Gorey Market Square Graveyard Tour
Text provided by Gorey Tidy Towns and North Wexford Historical Society
The Gorey Parish old graveyard in the Market Square is over 400 years old and is Gorey’s most historic site. Many grave markers are simple stones in the ground, while other headstones have fallen or been broken over time. This churchyard tells the story of Gorey and its people who are at rest here.
Restoration Work
This graveyard, which for many years was overgrown and inaccessible, has been restored and is now being looked after and maintained in a very sensitive and caring way by Gorey Tidy Towns.
As part of the restoration work, a new access path was laid without disturbing any headstone, and seats and signage were installed. The site was sown in grass and wildflowers to allow for easier maintenance and weed suppression. Sensitive repairs were also carried out on the boundary walls and graves where appropriate.
Thanks to all who gave their time to help see this project to fruition. Special thanks to Canon Mark Hayden of Christ Church Gorey; Gorey Tidy Towns; Adhoc Community Facilities; Wexford County Council; Paul Woods of Kilmurry Nursery, and archaeologist Catherine McLoughlin of Stafford McLoughlin. Thank you to local historian Willie Willoughby for his research and expertise. Special mention must go to Tom Reynolds who mapped and recorded the history of this graveyard in great detail in the 1970s.
Bishop Thomas Ram
The first burials on this site are known to date back to the early 1600s. The most prominent memorial still surviving is the tomb of Bishop Thomas Ram who died in 1634. His tomb is surrounded by a low wall and railing in the central section of the graveyard.
Bishop Ram is a significant figure in Gorey’s history as he secured a Royal Charter for the town in 1619. After the granting of the Charter, Gorey town was known as Newborough, but it was not popular, and the name reverted to Gorey sometime in the 1700s.
A church was commissioned by Bishop Ram to be built on this site sometime around 1610. It stood until 1819, and nothing of this church survives today.
The Ram family were very large landowners in the Gorey area for several centuries. Bishop Ram was born in 1564 at Windsor, England. He came to Ireland as chaplain to the ill-fated Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who was executed by Queen Elizabeth. He later served as chaplain to Lord Mountjoy by whose patronage he became Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin at the age of 40.
Bishop Ram wanted his Gorey church to be the Diocesan cathedral for Ferns but this never happened. Instead, it became the parish church for Gorey. It was said to have contained a very elegant east window which was given by the Reverend Stopford. Part of this window was found recently. Bishop Ram died in 1634 and was interred in his tomb which he’d had built here some time before.
The Ram church was replaced by a new parish church, Christ Church, which was built at the upper end of town.
Boundary Walls
Boundary Walls
In the corner of the northern boundary wall are two pillars which were part of a passageway that ran from the Main Street through the Market House to the churchyard. It was probably used by the Ram family to attend church. These pillars demonstrate how two of Gorey’s most historical sites lie side by side and were once joined up. The Market House, the rear of which is visible from the churchyard, was built in 1709, and is the town’s oldest surviving historic building.
In the corner facing Liam Brennan Hardware, there was once a small entrance gate out to Church Lane. It is long since been blocked up.
In the 1850s, 20 fine chestnut trees were dotted all around the boundary wall. They were removed in 1925.
Noted Burials
Records show that in 1770, Gorey was described as a village made up of a Church, a Mass House, and a Market House.
Noted burials in the graveyard include: some of the victims of the famine of 1741; people who died in the Great Famine of 1845; and some of those who died in the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. As many as 2,000 people may be buried here.
Some very fine headstones survive in this churchyard.
- The headstone for Edward Whitmore, is one of the oldest surviving inscribed stone, dating back to 1716.
- The churchyard contains a headstone for the Byrne family, descendants of Myles Byrne of 1798 fame.
- One headstone is over a tonne weight.
- The smallest headstone has the shortest inscription. It reads: AB ASS
- One man has two headstones. James Eayres was better known around Gorey as the Little Umbrella Man. He prepared one of the headstones himself before he died. The parish put up another headstone some years after his death.
- Other burials of note nearby are members of the Bates family from Gorey who were coach builders of international fame.
- Bishop Ram, William Sinnott, and James Eayres had one thing in common: they all provided their memorial stone before they died.
- The heaviest stone in the churchyard measures 7’6” x 3’9”x 7¾” thick.
- Only 29 headstones erected prior to 1818 remain.
It is thought that Col. Walpole, who was in charge of Crown Forces at the Battle of Tubberneering, was killed and buried in 1798 in an unmarked grave just inside the front gate. His family commissioned a memorial to him in the old church on this site and it is now in the present Christ Church.
Meet the ‘stonies’
Many headstones that survive bear a record, not only of the deceased, but also of the talented craftsmen that helped preserve their memory. In the past, stone cutters were known as ‘stonies’.
Renowned local stonecutter Denis Cullen has two headstones which are considered great works of art. They are signed, and feature depictions of a church. Three other headstones are also attributed to Denis Cullen.
Two headstones are attributed to Charles Harrison of Dublin. He was one of the world’s great sculptors. He carved the pulpit in the present Christ Church Gorey and is also responsible for many great works in Dublin city. One of those who worked for Mr Harrison was James Pearse, father of Patrick and Willie Pearse who are remembered for the role they played in the 1916 Rising.
Sheppard’s of Dublin supplied another headstone in the cemetery. A member of the Sheppard family, Oliver Sheppard, carved the statue of ‘The Dying Cúchulainn’ in 1911, now on display in the GPO. He also carved the Pikemen sculptures in Wexford town and Enniscorthy. The surnames of other stone cutters with headstones are: Travers, O’Brien and Murphy.
Closure
In 1874, this graveyard was officially closed after 260 years, with the following words:
‘Father in Thy gracious keeping, Leave we now Thy servants sleeping.’
However, burials continued to take place until the new graveyard was opened at Christ Church in 1889.