Graveyard in Abbeyquarter North

At Sligo Dominican friary (SL014-065008-). A graveyard was an important element of the friary from its foundation: The Annals of Loch Cé for the year 1253 record that ‘A monastery was erected and a cemetery consecrated for the Friars Preachers at Sligech’ (Hennessy 1871, 403). The exact location and extent of the graveyard at this early stage is unknown. It would have been intended primarily for the friars themselves. However, it was common throughout the medieval period for members of wealthy and prominent families, many of whom were patrons of monasteries, to be buried within monastic graveyards, with the most powerful or generous benefactors often accorded the privilege of burial within the friary church itself. The Annals of Ulster record that in 1418 ‘Tigernan, son of Ualgarc Ua Ruairc, namely, king of Breifni, died this year… And he was buried in the monastery of Sligech.’, and the Annals of the Four Masters record that in 1454 ‘Brian Mac Donough, Chief of Tirerrill, died …after Unction and due Penance, and was interred in the monastery of Sligo.’ Following the Dissolution of the monasteries, O’Conor Sligo (Donal) petitioned Elizabeth I to preserved Sligo friary, including in his submission the extenuation that it was the burial place of his ancestors; his request was granted in 1568 (Cal. State Papers). Throughout the post-medieval period, as the friary fell into ruin, the graveyard remained the primary public burial ground for the Catholic population of Sligo town, as well as for many Protestant families. The graveyard’s current manicured condition bares little relation to the disorderly, overcrowded state into which it had deteriorated by the end of the 19th-century. The effects of centuries of burials within the confined space were compounded by the many deaths that resulted from the Cholera epidemic which ravaged Sligo town in 1832, and the Famine of 1845-49, and by the mid- to late 1800’s the graveyard was considered a danger to public health. To relieve the pressure, a municipal cemetery was opened in 1846 on the S edge of the town. The friary graveyard was finally closed for burials in 1895. A broad range of burial monuments can be seen in the graveyard, representative of various sculptural styles popular over its long period of use. None of the graves of the medieval Gaelic lordly families mentioned in the annals can now be identified. However, several medieval graveslabs -some fragmentary, and none in its original position- are on display in various parts of the church: on the N wall of the nave (SL014-065035-; SL014-065036-; SL014-065037-; SL014-065038-), on the N wall of the S chapel/transept (SL014-065039-), in a tomb recess in the N wall of the chancel (SL014-065032-; SL014-065033-; SL014-065034-), and in the sacristy (SL014-065040-; SL014-065041-; SL014-065042- ); they exhibit characteristics typical of that period, such as trapezoidal/coffin-shape, cross carved the length of the slab, and chamfered edges. A very finely sculpted, early 16th-century canopy tomb/wall monument (SL014-064027-), dedicated to the O’Crean family, is built into the N wall of the nave, an elaborate 17th-century wall monument (SL014-065028-), erected by Lady Elenor Butler, is set high in the S wall of the chancel, and three 17th-century wall monuments/armorial stones (SL014-065029-; SL014-065030-; SL014-065031-) are on display beneath the tower. Other graveslabs, headstones and box tombs visible throughout the ruins are of 18th- and 19th-century date. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 8 October 2020