During the recent spell of wonderful weather many people flocked to the beaches and parks to enjoy the sunshine. In Glenroe/Ballyorgan however, on some of the hottest days, a group of local dedicated volunteers were engaged in a very enjoyable and interesting exercise - that of surveying the headstones in the local graveyards. They are happy to report that, during that period, the mammoth task of surveying the graveyards was completed.

Many hours and days were spent in Glenroe and Darragh. The graveyards in Abbey and Kilflynn were already done, under the supervision of Sarah Mee.

The work involved recording in photograph and script, every possible detail on every headstone or marker and Calum Hardy who is an archaeologist with Ballyhoura Development, did a map of each graveyard. The work was particularly challenging in Darragh because of the age of the headstones and the effects of the passage of time. However, with much patience, co-operation and expert advice from Calum, the task was completed. Calum photographed all the headstones and markers, mapped the graveyards and instructed the volunteers in various techniques to decipher the inscriptions.

Calum was ably assisted by Sarah Mee, Ballyorgan who has done a huge amount of work in this field throughout the county. The volunteers, many of them second level students, were fascinated by the various family names and stories that were gleaned from the inscriptions.

The outcome of this valuable exercise is that all the recorded information can now be accessed by logging on to www.historicgraves.ie.

I am sure descendants of all those interred will be delighted to enter the various burial grounds from the comfort of their homes across the globe and ‘visit’ the graves of their loved ones.

The volunteers were led by Calum Hardy and Amanda Slattery (Ballyhoura Development) and included Sarah Mee, Cora Moloney, Monica Fox, Laura Farrell, Elaine Carroll, Michael John Farrell, Nellie Hennessy, Jordan Sheehy, Louise Coffey, Sean Lyons. Mary Coffey, Niall Fenton, Tom Fox, Maurice Fenton, Aidan Gleeson and Alan Mee.

As part of the Ballyorgan Gathering this weekend – there is a historical walk and talk on Abbey Graveyard and Kilflynn Church, leaving Ballyorgan School at 2pm on Sunday.

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