Kieran’s All Saint’s graveyard history exhibition continues
For the month of August, Douglas Tidy Towns and I, in conjunction with Douglas Library in Douglas Shopping Centre, have been hosting a local history exhibition on the historic graveyard of All Saint’s Cemetery, Carr’s Hill.
From a historical record perspective, not a lot of detailed archives have survived, but what has survived is enough to piece together some of the pieces on the site’s development. The range of surviving stories as burial space for Cork Union Workhouse and its rising death count arising from the Great Famine years all the way to the quest in recent years Cork City Council to acquire guardianship and ownership over the site.
On 20 January 1847, the board of guardians accepted George Carr’s tender to establish a cemetery on his land, which was known as Lapland. The land itself comprised of three acres. The board of guardians were relieved that the workhouse had finally solved the problem of disposing of paupers’ bodies.
The ground was consecrated by Rev. Sheehan, the workhouse chaplain and was in use by mid-February. Between February and June 1847, 2,260 famine victims from the workhouse on Douglas Road (now St Finbarr's Hospital) were interred in the famine plot.
Within one month though of the opening, complaints were made about the state of the graveyard itself. At a board meeting on 9 March 1847, certain residents in Carrigaline opposed the new graveyard and claimed the site was unsuitable. Led by the then-parish priest of Carrigaline, Fr Ryan, it was argued that some of the bodies of the poor were buried without coffins. They also criticised the conveyance of coffins and the unclosed nature of the lids.
The board of guardians immediately instigated a committee to investigate the complaints. As the weeks progressed though, further reports of malpractice became very prevalent. A court case ensued, which found George Carr guilty and he was fined.
On 11 August 1847, the board of guardians decided to advertise for a new graveyard. At the same meeting it was noted by the master of the Cork workhouse that bodies were building up.
George Carr again replied to the advertisement and his tender was accepted. A lease seems to have been accepted from him at £150 fine and a rent of 50/- per acre. The graveyard continued to be used long after the mass burials of the famine years, which were documented as high as 200 per week, ceased.
There is no surviving register for the burial ground. In recent years, Lidar work by Dr Steve Davis reveal that the Great Famine graves started in a smaller field (based on 1847 Petty Sessions case measurements) with at least over 25 pits and the graveyard expanded west and south as the decades progressed. In times trench burials were enacted and then single burials.
The graveyard is enclosed by stone walls, which were erected in 1885 – built into which is an elaborate red bricked doorway atop of which is a cross.
The graveyard was also known variously as Carr’s Hole, Laplands or Moneygourney burial ground, the District Hospital Cemetery and in the early twentieth century became known as All Saint’s Cemetery.
In 1920, the site came under control of the Cork District Board – later the Southern Health Board. Until the 1940s was used as a burial ground for paupers. It had also the name of Cork District Cemetery.
When the lease expired, the representative of Mr Carr offered the fee-simple title to the South Cork Board of Health at a price. A settlement was arrived at vesting the full title in the board.
On 9 January 1935, a meeting of the South Cork County Board of Public Assistance was held at the County Home, Douglas Road.
A report was read from Mr B O’Flynn, engineer, on the portion of the cemetery, which had not yet been used and could be laid out in plots, with approach paths. He further stated in his report that on a visit to the graveyard that a grave had been prepared for interment, which “was only four feet six inches deep, the soil at that depth being in the nature of small broken stones”. It was decided to invite specifications for the repairs to the cemetery before undertaking any further plans in connection with the matter. In time the board instructed him to “look for an alternative burial ground”.
Research by Dr Aoife Breathnach and the publication of her ‘The burial history of Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, 1922-98’, and published by the Sisters of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary, reveal a connection of the cemetery to the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home and to St Finbarr’s Hospital.
From the 1930s it is clear that until 1957 St Finbarr’s Hospital buried the unclaimed dead in individual coffins in its own burial ground on Carr’s Hill. A burial of an infant associated with Bessborough at Carr’s Hill in 1960 suggests that the hospital may have buried extra marital infants differently after 1957.
In September 1957, arrangements were made to immediately pursue with proposals to erect a memorial in the form of a 50 foot high cross to mark the site of the Cork District Cemetery.
During the summer of 1958, William Olaf Sorenson built the cross in his front garden at Park View on Victoria Road. William fought in the First World War and served with the Royal Engineers and had engineering experience. He had also volunteered in the spearheading committee who worked to create the Lee Road Shrine in 1952.
By 1957, William was a local taxi driver, who knew many people who lived and worked in the city. The cross project was funded by public subscriptions with a number of Cork firms contributing. The cross was blessed on 3 November 1958. When illuminated, the cross could be seen for miles around. It had to rely on assistance from the public to maintain the electricity for the cross. The lights were subsequently turned off in 1979 due to the cross's proximity to Cork airport. However, in recent years the cross has been relit again.
On 2 June 1997 a plaque in memory of the famine victims of Cork was unveiled on the ground by US Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith.
In the early 2000s, the Cork City and County Famine Group was formed to raise awareness of the effects of the Great Famine in the city and county. In addition, their aim was to create a sense of interest into the restoration and rejuvenation of the site in All Saint’s Cemetery by Cork County and Cork City Council together with Saint Finbarr’s Hospital.
In 2019, the land around the graveyard fell under the purview of Cork City Council with the boundary extension of 2019. In June 2023 a ceremony marked the handing over of the burial site from the HSE to Cork City Council.
September Historical Walking Tours with Cllr Kieran McCarthy (All free, 2 hours, no booking required)
Saturday 30 August: Rochestown, its local history & The Battle of Douglas, An Irish Civil War Storycarpark and entrance to Old Railway Line, Harty’s Quay, Rochestown. Meet at 2pm (free, 2 hours, finishes near Rochestown Road).
Sunday 31 August: New tour, The Banks of the Lee, The Lee Fields and its Heritage. Meet at the western end of the Lee Fields, Ballincollig side at 2pm.
Sunday 14 September: The Friar’s Walk Tour; Discover Red Abbey, Elizabeth Fort, Barrack Street, Callanan’s Tower & Greenmount area. Meet at Red Abbey tower, off Douglas Street at 2pm.
Saturday 20 September: The Historic Peninsula of Mahon; explore social histories & the stories of some of the former big house estates in the area. Meet at Blackrock Garda Station entrance at 2pm.
Sunday 21 September: Blackpool: Its History and Heritage. Meet at the square on St Mary’s Road, opposite North Cathedral at 2pm.
Sunday 28 September: New tour The South Bank – The South Parish and its Histories. Meet at the Ronnie Herlihy Pocket Park, Langford Row, adjacent intersection of High Street, Summerhill South and Douglas Street at 2pm.