This Story is:
In the cold winter months of 2012/13, the memorials in the graveyard at All Saints Church, Stradbally North, Castleconnell, were recorded by a group of over 30 local volunteers, They came armed with gloves, torches and mirrors to help in the reading of the older inscriptions and a determination to decipher and record the huge number of graves in the churchyard despite the wintry weather. As Henry Nash of the Castleconnell Historical Society said at the time “Hyperthermic blankets were contemplated, but in the event, we were sustained by regular visitations to All Saints Church for welcome hot coffee and biscuits”.
This massive undertaking formed part of the Ballyhoura Country Historic Graveyards Survey project, led by community archaeologist, Colum Hardy. In total, 951 memorials, including 53 from within All Saints Church, were not only recorded but also transcribed onto the website. In total, 2615 names were recorded, the oldest birth being Sir Richard Bourke, born 4th May 1778, and the oldest recorded being 1742. A word cloud produced at the time shows that Ryan was the most common surname with 221 listed.
At the same time 13 memorials within St. Joseph’s Church grounds as well as those in Lisheen, Montpelier (36) and Inishlosky Island (6) were recorded.
The work carried out now forms part of a wider on-line record of historic graveyards in local areas that form a national heritage resource. The digital survey allow both national and international visitors to explore and search through this genealogical repository of information https://historicgraves.com/graveyard/stradbally/li-stby
