On Our Way to Kells #5 (Day 2); Staholmog graveyard

Staholmog graveyard came highly recommended, and we were lucky to find a BnB that was a mere 5 minute cycle from it, so visiting it was the first thing we did on the morning of our second day in Meath. It was a beautifully bright start of the day, and also somewhat a surprise - the first time (and only) I came accross a churchyard, with not only the old & new burial spaces, but also a new church, still in use, on the actual site. Here it is, viewed from the top of the footpath, with the modern churchyard between us, and the old graveyard and ruined church in my back.

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And it was a very ruined old church. At first, we weren't even certain there was actually one, buried as it was under bushes and trees. Yes, all the green you are seeing in these pictures, that's the old church. I made sure of it by following a bunny that was hopping around and finally led me "into" it. Well, I was looking into it, I don't think I could have managed to actually follow the bunny in (maybe be I should have, who knows what can happen when you follow a bunny through a hole?). The last of these three pictures is of a barely visible standing stone, within the "walls" of the old church.

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More generally, many of the stones were extremely weathered, or even broken. One of them (pictures 2 & 3 below) looks like it was highly decorated. It is actually frustrating not to be able to see the full extent of it, but it is also a great opportunity for imagination. I don't know about you, and I'm certainly wrong, but the image I'm seeing on the top piece is a skull with a top hat, and candy canes on either side (yes, I've watched too much of the Nightmare before Christmas). And by the way, candy cane is such a literal name. We call them sucres d'orge in French, it means barley sugar and I love the poetry of it.

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Yet there were still a few stones that were in very good condition, including some that were quite old. These two really caught my eye, with the one on the right looking like it is leaning on its neighbour. It turns out the people buried there are very likely related, as they have the same family name, but they were buried a century apart. The stone to the left was erected in memory of Christian Monaghan and his wife Catherine Monaghan, née Reilly. She died in April 1776 and he survived her by 10 years. The stone was commissioned by their sons, Philip, William and Thomas. It was likely erected shortly after their father's death, as it is his name that comes first on the stone, even though he died after his wife.

The second stone was erected for John Monaghan, who was a merchant in Kells and died in November 1863, aged 35. It was erected by his widow. It is sort of touching to think that John was probably a grandson or great-grandson of one of Christian and Catherine's sons, and that these people who never met in life now have their tomb stones lean on each other.

The chubby winged souls on John Monaghan's grave are very well preserved and highly detailed, up to their curly hair. Each is also topped by a medallion with an interesting flower, whose petals are simply made of heart-shaped palmette upon heart-shaped palmette. And there is a ladybird on top of the flower to the right. <3

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Another of these old stones was particularly well-preserved (seriously, if you are not a graveyard wanderer yourself, you can't imagine how rare it is to have three perfectly-readable, pre-20th century stones). It was erected by James Brady "for him & his posterity" and it commemorates his father, Patrick, who died in April 1763, aged 43. That phrase is quite frequent and very interesting because it shows a fact that is so obvious people tend to forget about it - that funeral rites and memory practices are very much about those who remain alive, more so than about the dead. "For him and his posterity" might have you believe that James Brady bought a plot and a stone for himself and his children to be buried later, when the point rather is that they can commemorate Patrick, who came and died before them. THEY need to remember Patrick, but Patrick no longer needs anything, which is why the stone COMMEMORATES HIM, but was ERECTED FOR THEM.

The flying souls on this stone are very different from those previously shown. The wings and faces are much more stylised, and the hair almost looks like they are wearing some sort of helmet or head cover.

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Staholmog is a beautiful place, with quite a few old and impressively preserved stones, among others that were a lot less lucky. But there are also a few much more recent stones, and I have decided to finish this with one of them. As good as it looks, this Celtic cross is very usual and does not stand out for its motifs or the quality of its carving. It is also quite recent. What is more interesting about it is another recurring feature of Irish graveyards, the inclusion of a family member who is not buried in this spot, and may actually have died in a foreign country. In this case, Richard and Mary Smith died in 1946 and 1965 respectively, and their son died in 1997, but is buried at Calvary Hill Cemetery IN DALLAS, TEXAS. I can think of two ways to explain these occurrences. One is the obvious Irish history of emigration and the memory of it that is entertained "back home". The other is less obvious and I wasn't really aware of it until I came to Ireland - it is the deep sense of belonging Irish people have, not so much to Ireland, but to the local community they are originally from. In this specific case, there is also the fact that Richard and Mary's son was a "Monsignor", a fact that must have given great pride to the local Catholic community (and at a time when the scandals of the Catholic Church in Ireland were only just unfolding).