Kiltola cemetery gravestone transcriptions (July 2007)

[Paddy Casey]

Kiltola cemetery (alternative spellings: Kil Tola, Kill Tola, Killtola, Cil Tola, Kiltolagh)* is a small site in the grounds of Kiltola church in the townland of Carrowkeel More (see http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... l_more.htm ). It is in the middle of fields on the right of the road from Ruan to Crusheen and cannot be seen from the road. (GPS coordinates N52.93625 W8.95072; Irish OS Discovery map 58, Irish map reference R36095 87673).

There is, to my knowledge, no official register of graves and burials have not been systematically recorded. Local residents pointed me to the unmarked graves of four members of my family in this cemetery.

I visited the cemetery 13-17 July 2007 and photographed the gravestones and transcribed them. The transcriptions have been submitted to the Clare County Library and will be published on their website with the photos of the headstones and full headstone texts. I am posting this preliminary publication here in order to already expose the family names to WWW search facilities.

Attached is a synoptic Excel file of the gravestones and a map showing the location of the cemetery (acknowledgements to the superb Ordnance surveyors who, back in the 1830s, prepared the map from which this snippet is taken, and to the Clare Library for putting the 1842 maps at our disposal on the website at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... dex_OS.htm ).

Finding and getting into the graveyard requires courage, determination and a degree of physical fitness (see P.S. below).

Surnames on the headstones are:

Baker
Cahill
Callinan
Casey
Considine
Davis
Earley
Fitzgerald
Griffey
Hagan
Hanrahan
Harte
Heavey
Hegarty
Hehir
Hynes
McCormack
McGrath
McNamara
Meaney
Morgan
O'Connor
O'Donoghue
O'Dwyer
O'Gorman
O'Keefe
O'Keeffe
O'Loinsigh
Roseingrave
Scanlan
Whelan

* Alternative spellings listed for the benefit of WWW search engines.


P.S. Finding and getting to the Kiltola graveyard is not a trivial task. You will need (1) good thornproof clothing (2) stout Wellington boots and (3) your wits about you (read on). Starting from Ruan, drive along the Ruan-Crusheen road and cross the Fergus and Castle rivers. Approximately 350 meters/yards after the Castle river bridge, at map reference R 36303 87825, is a field gate on the right. Opposite the gate is a newly built house in a glade. Climb over the gate and walk up the field, keeping very close to the stone wall topped with rusty barbed wire on your right. On your left you will see a herd of cows. The herd conceals a bull. When you are roughly half way up the field the herd will part and the bull will charge. Vault immediately over the wall into the thorn bushes on the other side. Do not hesitate to consider other options (e.g. negotiating with the bull). When you have disentangled yourself from the barbed wire and removed the thorns proceed in a southwesterly direction up the second field, wading through the bog for roughly 50 yards. Then cross back into the first field and walk in a southeasterly direction along the cemetery wall to the wicket. Climb over/through the wicket and enter the cemetery there. The bull, having made his point, will no longer bother you at this stage. He knows you are within easy reach of the cemetery wicket and can take refuge there.