Youghal memorial honours 300 men, women and children buried in unmarked graves

At the Youghal cemetery memorial the oldest buried without recognition was aged 103, while the most recent interring was 62 year-old Joseph Landy, who died in 1991.

More than 300 men, women, and children who were buried in unmarked graves in an East Cork cemetery have had their names commemorated on a new memorial.

The 367 individuals, largely from impoverished communities, were buried in a paupers’ grave section of Youghal’s North Abbey graveyard, between 1896 and as late as 1991.

Many of those interred were newborn babies or very young children.

Some infants seem not to have been christened or have their names registered, instead having their surnames pre-fixed by “Baby.”

The oldest buried without recognition was aged 103, while the most recent interring was 62-year-old Joseph Landy, who died in 1991.

Mr Landy, with no known relatives, was buried unnamed through social services before a group of locals successfully sought a headstone in his honour.

In the 1970s local priest Fr Tom Paul Geary initiated an annual Mass at the communal plot, which he renamed a Garden of Remembrance.

Last year a council-supported community group that tidies neglected graves, sought to have a memorial erected for those buried without identity.

The 367 individuals, largely from impoverished communities, were buried in a paupers’ grave section of Youghal’s North Abbey graveyard, between 1896 and as late as 1991.

Cork County Mayor, Cllr Mary Linehan-Foley, who is a member of the clean-up committee, says such a memorial was “on the agenda” in local authority circles for decades.

“Local people regularly commented on it but under district officer Helen Mulcahy and staff, this time it came to fruition.”

Throughout 2020, the district office conducted extensive research from burial registers to document as many names as possible.

Local firm Budds Memorials designed and installed the memorial, comprised of Indian black granite and financed by the municipal authority.

The monument is inscribed “May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in his mercy may he give us a safe lodging, and holy rest, and peace at the last.”

Ms Linehan-Foley says: “Many people have complimented the excellent monument, including ex-pats who are delighted to have a focal point to visit and some of whom would have relatives who were buried without a name”.