so many examples of this in Donaghcomper I might write a separate post just about these, but here are a few examples:

From sports teams to hobbies (painting, music, golf, horse-riding, and even drinking) to geographical origin or religious images, these small carvings abound at Donaghcomper and reveal, once again, the communal attitude to death in Ireland, where the dead person remains part of the community of people who are involved in these activities.

I mentioned a "postmodern" part of the cemetery. Most recently created, at the back, is a"Lawn Cemetery". I never saw such a thing before, and at first sight its rules seem to contradict everything Irish cemeteries are about, old or new. Yet the very type of personalising illustrations used on the kerbings in the usual graveyard can be replicated here, and become even more visible at the front of the graves:

---

Finally, I mentioned the continuity inherent to many Irish graveyards. It is present at Donaghcomper in the maintenance of old traditions which originated in pre-Christian Ireland, and in the assertion of a link to nature and of the cycle of life. The tradition of hanging trinkets to tree branches is common to many countries, Ireland being one of the rare countries in Western Europe where it is ongoing. Some of them are called fairy trees and clearly relate to pre-Christian times, others are associated to holy wells and are thus linked to Christian practices, and the same continuity between Christian and pre-Christian practices seems to have endured in some Irish cemeteries like Donaghcomper, with tree barks, a bird's cage, a candle, or small bells. One tree even has small fairy-land doors fixed to its trunk:

---

Last but not least in the cycle-of-life vein, spread the word: this is the type of grave I want for myself (honeysuckle is the perfect choice)!