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Lavey Parish Graveyards
The recording of names of people buried in the Lavey Parish Graveyards.
by Liam Mulholland.
There are two burial grounds at Lavey Chapel known until 2024 as the old graveyard and the new graveyard.
Fr Eamon Graham PP as of June 2024, renamed the new graveyard St Mary's Graveyard and the Old graveyard St Eugene's and St Columba's Old Graveyard.
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The Lavey Parish burial records were compiled from two main sources, the actual headstone inscriptions and the official Parish records. However in the past a lot of details were either not recorded or lost and thus many people are buried without trace. There are also a few instances whereby those named on headstones are buried outside the parish.
The first parish computer system was purchased during the 1980s by the late Father Regan PP. The make was an Epson, black & white screen, no mouse, no windows os, just the dark DOS screen. A database program called TAS was purchased for less than £100 sterling and it turned out to be a brilliant programmable database which still works to this day. We managed to transfer about 1000 records from the old parish books before Father Regan died in 1989.
The official Parish burial records date back to the 19th century but there are many gaps. The official records continued to be computerised by Brian Clarke (Now retired) under the direction of Father O'Donnell PP. I in turn combined this information with the data I personally collected from the headstones and transferred it to the parish website.
Unfortunately the original software used by Brian Clarke recorded only the year in 2 digit format and thus I was unsure at times as to whether a year was 1960 or 1860. However most official records had the current serving priests recorded and with the help of the parish baptismal computer records I was able to put a century to most of the official records. Someday perhaps I will check the original books in the Parochial house to verify the dates. Spellings are copied exactly as recorded in the Parish records and graveyard headstones.
Some priests such as Fr Bernard McGurk, Fr J McGoerty, Fr J O'Brien and Fr P O'Kane recorded the townland from where the person originated which will be useful to anyone researching their family or area.
However at this moment in time I have only published the name, date and age on the web.
The data probably contains some duplicates and errors. The official
Parish records did not specify where the person was buried. I could
not at times be sure if a name in the official record and the
headstone inscription were the same person. The fact that family
Christian names are often repeated makes this more difficult and so
I will leave it to the discretion of the viewer as to whether
adjacent names on my listing are really the same person. There are
also a very few cases were names are repeated where families have
more than one headstone or plot.
Please note that some headstones do not have all recorded names inscribed.
Details and dates are under constant review and are subject to correction at any time.
We do not offer a genealogical research service but are happy to try and answer general queries about a family record.
Family history can be researched at Dublin and also Belfast
Viewing the names of people buried in the Lavey Churchyards
The names of people buried in the graveyards have been put in alphabetical order. Please click on the appropriate name to view grave details.
Map of burial plots in Lavey Parish St Eugene's and Columba's Old Graveyard.
Basic map of burial plots in Lavey Parish St Mary's New Graveyard.
If you are doing genealogical research or are tracing your family history and you found the information on this section of the website helpful then please consider sometime making a donation to either this parish Chapel Renovation Project, any Church or any charity of your own choice.
The photo below of Brian Clarke was taken in the 1980s. The computer system was an Amstrad model.
The Traditional Irish Wake Highlights Importance of Praying for Departed Souls - National Catholic Register
The theology of a Catholic cemetery - Diocese of Boise, Idaho USA - notice reference to disrespect shown to graveyards by some new Halloween practices.
