What is recorded here

Graveyard in Townparks (2nd Division - Tuam) is a buried chapel and burial ground in the south suburbs of Tuam, linked to Saint Bridget and a chantry. Human bones surfaced in a field near the railway crossing, and the railway station later erased every visible trace. A plaque on Egan House now marks the loss, preserving what the tracks swallowed.

In S suburbs of Tuam town (GA029-199----). Archdall (1786, 800) cites a late 16th-C inquisition regarding the 'Chapel of Saint Bridget [GA043-139----] ... then in ruins and in this town [which was] probably, founded for a chantry'. The OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 63-4), working from local tradition, fixed its location as 'a short distance to the S.W. of the Cathedral [GA029-179001-, GA029-179002-], at a gate to north of Tierboy road ... near where the above mentioned road branches to Loughrea and Galway'. This would place it somewhere in the vicinity of the railway level crossing at SW end of Vicar St., where the 1st ed. of OS 6-inch map shows a stream named 'Sruffaunbreedia' crossing the road. The OS Letters (ibid.) also record that 'human bones were found in the field into which the gate opens' and concluded that 'the cemetery [GA043-139001-] is supposed to be at this spot'. Ó Murchú (1970, 10) records that 'all traces of it vanished during the construction of the railway station'. No visible surface trace survives: a commemorative plaque to the chapel graces the front wall of Egan House immediately to SW of the level crossing. This monument may also be situated on OS sheet 43 (GA043-139----). (Lewis 1837, Vol. 2, 648) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). Date of upload: 25 August 2016

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