Rathmore Church of Ireland, Kildare.

On the same day we visited the beautiful romanesque church and graveyard at Kilteel (see post from 2 September), we took a short detour to go home via Rathmore and its Church of Ireland graveyard, an interestingly contrasted place. More directly accessible than Kilteel, it is just as isolated, and lies under the close watch of nearby cattle, although of a different kind:

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Entering the graveyard provides an interesting contrast. The first impression is of a neatly kept

place with recent, homogenous standing stones, to the right on entrance (and in picture). The graves to the left are more varied in shapes, and the place grew more and more unkempt as we walked towards the back, until we were literaly knee-high in the tall grass. I have proof for the sceptics among you (see below). Most of this makes for another typically Irish graveyard, with

wilderness creeping over graves, while some are almost completely engulfed in the high grass. But parts of the graveyard are actually a bit sad, especially so the South side of the church, where dead branches and brambles seem to have been deliberately left, right over some of the tombs. I was highly surprised to see this in a place that is clearly still used for worship.

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Despite the high grass and occasional branches lying around, many interesting stones caught my eye, of which I have selected three. The first stone is typical of British army graves, in this case that of Private T. Burns, of the the Royal Army Service Corps, who died on 12 April 1918. I stopped counting the First World War graves I have come accross, but I have to say I would not have expected there to be so many, in almost every graveyard I have visited. Second is an interesting representation of the crucifixion on an 18th or 19th century stone (I haven't managed to decipher the date). What I find particularly interesting is that the body is mostly realistic in terms of both proportions and detail, but the upper torso, arms, and face are extremely stylised and don't seem to even try looking realistic. This actually has me wonder whether two different stone cutters might have worked on it, which would be very unusual. The last picture is of probably the most original grave in Rathmore. Sober as the grey head pillar seemed from afar,

it is actually ornate with a long rosary, made with MARBLES. My first though was that it was probably the grave of a clergyman, but there is no indication of this on the grave. I think mixing the serious symbol of the rosary with the childhood marbles is brilliant, and the cross is very "Celtic" in that it sports marbles of a different colour to symbolise the four cardinal points, and the figure of Christ in the centre.

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On the outskirts of Rathmore village, the local Church of Ireland graveyard is well worth a visit, and certainly holds many more treasures, hidden among the grass blades.