MOCOLLOP CHURCH AND CEMETERY
The Cemetery
A map of the Mocollop graveyard, kindly provided by the Tallow Enterprise Group Limited and Canon Hewitt.
Memorial on the site of the Strangman family burial plot (M1 on the map).
A black and white photograph of the Drew family vaults in the corner of the graveyard (near U and V on the map).
The Drew family had a long involvement with the nearby Mocollop Castle.
A Poem
There is a poem by an unknown author that has been going the rounds of genealogy and family history groups for a while now. Some people might think it a bit "corny" but I don't. It is entirely fitting for a webpage dealing with a cemetery. It speaks of the thoughts prompted by standing near an ancestor's memorial.
Your tombstone stands among the rest
Neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished marble stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh and blood and bone
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago,
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so
I wonder if you lived and loved
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot
And come to visit you.
BURIAL PRACTICES IN IRELAND
Excerpt from "The Gravestone Inscriptions of Co Cork - (Part) X" by R. Henchion. Dangandonovan (Dangan) Burial Ground. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Vol LXXIX No 229, January-June 1974, page 27.
The burial customs put into practice at Dangandonovan differed but little from what was accepted practice in other parts of Ireland. The majority of deaths took place at home; even spailpini or casual labourers were cared for by the farmers for whom they worked although once facilities for the reception of old people were made available at Midleton Hospital the ties between employer and superannuated employee gradually weakened.
Coffin-burial was the accepted mode of interment. The system prevalent in some impoverished parts of West Cork of hiring the coffin for the occasion of a funeral never seems to have been in vogue. Only one instance of a coffin-less burial is remembered. It occurred about the beginning of the 19th century when a man from Knockavuddig in the adjoining parish of Clolumult wrapped a sugane rope about the body of a deceased member of his family and carted it on his back for burial in Dangan.
A funeral invariably brought forth the entire parish, especially if it coincided with a Sunday. Those travelling by trap or pony-car usually drove to the nearest hostelry, then either joined the funeral procession on foot or took short-cuts through the fields by well-defined "Mass" or "Graveyard" paths to anticipate its arrival at the burial ground. Coffins were borne on men's shoulders - rarely by horse-drawn vehicle - and distance was no object. Since the custom of taking a corpse to the Church did not come into general use until this century the funeral was in effect a procession from the bed to the grave.
Medical and spiritual attendance before death was haphazardly sought and provided. When Laurence Kelly was shot at Dangan Fair in August 1865 some nine hours had elapsed before Drs. Foley and Sandiford arrived to minister to him and it does not appear that he received any spiritual assistance until the following day when he was visited by a clergyman in Midleton Hospital.
Nor was it habitual for a clergyman to be present at the grave-side. Indeed it was so rare an occurrence - and being rare, so highly valued - that the few instances of it were cherished long after. About a hundred years ago a priest accompanied a funeral cortege to Dangan. Hardly had the coffin been consigned to earth when two further funerals arrived. No clergyman was in attendance on either of these but the one clergyman in the graveyard remained on until the three coffins had been buried. This was so infrequent a happening and looked upon as so singular a privilege that the memory of it was treasured for generations and is spoken about even to this day.
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Enquiries about this site: Denis Strangman string@hotkey.net.au