Secret Histories: The Hidden Archaeology of the Graveyards of Killora & Killogilleen, Craughwell, Co. Galway
1. Secret The hidden archaeology of
the graveyards of Killora &
Histories: Killogilleen, Craughwell, Co.
Galway
Robert M Chapple
2. What I want to do:
examine a number of quantifiable elements of gravestone
morphology:
3. Going deeper ...
Look at the apparent sexual and family politics of
commemoration.
1) the problem of a male/female dynamic in commemorative
practice
2) the social question of the family relationships between the
deceased and the individual commissioning the memorial
4. In the beginning ...
March 1995 to October 1997
Craughwell Community Council and FÁS
Job description: monitor cutting back of overgrowth and the
trimming of ivy at Killora & Killogilleen.
Also produced two books of gravestone inscriptions
5. A little bit of history ...
Killora and Killogilleen: typical of small Irish Medieval churches.
As such, they
represent the
two chief,
traditional burial
grounds for the
modern
ecclesiastical
parish of
Craughwell and
Ballymanagh.
6. Killora & Killogilleen
standing remains appear to date to
the late 15th to early 16th
centuries
evidence for construction and
alteration from at least the late
12th to early 13th centuries
7. Killora
Name: Cill Eóra (Church of St Eora) or Cill Óthra (church of
prayers)
Earliest reference: 1333 (AFM records death of Archdeacon of
Killora – disputed)
1586: taxed at £1 6s 8d
1588: lands leased to Bryan Fitzwilliams
1593: lands leased to John Lye
1625-49: sold to Robert Blake for £5
1661: sold to John Eyre
8. Killogilleen
Papal letters of Innocent VIII
March 27th 1491: vacancy in the Canonry at Killogilleen. Dispute:
On the death of the perpetual vicar (Geoffery Ocuan) lands
illegally taken over by Florence Ogerbayn
February 18th 1492: Florence & his brother (William) get Papal
sanction to unite Killogilleen with the vicarage of Kilchreest.
Name: the church of the O’Killeens
9. The gravestones
Killora: 181 gravestones.
Directly dated examples: 1619 to1987.
Killogilleen: 119 gravestones.
Directly dated examples: 1654 to 1995.
55 stones removed, leaving a corpus of 245, on which the
analyses are based
Some removed: because they did not contain an extant or legible date sufficient to
categorise them by decade.
As the survival rate of the earliest gravestones is somewhat sporadic, three further stones
which date to before the 1740s were not included
10. Problems & caveats
Accurately assess the decade of construction
frequent delay in the erection of the gravestone after the initial
burial.
Reasons: Financial
Engineering - ensuring that the earth has sufficiently
settled to prevent the stone sinking or toppling forward
11. Gravestone may include a date of erection below the
commemorative text - 14 recorded instances (6%) from 1795
to 1865.
One stone bears the same date for both erection and the primary
memorial, the average hiatus is 9.43 years with a maximum
gap of 23 years.
Usually construction date was deduced from the primary
inscription. 90 cases (37%) commemorated a single individual
Majority: estimation based on the analysis carving techniques
etc. and on the order of commemoration.
13. Differences
Killora is characterised by a
rising series of peaks
during the 1810s, 1870s
and 1970s
14. Differences
Killora is characterised by a
rising series of peaks
during the 1810s, 1870s
and 1970s
with corresponding lulls in
usage during the 1840s
and 1930s
15. Differences
Although Killogilleen displays
a similar peak during the
1970s, the primary period
of grave marker erection
appears in the 1790s and
is relatively sustained until
the 1830s, falling off
sharply after this point
It is in this relict framework of gravestone erection and survival that
the rising and waning of individual styles and fashions in popular
religion and culture must be observed
16. Killora & Killogilleen are broadly similar to other parts of Ireland
where the use of durable grave-markers did not begin to
flourish until the 17th century, with a marked expansion during
the first half of the 18th century
The reasons for this sudden increase in grave marker production
may be related to a number of factors, including the
burgeoning of a relatively affluent middle-class of local
merchants, craftsmen, farmers etc., keen to display their
wealth and importance in long-lasting, public forms.
17. Recumbent slabs & table tombs
sharp increase in their use in the period after 1760, culminating in
the 1770s & falling off sharply in the 1780s-1790s (though still
comprising c.50% of all monuments erected)
18. Recumbent slabs & table tombs
The 1800s saw a resurgence in popularity for the type, with a
steady decline over following decades
19. Headstones
Killogilleen: headstones are a (relatively) constant feature 1740s-1980s
Killora: only effectively appearing during the 1820s & rise to domination
20. Rubrics (introductory phrases)
Just like any other
aspect of mortuary
practice, these
phrases go through
phases of popularity
and decline
21. ‘Pray for the soul of’ first appears: 1750s, disappearing in the following
decade before rising in popularity until the 1790s – decline after.
Minor resurgence: 1860s to 1920s.
22. ‘Sacred heart of Jesus have mercy on the soul of’: 1900 to 1920.
23. ‘Sacred to the memory of’: 1870s to 1900s
‘Erected by’: falls out of use: 1840s & 1950s
Popular from 1770s to the 1960s.
24. Erected by
by implication, commemorates
less the deceased in favour of
the individual responsible for
commissioning the memorial
25. ‘now these points of data make a beautiful line …'
‘Lord have mercy on the soul of’: from 1790s, to 1920s, with a
peak in the 1840s
‘In loving memory’: 1870s to 1980s.
26. IHS variously interpreted as
Iesous a rendering of
the Greek
orthography for
‘Jesus’, Iesus
Hominum Salvator
(Jesus, saviour of
mankind) or In Hoc
Signo [Vince] (In this
sign, conquer)
easily the most popular
single ideogram
represented- occurs
in various styles on
some 151 examples
(62%)
28. two graveyards show markedly different distributions of the
symbol.
Killora: defined peaks during the 1770s, 1840s and 1910s.
29. Killogilleen: remained highly popular from the 1770s to the 1860s
with a secondary peak culminating during the 1930s and
1940s.
30. Changes to the IHS form
IHS with a cross (usually springing from the cross-bar of the
‘H’) first appeared in the 1760s and enjoyed a high
popularity until the 1860s
31. ‘IHS’ monogram with a cross where the ‘I’ was carved in the
form of a ‘J’ appeared during the 1810s, peaking during
the 1840s
32. plain form of the monogram (without a cross) – introduced:
1860s, peaked: 1890s and 1940s.
34. The omega Ω
Omega: most popular of the
shapes used for the cross-bar
of the 'H' in the ‘IHS'
monogram.
Omega may be construed as a
symbol of death or memento
mori.
Represented on 25 gravestones (17%).
Introduced: 1780s
Most popular: 1810s.
Decline: 1820s-1830s
Revival: 1850s.
36. Does it have a meaning?
Speculation: may be a deconstruction of a death symbol - turning
it into a symbol of life and resurrection.
37. Does it have a meaning?
Speculation: may be a deconstruction of a death symbol - turning
it into a symbol of life and resurrection.
Any evidence?
38. Does it have a meaning?
Speculation: may be a deconstruction of a death symbol - turning
it into a symbol of life and resurrection.
Any evidence? … maybe
Analogy: in Medieval sculpture dragons and other mythical and
monstrous beasts are used as emblems of Satan, but are
shown with knotted tails, indicating that they have been
defeated by Christianity.
39. Carving at St. Nicholas'
Collegiate Church, Galway
(15th Century)
Inversion of monster
shows same process:
Red Crosse Knight
Slaying the Dragon -
Illustration from "The
Fairie Queen" (1590)
40. St George & the
Dragon by Gustave
Moreau 19th century
French Symbolist
painter 19th/20th century
illustration
42. Hearts
The use of hearts has a long history within Christian symbolism
as a whole. Plain, upright heart. Popular from 1780s to 1940s,
peaking in the 1880s and 1890s.
44. Later ones: frequently cut in
high relief and display
additional attributes
including bands of thorns,
gushing blood and puncture
wounds to the heart.
This particular evolution of form
may be as much the result of
changes in fashion as
developments in carving
techniques and technology.
45. Inverted hearts
The form enjoyed popularity from the 1780s to 1850s, especially
at either end of the period.
46. The symbol is most often found appended beneath the cross-bar
of the ‘H’ in the ‘IHS’ monogram
47. The symbol may be interpreted as an image of death, similar to
the use of the omega.
Occasionally, the inverted heart occurs in conjunction with the
inverted omega.
Exact meaning of this combination is (at best) obscure.
48. Hearts have largely gone out of fashion.
Today: frequently incorporated into representations of Christ.
50. Flower as a symbol of resurrection
Killora cemetery - arrangement of the symbols presents an
explicit narrative of journey from death to resurrection.
51. Symbol of death or ‘memento mori’ (a skull and cross-bones)
the ‘last day’ (Archangel Michael with a trumpet)
53. Central panel represents
heaven?
IHS & cross: Jesus
Cherubim
Hand with key: St. Peter
Decorative border: the wall
around heaven (?)
Revelations 21: 144 cubits
high (roughly 216 feet)
54. Just a little aside ...
This stone: dedicated to Patrick Cloonan &
erected in 1839
Weighing of souls (Psychostasis): East Side
of the Muiredach's Cross, Monasterboice,
County Louth (900-923 AD)
55. West tympanum of Notre
Dame Cathedral in Paris
(1163-1250).
Origin? … Egyptian theology?
… the heart weighed
against the feather Maat
56. A few words about peacocks …
Ancient belief that the
flesh of the peafowl
did not decay – led to
an association with
immortality – adopted
in Early Christianity
57. Happy families?
165 memorials (67.35%) give details of family relationships
between the deceased and the commissioner of the
monument
Sons for parents (29.70%) Wives for husbands (20.60%)
Husbands for wives (9.70%) Fathers for children (8.48%)
Daughters for parents (8.48%) Families as a group for parents (6.06%)
58. These figures are not static through time, but display marked
changes.
Detailing of family relationships is absent before the 1780s, at
which point sons begin to be included in the inscriptions
commemorating parents. Peaked: 1790s. Popular (if in
decline) until 1880s.
59. First instance of a daughter commemorating her parents did not
occur until the 1830s. Increasing until the 1910s (reached a
level comparable with the numbers of sons commissioning
monuments).
60. Husbands commemorating wives : intermittent dedications from
the 1780s to 1980s
Wives commemorating husbands: did not start until the 1800s, is
much higher, peaking in the 1890s.
61. Expectation:
The chief group responsible for the erection of stones should be
a close second generation relative, such as a son or daughter.
True for sons commissioning monuments for parents (29.7%).
But daughters comprise only the fourth largest named group
(8.48%).
This is at variance with what should be expected if we are to
presume a roughly 50:50 male/female split in the population.
62. But why?
We should see these figures as evidence of the perceived
demands of graveyard (and societal) propriety where the
eldest surviving son (or sons) was expected to shoulder the
financial/organisational, burden of commemoration.
Simple advantages: choice of sculptor; type/variety of symbols
used
opportunity to have their own names included on the inscription.
63. But why?
More complex benefits: public display of family continuity
Display of continued wealth and prestige on the parochial stage.
Economically: eldest son is most likely to inherit the bulk of the
family property & therefore the one expected to commemorate
the deceased.
In this way, the act of commemoration of one’s parents (in
particular one’s father) becomes a very public statement that
the role of head of the family had passed to the next
generation.
64. Problems with this approach
Undoubted ‘stylistic’ element: times when such inscriptions were
considered appropriate
Other factors:
relative ages of husbands to wives (older males predeceased
their spouses)
mothers dying in childbirth
families which produced no issue, or only female children.
65. A different approach ...
The order in which the names of the deceased are placed within
the inscriptions.
109 gravestones (44.49%) list a husband and a wife.
Of these, 81 (74.31%) list the deceased in the order in which they
died: husband predeceasing the wife (67 cases, 61.47%); wife
predeceasing the husband (13 cases, 12.84%).
66. Minor component: female who predeceased her husband is listed
after him (13 cases). Sporadically from the 1860s to 1980s
Gaps between deaths: four days to 36 years.
67. Where a wife predeceased her husband (but is listed after him) –
was there no personal property available to be inherited by
the next generation? … any private property went to the
surviving husband.
Result: no change in the fiscal power within the family structure.
It would make greatest financial and social sense to wait until
the (male) head of the family died before commissioning a
memorial to them both.
68. In the 13 cases where wives predeceased their husbands and
are listed chronologically within the inscription, all but one
post-dates the 1900s.
The single example from the 1830s was erected by the daughter
of the family – significant?
69. Numbers of gravestones commemorating one individual only …
with the exception of the 1900s more men than women
received stones … what does it say about how women were
valued in rural Ireland from the 1750s to the 1980s?
70. The theme of family power and
precedence are also reflected in the
non-chronological ordering of
children in relation to their parents.
21 instances (8.57%) where children
who predeceased one or both
parents are placed lower on the
inscription than would be from a
simple list.
These are considered as ‘internal
relatives’, such as sons, daughters
and grandchildren – part of the
lineal descent of the family.
71. There are a further 4 cases
(1.63%) where ‘external
relatives’ (i.e. uncles,
aunts, brothers- and sisters-
in-law etc. of the
commissioners)
predeceased the primary
individual, but are listed in a
secondary position.
72. It should be noted that this is the only
position in which predeceased
children are commemorated, there
being no instance where a
predeceased child is listed before its
parents.
There is only one stone within the two
graveyards where a child alone is
commemorated. The stone is
particularly small (0.93m high x
0.51m wide) and commemorates
Francy Cawley (d. 1884, age 4
years). It may be significant that of all
the stones analysed, this is the only
one to include a verse.
73. Worth a mention ...
with the exception of the previous case; the three individuals who
died in the 1970s & one grandchild from the 1940s, all the
predeceased children were juveniles to mature adults,
whose ages range from 8 to 32, (average: 20.42 years).
Probably a significant portion of the local dead (from post-
baptismal infants to young juveniles) are wholly unrepresented
within the until the 1940s at the very earliest.
Those who are, are relegated to a secondary position within the
inscriptions.
74. Final thoughts and conclusions
Observed a rural community whose conscious and
unconscious actions in choosing gravestones betrays some
of their ideas & concerns about how they perceive the
workings of intra-family power and organisation, and indeed
what constitutes the family in the first place.
75. Structure: father as head of the family, with wife and children
taking up secondary roles.
Family: clearly defined as a nuclear, linear unit where uncles,
aunts, and various in-laws, or ‘external relations’ are
accorded commemoration, but in a position inferior to the
perceived head of the family and its core of ‘internal relations’
(as viewed by the commissioning individual!).
Change: From the beginning of the 20th century, we see a slow
democratisation entering (but not eclipsing) this view of the
traditional family structure - predeceased wives accorded the
primary position within the inscriptions.
76. Study of decoration: image of how individuals saw
themselves within their communities.
My argument: examination of 'non-chronological ordering'
within inscriptions allows us to see into local society.
Also: how individual families saw themselves and how they
understood their internal organisation and power structures
- something that other avenues of research are largely unable
to!
While this trend towards non-chronological ordering of the
inscription is a very minor element of the corpus as a whole, it
still warrants further investigation to establish its wider
temporal and physical distribution.
77. Publications on the subject:
1995 The Church of Prayers: gravestone inscriptions from the
graveyard of Killora, Craughwell, Co. Galway.
1997 Cillogcillín: gravestone inscriptions from the graveyard of
Killogilleen, Craughwell, Co. Galway.
2000 ‘A statistical analysis and preliminary classification of gravestones
from Craughwell, Co. Galway’ in Journal of the Galway
Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 52, pp. 155-71.
2011 ‘Rules, Rubrics and Relations: The conscious and subconscious
construction of family structures and public images through
gravestone art in Craughwell, Co. Galway, Republic of Ireland’
Academia.edu
78. www.academia.edu
rmchapple@hotmail.com
Thank you all for listening!!!!