RC Graveyard

The Village Roman Catholic Graveyard

The village graveyard is located close to the Catholic Church directly across from the Tyrrell Castle.

The martyr James Daly was interred here in 1970 and his headstone can be seen down the central path. James was executed in India in 1920 because of his prominent involvement in the Connaught Rangers mutiny.  He was buried in India and his uniformed, bullet ridden body lay for fifty years far from his homeland and the place of his youth, Tyrrellspass.

The Irish government was reluctant to become involved in the repatriation of James, and others,who died in the mutiny. The government conveniently handed the funeral responsibility to the National Graves Authority. Over 6,000 people attended the reinternment ceremony in the tiny village. The Imogen Stuart Sculpture in the village green commemorates all those who died at home and abroad for Irish Independence. The sculpture looks to a brighter future as the three children walk towards a new Independent Ireland.

During recent excavations at Ballykilmore just to the south of the graveyard the remains of over 1,000 bodies were discovered. Some of these dated back to early medieval times. Burials took place at Ballykilmore for close on a Millennium from the fifth century to the Georgian period. The remains of a church site possibly dating to the tenth century was also unearthed.  A Cillín or children’s grave was also discovered, where the remains of unbaptised children were interred.  The remains of the children from the Cillín were reinterred within the modern graveyard in 2012 and an impressive Bog Oak sculpture marks the site of the reinternment. The sculpture is dedicated to the memory of all those ancient and modern burials excavated at Ballykilmore.