This article is from page 27 of the 2011-08-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 27 JPG
A NEW book, that for the first time attempts to record the history of Drumcliff cemetery, was officially launched in Ennis last week.
Complied by local men Larry Brennan and Eric Shaw, Dr umcliff Cemeter y – The Hidden Histor y of Ennis contains details of some 12,000 graves and 2,700 inscriptions to be found in the graveyard, which has been in use since the early 1800s.
Work on mapping the graveyard began three years ago and the project is a joint initiative between the Clare Roots Society and Ennis Tidy Towns. The process of documenting the extensive history of Drumcliff was undertaken by members of the Roots Society and pupils from Ennis National School between 2007 and 2008.
The book contains articles on the history of Drumcliff plus the biodiversity, flora and fauna, stone cuttings and ironwork within the cemetery. The book also guides readers through the historical graves in the cemetery from the cholera outbreaks of 1832 and 1849 to the Famine Grave, Paupers’ Burial Plot and the tragic drowning at Ballybeg Lake on the April 1, 1896.
According to co-author Larry Brennan, Drumcliff is an area of immense historical importance, “It’s one of the most unusual graveyards, not just in Clare but in Ireland in the sense that every event with regard to the historical background is recorded in Drumcliff, from cholera to famine, to the Carmody’s Hotel disaster, to plane crashes. I have brought people up there from England and America and they are amazed with the history. They look on it as a history trail that can be done, like you do the trail in Ennis, this is another trail that can add to tourism in Ennis.”
He describes Drumcliff as a “search engine”, the first place anyone should look if they are researching any as pect of the history of Ennis.
“Drumcliff is where you start. All the shopkeepers in town are buried up there. Some of them in the vaults. Paddy Con McMahon, where they are renovating Paddy Con’s Hall now. Everyone knows Paddy Con McMahon, but who was he? He was a builder. He was involved in the County Hospital. There is so much information that is hidden up there. But by the initial starting point from a gravestone, you can get a date, if you’re lucky you’ll get an obituary and you’ll find the history of the person then by simply going to the grave or back to the media. It’s a search engine for people who want to search their family or members of their family or historical events.”
Having started the process of recording the history of Drumcliff, Larry believes there are plenty more stories to be told. “It all depends on the angle. Do you do the teachers in Ennis, do you do the priests in Ennis. What do you do in Ennis? There are various things that can be done in Drumcliff. This is only the beginning. We would encourage other people now that might have time on their hands to take an element of Drumcliff to proceed to produce further booklets.”