December, 2019

There is nothing more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of death. Thomas Payne

Danny Dowling’s notebooks contain several references to the folklore and customs surrounding dying, funerals and wakes in Glenmore prior to the twentieth century. While some of the folklore and customs are similar to those found elsewhere in Ireland some appear to be unique to this area.

Banshee Announces Death

The notebooks contain local examples of the warning of the Banshee announcing death. For example, Nicholas “Nicky the Miller” Forristal (1888-1979) of Graguenakill, Glenmore reported to Danny in June 1957 that the banshee alerted relatives to the death of Peggy Kennedy of Rathinure. The Michilín Kennedy’s had a farm of about 40 Irish acres in Rathinure, Glenmore.  There were four siblings including Michilín, Paudín, Risteardín and Peggy. None of the siblings married. The last of the family was Peggy Kennedy who sold the farm to Billy Forristal of Ballyverneen for £400. Billy was a distant cousin to Peggy.

Nicholas Forristal stated that he saw Peggy Kennedy a few times. She was aged between 80 and 90 years of age when she died in about 1877. It was widely reported that the night she died the banshee passed through Billy Forristel’s yard in Ballyvarneen at about 1 o’clock. He was in bed and heard the screeching. Billy said to the wife “gor Peggie must be dead.” He got up saddled a horse and rode to Rathinure. When he arrived he found that Peggy was “just after dying.” Another local example was provided by Alice Mackey, nee Power of Glenmore. Alice told Danny in March 1989 that she was minding Main McCabe in Jamestown. Alice heard the banshee screech once inside the house and then Main died.

The Wake

In Glenmore after a person died the mirror in the house would be covered with a cloth. Sometimes the mirror would be turned into the wall. Clocks were stopped at the time of death. The deceased was laid out on his/her bed and waked for two nights. The body was never left unattended by close family. Friends would call to the house to pay their respects. Pipes, tobacco, snuff and whiskey were provided to those calling to the house.

Wattie Power, of Jamestown in his 1956 interview revealed, that at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, wakes were events for all types of pranks. He said that James Power at big Mary’s wake in Clune lifted her corpse out of the bed for a prank. The farmers’ barns were the usual venue for games, when the wake happened to be in a farmer’s house. Nicholas Forristal, of Graiguenakill, in 1977 recalled that Blind Jack and Blind Man’s Bluff were games played at wakes. Blind Jack consisted of blindfolding one man with a púcín and then asking him to guess who struck him across the jaw, from those in the group.

The Rahawn

The deceased would be placed in a coffin usually on the morning of the third day. The coffin would be placed on four chairs outside the door. After removal of the coffin the chairs were turned upside down until after the deceased was buried. Nicholas Forristal in July 1957 also recalled that at the funeral of his grandfather, James Cardiff, a keener was present. He noted that a rahawn, was the word used to describe the keen or rhyme that was sung concerning the deceased’s good points. A keener or group of keeners would sing at the wake and funeral. The grave for the deceased would be dug by neighbours and friends. The grass on the grave would be carefully skinned off and the skinned grass would be rolled up and placed to one side.

Funeral Procession & Prayers at Crossroads

Before professional undertakers the coffin would be carried by the pall bearers to the churchyard. The old churchyards around Glenmore were in use well into the twentieth century when all burials took place in the churchyard adjacent to St. James Parish Church. According to Nicholas Forristal until the 1880’s the coffin would be left down at certain locations where prayers would be said usually at crosses (crossroads). For a history of St. James see our post of 19 November 2019.

Danny recalls being told that stones were thrown at certain monumental sceachs as the funeral procession passed. This occurred at the crossroads of Jamestown there were two old sceach growing in Greene’s haggard where the shed is now. When a funeral passed this spot on the way to the churchyard, the chief mourners always fired a stone at the sceachs over the ditch from the roadside. Danny never saw a stone being thrown at these sceachs, but he does remember a heap of stones at the bottom of these sceachs. The area was cleared about 70 years ago for the erection of the shed. It is believed that the throwing of the stones was a symbolic gesture of keeping evil away from the deceased.

No Chapel or Priest

The funeral procession would bring the coffin straight to the Glenmore churchyard where it was carried around the churchyard before interment. The chapel was not used for funeral services, and no priest attended the burial. This was not unique to Glenmore. (See, James Mooney, “The Funeral Customs of Ireland,” 25(128) Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (July-Dec 1888) pp. 243-296, available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/983061). Andy Heffernan, of Aylwardstown, was married to Bridgie Roche of Rathinure. He told Danny that one morning at a funeral in Glenmore churchyard for a deceased of Rathinure they saw the priest ride by on his horse on the way to join the hunt. The priest did not stop, acknowledge the funeral procession, or offer any prayers for the deceased. 

Month’s Mind

Danny noted that a month’s mind or requiem mass was held one month after the death if the family could afford it. Before the twentieth century it was held in the house of the deceased. In some areas a year’s mind was sometimes celebrated in the chapel on the first anniversary of the death. After the interment in the Glenmore churchyard the rolled up grass would be unrolled and placed on the new grave. This was referred to as putting the “green quilt” on the grave.

Workhouse Deaths

Circumstances for the poor were very different. Some of the deceased who were poor were buried at night without any wake. If a Glenmore person died in the workhouse in Waterford the deceased would be put into a large bag by the Workhouse. The bagged corpse could be collected by a family member and it was common for the corpse to be transported to Glenmore on the back of the family member who collected it. Today, Danny recalled the often repeated story of the two men who collected a corpse at the Waterford Workhouse. The corpse was carried to Slieverue where it was left outside the pub while the men went in. They collected the corpse and carried it on their backs to Kilcolumb graveyard where they buried it. Today, Danny said that there is a Stranger’s plot in the Glenmore churchyard. It is at the very back of the churchyard in the right hand corner where strangers who died in Glenmore were buried.

Undertakers

According to Danny there was never an undertaker in Glenmore. However, Tom Fitzgerald, a native of Weatherstown, Glenmore, was an undertaker with premises in New Ross in the first half of the twentieth century. He also owned a butcher’s shop. Charlies Linegar when interviewed in 2005 noted that Dead Man Kielthy worked on Tom Fitzgerald’s hearse as a helper. He also had a covered car which held about four persons. If his covered car was utilised for important persons such as the gentry Fitzgerald would place plumes on the horses. Danny believes that Kielthy was from Gaulestown in Glenmore. With the coming of the professional undertaker horse drawn hearses, and later motorised hearses, replaced the walking funeral procession in Glenmore.

It is believed that one of the last funeral processions where a coffin was carried by pall bearers from the deceased’s home to the Glenmore churchyard occurred during the winter of 1947. Bridget Heffernan née Kennedy of Alwardstown died at the age of 93 and the roads were drifted shut with snow. Her coffin was carried by pall bearers across the fields from Alwardstown to Glenmore.

Glenmore Grave Robbing?

In Glenmore after a funeral the chapel door would be left open and the chief mourners would spend a certain number of nights in the chapel to ensure that the new grave would not be robbed. Danny stated today that Nicholas Forristal told him that prior to around 1880 a man who lived at the bottom of the “churns” in Glenmore used to dig up a fresh corpse, place the corpse in a large basket in a horse drawn cart, drive the corpse into Waterford and sell it to a doctor who would use the corpse for training new doctors. The man on his return trip from Waterford was said to fill the basket with bread and bring it back to Glenmore. It is not known if grave robbing actually occurred in Glenmore or if it was fireside story based on grave robbing occurring elsewhere and reported in newspapers.

Wearing the Clothes of the Deceased

Alice Mackey née Power in 1989 described the custom of people wearing the clothes of the deceased. She said that it was a common practice the Glenmore area for generations but was dying out. When Main Gaule, of Busherstown, was dying she gave Alice instructions that Statia Brennan of Shanbough was to wear the clothes, shawl, blouse and skirt for Main’s soul after Main died. Statia Brennan was to bring to Main’s clothes to Main’s house before mass and put them on. After Mass she was to return and take them off before returning to her own home.

This was to be repeated on the two following Sundays. According to Alice, Statia Brennan, didn’t carry out the instructions to the detail as instructed. After wearing them for the first Sunday, she brought them to her own home in Shanbogh. For the purpose a new shawl had to be purchased in Watt Holden’s in Ross. Today, Danny said that as a chap he was told that the wearing of the deceased’s clothes was to ensure that the deceased would not be naked in the hereafter. He recalled that the Holden’s of Clune wore the clothes of a deceased for an entire year.

The Will of Peg Freany

Perhaps one of the most interesting entries in Danny’s notebooks concerns the Will of Peg Freaney of Tory Hill, Mullinavat. Nicholas Forristal, in his June 1957 interview stated that Peg died about 1882 and stipulated in her Will that a gallon of whiskey for every £100 she left should be drank at her wake. Peg left £1300 and her wishes were carried out.

Special thanks to Louise Walsh for the photos of the graveyards.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh