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Friar's Bush Graveyard
39 Plays3 days ago
Episode nine of the new season of Pieces of History uncovers the rich and often haunting history of Ireland’s graveyards. In this episode, we explore Friar’s Bush Graveyard, one of Belfast’s oldest burial sites, and its deep connections to the city’s past.
Joining me are Dr Deirdre Nic an tSionnaigh and John Bradbury from Cairde na Cille, a group dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Ireland’s graveyards. Together, we delve into the key moments that have defined Friar’s Bush - from its ancient origins and ties to the penal era to its role during the devastating cholera epidemics. We’ll also uncover the stories of notable individuals buried there and examine how this site serves as a vital link to Belfast’s history.
What secrets lie beneath the headstones? And how does this graveyard reflect the broader history of Ireland and its people? In this episode, we reveal the remarkable stories, key events, and enduring significance of Friar’s Bush Graveyard.
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Transcript
Introduction to Pieces of History
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Pieces of History. I'm Colin McGrath and in each episode explore both the well-known and overlooked events that have shaped our world.
Focus on Friars Bush Graveyard
00:00:22
Speaker
Today we're delving into the rich and storied past of one of Belfast's most intriguing historical sites, Friars Bush Graveyard.
Guest Introduction and Purpose
00:00:29
Speaker
Joining me is Dr Deidre Nick Atchonny and John Brabery from Cards and Achaela, a group dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Ireland's graveyards.
History of Friars Bush
00:00:39
Speaker
In this episode, we'll explore the fascinating history of Friars Bush, from its ancient origins to its role in some of Belfast's most significant events.
Notable Figures in Friars Bush
00:00:47
Speaker
We'll discuss the key moments have defined the graveyard, including its connection to the penal era, the devastating cholera epidemics, and its importance as a resting place for generations of Belfast citizens.
00:00:58
Speaker
Along the way, we'll highlight the stories of notable figures buried there and the ways in which this graveyard serves as a vital link to Belfast's past. Hi Deirdre or Joan, thanks very much for joining me.
00:01:09
Speaker
Deirdre, if it's okay okay if we can start with you, Friars Bruch is believed to be one of the oldest Christian burial sites in Belfast. Can you tell me more about its earliest known history? You know, you'll be familiar with the word Cara, which means friend in Irish.
00:01:23
Speaker
And Carja is simply the plural. Carja, J-A, I suppose. so That's the easiest way of pronouncing it. And Carja in Achilla means friends of the churchyard.
00:01:35
Speaker
within sort of the context we have, but it can mean a few things. That's why it becomes very interesting, particularly the context being a Friarsbush graveyard or cemetery, because kill is a very ancient old Irish word, a root word, you know, which pretty much predates...
00:01:56
Speaker
or nearly three days for history. It means not just... ah These days it's more inclined to mean churchyard if there isn't a church remaining. and That's the case in Friars Bush.
00:02:09
Speaker
Kil, as you know, probably means ancient church or church. Church usually, when when it's Kil, it usually means the ancient church. So, for example, Shankill, Shankill in Belfast.
00:02:21
Speaker
Old church was really very, very old church and it definitely is... an early Christian church or, you know, what was there. um Even more interestingly, kill also means monks' cell.
00:02:37
Speaker
And a there are perhaps two words when you're looking graveyards in Ireland and good archaeologists, better than me, who've been ah researching this in recent times, are have pretty much confirmed what my own reading had been on this.
00:02:56
Speaker
Donach and kill would be indications of usually much earlier churches because Donach is the word for Sunday, some somewhere where people went every Sunday.
00:03:09
Speaker
ah The words can get, of course, changed in meaning. For example, there was ah apparently a well around Sandy Row during early Christian time. And the word dunach related to that somehow managed to get to end up as Monday, Monday as well.
00:03:29
Speaker
So just traces and elements of that, you start, are you're able to sort of and have tiny, tiny little sliverings of jigsaw pieces, because that's all we really have the further back at you go.
00:03:43
Speaker
and so so it's very interesting in the context, and because, of course, as you probably know, there is ah very much a tradition of a patrician legacy and heritage associated with Friarsbush.
00:03:59
Speaker
Now, are we able to prove that? The answer is not necessarily. I wouldn't say ah blank no. We certainly do know that the site for sure is medieval um and we can absolutely prove with respect You know, facts, figures, dates, even a few maps, you know, ah you can't really get, a suppose, an awful lot better than than that. um And we certainly know that the site is well enough documented on the first, suppose, official map of Belfast, which beautiful version of it, Cross and Prony.
00:04:32
Speaker
illuminated for all to see, which is very handy because, of course, you know, it's hard to read the the fine detail. And 1570, the key figure then, and that's Robert Light, English Gentleman's Map, and where the place where we now know, no you know, the the graveyard it was in an area called eight Freerstone.
00:04:56
Speaker
And the understanding is that that was in the English of the day, meaning Friarstown. And it's interesting, again, how that changes depending on what map you're looking at.
00:05:10
Speaker
And we're talking obviously and still, you know, late medieval English. 1594 Freerstan is written writtenina And you can see it's pretty sizeable.
00:05:22
Speaker
It's marked in the same size as Belfast in terms of writing. And it would would would indicate an area quite possibly stretching from the farset to the lagging. So, you know, 1610, John's speed.
00:05:35
Speaker
speed also refers to, it's hard to see it, and my version is quite small, so I'd like to see that and you know expanded, but it looks similar to Freirstein. And the area, again, confirmed above and what he's called in South Clandyboy.
00:05:53
Speaker
Clandyboy, you probably know, comes from, and it's the Irish clan, ee, boy, clan of the fair herd, you ah only. and Now, in terms of that early map, I think it's the most interesting of all and certainly likes of Dr. Eamon Phoenix.
00:06:11
Speaker
I consider that very interesting as well because that map, whilst it's strong almost like, suppose, primary or early secondary school child might... draw a map of your town, draw draw a map of what you imagine Belfast to look like in the already visited Cargfers and Cargfers was really large in those days of the main port.
00:06:30
Speaker
That's very much reflective of that but I think he almost has you know the boats and the little little that water water indicated on it nearly. um So, but such as it is, it's interesting just in terms of perspective because you have four buildings shown in that map.
00:06:44
Speaker
One of them being Belfast Castle, not Miss Curran location and the other three in this wonderful little place, sizeable enough, obviously, of development or, you know, place that was inhabited, obviously, at the time ah called Freirstone, Freirstone.
00:06:59
Speaker
And the Freirstone, Freirstone, all of that is very much, it's not an invention as such, but it's an English interpretation of what was there and what the people had been calling something rather different, mind you, because Belfast was still pretty much Irish-speaking in the 16th century, of course.
00:07:18
Speaker
um And this is very important. and It all changed significantly. There would have been land clearances. there It would have been helped by significant wood clearances, because in fact, that 1570 map shows you extent of how wooded Belfast actually was.
00:07:36
Speaker
But and what's very interesting is that despite... And, you know, it wasn't a deliberate attempt to eliminate Irish. It was trying to make sense clearly of what was there. And Lyce wasn't trying to to to write a historical record of anything. He was very much from the point of view, probably as was a speculator or an adventurer or whatever you want to call these these folks.
00:07:58
Speaker
And was to see what was perhaps feasible in terms of development, etc. They were the capitalists of the day, perhaps. But it was interesting, or it's interesting how the Irish doesn't quite get obliterated, even in the early 17th century, because you have 1603, you have the Royal Grant of Land, James the first to Sir as he became Arthur Chichester and what's it written first as.
00:08:26
Speaker
It's really fascinating. I would like to personally see the document to and to be able to completely 100% stand over this. So I'm basing this on Dr. Eamon Phoenix.
00:08:37
Speaker
Bally Wally Naim Raheer. And you cannot get a more phonetic version of the Irish, of what people were calling it.
00:08:48
Speaker
And that would have been taken down so that ah correct a amount of land, parcel of land, if you like, is being transferred and is being covered. and So it actually is Bállá, Wállá, Númraír in Irish, and it's as close as you could get to that. I mean, the fact that they've got the M in there, that's the genitive in Irish.
00:09:09
Speaker
It's very precise. That has to have been the original name. And I've stood by that from the moment I saw that, because for me, the indication of some of those oldest places are in fact the longest names.
00:09:22
Speaker
And they're almost musical, you know. um It has, it unfortunately had had never and been recorded, you know, in terms of in recent times, place names and all of that.
00:09:34
Speaker
It did, that was 1603. It did get contracted and condensed down to a more pronounceable perhaps version of it to simply Ballina Breyer. And at that stage it loses its genuine Irish, the M, which is needed for it to make sense in Irish.
00:09:52
Speaker
That's a short time later, the exact date, a short time later, but from then on. And then then the Irish disappears, you know. So the last version of it certainly would have been simply Bally and the Briar. And that's why you hear some people now calling it that.
00:10:05
Speaker
But correctly, it was Bally and the Wild in the Briar. and i And I think it's got such a lovely ring to it. I've certainly been promoting that that angle. Yeah. And then um after that, ah it's pretty much and the church becomes more important than anything else, because in terms of the townland, of course, Alwallyanmire was essentially a townland. it was a much larger area than the churchyard.
00:10:30
Speaker
In terms of the the the chapel that was there, the patrician link, unfortunately, it's not in some significant documents. But I think that's actually fortunately, because my opinion is that it perhaps wasn't a recent medieval or it would have been larger and it would have been on those maps.
00:10:47
Speaker
It's not on the maps because it's not really worth very much, not considered worth very much. It's considered, you know, an impoverished little thing because it can't be taxed, you know, so they're not really interested in it. And it only gets mentioned almost as a...
00:11:01
Speaker
A second thought in 1613, Capella de Kilpatrick, above Moses Hill and Stram Millis. It pays not because Stram, Shankill is essentially paying for it. Shankill is the larger larger church.
00:11:15
Speaker
So that's in 1613. So it's Capella de Kilpatrick or the chapel of Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick being either St Patrick's cell or St Patrick's churchyard. It's all linked there.
00:11:28
Speaker
all all at linkedin there In 1619, it gets misspelled as Gilpatrick. They're not quite getting there dirt their tongues round this.
00:11:39
Speaker
hey These traces of Irish still left stubbornly in the vernacular or whatever. It gets corrected, thankfully, again. 1622 is Kilpatrick.
00:11:49
Speaker
So the Kilpatrick one is interesting because it's an an inquisition and of Don Patrick. and And, you know, um so it it hasn't quite gone away, nor has it. It's still there, traces of it at least in the 1720s. I found a document and after much searching.
00:12:07
Speaker
A gentleman, a banker banks, who was called out to clear during paint the penal era, clear these papers who shouldn't have been gathering.
00:12:19
Speaker
deluded Deluded, I think was the word he used, gathered in grant great numbers on St Patrick's Day, interestingly. And he talks about the old church being in ruins.
00:12:30
Speaker
But of course, we know what happened. i You know, it wasn't just the speculators or land developers or whatever. There was a genuine harassment of the friars, and the friars, the prioresses, the monks, whoever was left, just as it happened across the water. The famous Inquisition, of course, are'm sorry, the famous... and dissolution of the monasteries that happened in Ireland as well. Sadly, for our sake, there's much less and written about it than there is across the water.
00:13:00
Speaker
So we have, it's quite difficult trying to work out how many ah ecclesiastical sites were affected and all of that. so it's and But it makes it interesting, at edit the whole the whole journey, I suppose. But certainly a very very interesting and important site.
00:13:17
Speaker
and We have all that according to the place names. And as I say, even in the medieval period, we we have maps that indicate it was and absolutely important.
00:13:30
Speaker
and Three buildings shown, most likely one of them still, um an active church. Another, we can only imagine being somewhere that the friars were still living in, or the last place they were living in, we don't really know. And they were probably...
00:13:47
Speaker
central to an entire community around them. ah We also know, certainly from other parts of Ireland, that the medieval um ecclesiastical settlements didn't just start out of nothing.
00:13:58
Speaker
They were usually replacing just another version of something that fallen out of use not that long beforehand. So There's usually a continuing tradition. Just because we don't have a definitive record doesn't mean it wasn't the case.
00:14:12
Speaker
You know, and very often archaeological digs that have eventually taken place, and they've done it because of the persuasion of what had been in the tradition. And usually the tradition was proven true, as was the case in Aronwacha, Nhavenfort, in County Armaa, to name but a few.
00:14:31
Speaker
Do we happen to know when the graveyard was first founded? have like dates Do we still have like archive details of this within Prony or Austrian Museum or... Not really. no we we can only go by this. The historians have been grappling with trying to get, you know, the likes of and Dr. Eamon Phoenix i was was going by, you know, records of land grants, place names, etc.
00:14:56
Speaker
and We certainly know that around the period of 1829, you know, you have obviously the changed circumstances that and the the changed date, I suppose, of the the the Catholics of Belfast who had been pretty much banished from the city in the penal era, gradually returning from the end of the 1700s and with at least you know the building of St Mary's and all of that, the the the developing town-city of Belfast.
00:15:27
Speaker
and and a growing confidence but it was really, you know, that the Catholic emancipation didn't really happen until and a later period and I suppose, ah yeah, that was when you had the awarding of the extra land. Who knows, it may have been contested to the Catholic Church and where then it became recognised as, at that point, as the Catholic graveyard.
00:15:50
Speaker
and Should be said, wonderfully, you know, there's a shared hit ah history there because of the grim, as it was, penal era, but we're delighted that there are Presbyterians, Church of Ireland folk and who knows, Methodists and others, buried ah and and in the ancient on the ancient part, in the ancient hill. and That just makes it all very much more interesting, diverse. and The newer part of the graveyard is associated with the Catholic faith, so there'll be many more records associated to the folks buried there.
00:16:24
Speaker
um It's interesting how we call it, the new and We call it the new part of the graveyard, but it's actually, yeah, 1829 to about 1869. It's still quite long time ago. And considering Irish graveyards, that is quite relatively new, Deirdre, I would say.
Significant Burials for International Listeners
00:16:40
Speaker
And John? Can you give us a bit of a background about some of the more historically significant people who are buried in Friarsbush? And for some of those people who may not necessarily know the the the main players of Belfast at the time period that you look at, could you extend that out? Because we have some international listeners who may not know some of their the key figures.
00:17:00
Speaker
Of course, Colin, makes perfect sense. And There are quite a few very significant people buried there, of course. I'll throw a few names out and give you a bit of background. How is that?
00:17:11
Speaker
ah Barney Hughes, Bernard or Barney Hughes, is one man of great significance. He was probably the first really important and well-off, very, very successful um Catholic person in Belfast.
00:17:28
Speaker
and He started off in the public bakery. Then he um decided that's enough of that. He set up three bakeries um in Divot Street, in Fountain Lane, and also in Donegal Place. And they had a monorail even that ran between Fountain Street and Donegal Place, which was like um truly amazing at the time. And we're talking about the around there.
00:17:57
Speaker
um He put many, many facets to his personality. He was married, I think, first time around by the well-known polemicist Henry Cook, Dr. Cook of the Cook Memorial.
00:18:11
Speaker
So they must have got on to a certain extent. He had six children, three by his first wife. First wife died, second wife, he had another three children.
00:18:22
Speaker
He's known for various things, partly for reading rooms, um which are not there anymore, Colm. They're roughly where the venue would be now in Belfast, in Bank Street, very close to Kelly Cellars, for people who know Kelly's.
00:18:37
Speaker
m But sadly, they're not there anymore. He was very much a phil philanthropist. He was known for the, he put a lot lot of effort into the Bakehouse Regulation Act, which helped improve conditions for bakers hours wise and just conditions wise.
00:18:54
Speaker
And that was because he'd become the first Catholic to be councillor for West Belfast for many many years, so he could use his political clout positively um for that very for that very end.
00:19:08
Speaker
In fact, he became so well known and so well respected that if any other bakers had any arbitrage arbitrary problems between workers and management, he was often called in to do that.
00:19:22
Speaker
that's a real, at such an accolade. I give blue plaque tours in the city centre and there's one blue plaque um in Donegal Square North where the family lived for quite a while.
00:19:34
Speaker
um He also lived um in a house called Riverstone. and in Hollywood County Down, which for anyone familiar with Hollywood is where the primary school now stands. And in some respects, there should be another blue plaque there, but there you are.
00:19:50
Speaker
And the blue plaques for anyone who doesn't know are through Ulster History Circle. What he's most famous for though, Colin, is basically Barney's Bamp, the Belfast Bamp.
00:20:02
Speaker
Whenever people came into Belfast during the famine of 1845 to 49,
00:20:09
Speaker
They wanted, it was the dovetailing of um terrible poverty and famine in in in the provinces and the rural area and the beginning, serious beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Belfast.
00:20:22
Speaker
These things dovetailed, it meant there was work, but these people were very poverty stricken. They lived in the tenements and slums of Donegal Street and Smithfield. And his Belfast map, one penny, he were was able to kind of you know um keep them alive basically so therefore that is what he's best remembered for under Belfast map exists to this day and Hugh's bakery was going to around the 1980s or 1990s.
00:20:52
Speaker
Also his um son here here's a little little link his son um one of his sons Edward was the first chairman of the Irish news circa 1894-95, which brings me to another interesting gentleman, Kieran T. Buggy, whose memorial is also, and of course his body is also, in in the um in the graveyard.
00:21:17
Speaker
Kieran T. Buggy was a man who um didn't live for very long, and you think when you see the grave the the memorial, my goodness, he must have been very well off. and In fact, the money came from funds to do with the repeal, the potential repeal of the union, which only happened very in bits and pieces time went on.
00:21:37
Speaker
But basically, um he he was a very important person as well because he was the editor of the first ever Catholic daily newspaper in Belfast called The Vindicator.
00:21:49
Speaker
So that was running from around the, I don't have the dates off the top of my head, which is unusual for me. Usually I'm good at that. But this was post the um Catholic emancipation of 1829. I think we're talking about the 1840s and 50s.
00:22:05
Speaker
And this was the first time that there was a voice for for the Catholics of of Belfast. And on that very note, too um Andrew McKenna, there's an absolutely magnificent memorial to Andrew McKenna.
00:22:20
Speaker
Everything's there except the man's head. The man's head has gone walkabout or whatever. Now, he was the editor of the Northern Star, the Northern Star newspaper.
00:22:32
Speaker
He worked from the same area as the Bairds, as in those of the Belfast Telegraph in Arthur Street. He was responsible for the second Northern Star. The first Northern Star was a gentleman called Samuel Nielsen, who was involved with the United Irishmen of 1798. It was closed down, no such fate for the second one. It was merely subsumed and taken over by the Ulster Tribune.
00:22:57
Speaker
But as I say, it almost illustrates, Buggy would have been printing that in and around, like um ah Henry Joy McCracken's grandfather, um Francis Joy,
00:23:09
Speaker
all those newspapers would have been printed in and around the entries. Here we see Belfast spreading out and it was printed in Arthur Street. So there we are. So there's those are our three very interesting and important people. And there are lots more as well.
00:23:23
Speaker
If I can go back just on the shoes, Barney Hughes as well, I have had many a Belfast BAP in my time. And if anyone is listening who has never had one, I highly recommend it. Indeed.
00:23:35
Speaker
Indeed.
00:23:38
Speaker
date Indeed. Well, I will second that emotion. Yes, I enjoy that as well. and i was I was going to press on column if would be okay to talk a wee bit about the penal laws, if that would be all right. Yes, please, John. That would be fantastic.
00:23:53
Speaker
and The penal laws, basically, now they were equally rough on Presbyterians to a certain extent. Presbyterians didn't have an easy ride either. I think that's sometimes overlooked.
00:24:04
Speaker
The Presbyterians, it was the Anglicans who really, opposed to Church of Ireland, got the benefit there, ah being more or less along the same lines. Presbyterians, to a certain extent, but the Catholic population, which was very small, was was treated appallingly badly.
00:24:21
Speaker
And the penal laws, really what they amounted to, and they weren't just in Belfast, they were throughout Ireland, I hasten to add. Catholics were not allowed to own um horses that were worth more than five pounds.
00:24:33
Speaker
their entry into a lot of professions was highly restricted, legal, i'm trying to think, whatever. i mean, priests just completely forget about any any aspect of religion, but legal or or owning property. They made passing property down very, very difficult.
00:24:53
Speaker
These came into effect in and around the end of the 17th century, just as Belfast was really starting to develop. a lot And then the role of the graveyard, and ended in 1829, but by that stage they started to ease back.
00:25:08
Speaker
That was with Catholic emancipation. But the role of the graveyard was particularly important until St. Mary's came into effect in 1784. St. st Mary's, must be said, with the help of the First Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street, who provided the funds for it, which is quite interesting to put it mildly.
00:25:28
Speaker
St Mary's, of course, is still there in Chapel Lane, just behind Kelly's to give it a away, and Castle Court to give it of just a wee bit of of reference there. But certainly the penal laws were extremely important and played a part and meant that Catholic Mass would only really be said by a priest on the QT in Friars Bush, which was way out in the like the countryside really, my my own family, Bradbury's, my surname's Bradbury, Bradbury Place, and we thought we were way out, we were there courtesy of one of the Essexes, the Devereaux's, but we took ourselves off to Lisbon and Hillsborough just add a wee bit personal stuff to it.
00:26:09
Speaker
But at the end of the day, but really, um The Friars bush was just right up a little ah little laneway. um It's hard to imagine that now. And it was only in 1829 when the second Marquis provided the land, provided they bequeathed the land to the Catholic Church and the walls were built.
00:26:30
Speaker
that really the church started, or that the graveyard took on a different ah different significance. It's also said that a priest was hanged. Now that but could be an apocryphal story.
00:26:43
Speaker
We really don't know, Colm. So really, we've got the significance of the graveyard there at a time when, forget Lancia Street, forget um the Ulster Museum. That's 1929 onwards when the first stone was laid.
00:26:57
Speaker
all those Queen's buildings as well. It wasn't even a suburban area. it was literally like um It was literally almost countryside. It was rural, of course it was, rolling down to Stranmillis, the sweet stream in Irish.
00:27:11
Speaker
And um the the wall was built mainly to stop body snatchers. But ironically, in the 1830s, somewhere in the 1830s column, the law changed whereby bodies, cadavers could be used for medical experimentation.
00:27:28
Speaker
So the whole situation did actually change. And the graveyard is closely associated with Belfast cholera epidemics and the Great Famine. What can you tell us about these tragic periods and their impact on the site?
00:27:40
Speaker
I say to most people that the bigger the gravestone, the more money in the family. The Hughes, McKenna, people like that. And a lot of people are buried in Friars Bush, and we don't even know their names at all. We can't even be sure how many people and are actually buried there.
00:28:00
Speaker
But there was a great deal of disease, obviously. The Great Famine of 1845 to the Potato I euphemistically say and a certain number amount lassitude and malaise on the part of the British government.
00:28:15
Speaker
Both Robert Peel and Lord Russell, who were the PMs of the time, they certainly sat on their hands and did more than that to stop food getting through, which was disgraceful.
00:28:28
Speaker
ah But there was more than that. There was a cholera epidemic as well. And there are definitely, just as there are many famine victims buried in in the graveyard, In Friars Bush there are also quite a lot of cholera victims buried there as well, unmarked of course.
00:28:43
Speaker
And the cholera epidemic was around the 1830s, then 1848 to 49, kind of segueing with the potato famine. 1854, and again another date I have here, 1866. It's no coincidence that Belfast finally got its act together on the water supply column a wee bit later on.
00:29:05
Speaker
And there's a blue plaque to Luke Macassie in Chichester Street. Luke Macassie is the man who won the tender and the competition to provide a water supply, which eventually, as Belfast expanded, was um in in the site water that came from the Silent Valley. This was after many other potential schemes, and Woodburn and Carrickfergus, the waterworks.
00:29:32
Speaker
and Fountain Street, Fountain Lane, Fountainville Avenue, etc. But suddenly, you know, slowly but surely, sorry, not suddenly at all, the water supply did get sorted. And of course, a lot of people lived in terrible, cheek-by-gile, slummy conditions.
00:29:47
Speaker
and don't And before anybody thinks it was just Belfast, it was lots of other towns throughout the burgeoning ah United Kingdom, the the burgeoning towns that were becoming cities throughout the United Kingdom.
00:30:01
Speaker
It's also said another thing about the famine, of course, it literally, well, decimated as probably even understating it. It was more than decimated. It reduced the Irish population from kind of 8 million to about 4 or 5 million.
00:30:14
Speaker
And partly due to death, also partly due to emigration as well, creating that Irish diaspora, which is all around globe, of course. And then Enormous Irish populations in Liverpool, Birmingham, London and in Newcastle.
00:30:35
Speaker
In fact, many people were told they were getting they were getting to New York. And in fact, they they they were they shipped up in Liverpool. And that was it. Of course, all those names like Rooney, Lennon, McCartney, all Irish or of Irish heritage.
00:30:50
Speaker
One other thing is there were Irish clubs throughout those times as well. And I was always amazed as a child why the Irish show bands got into the British charts. But of course they got in because they were bought en masse.
00:31:02
Speaker
People like Joe Dolan and the Drifters and the Ari Cunningham, the mighty Avon. That was the reason, that was purely the reason why that happened. But the Great Famine was a big watershed. I can even remember from A-level history the question was the Irish Famine a watershed. And of course it was in so many ways.
00:31:23
Speaker
In fact, my final point about that is that Veer Foster, best known for his copy books, he made an effort, a considerable effort, to get women and children out of Ireland in 1878-79 because he thought it was going to happen again because there were a couple of really bad summers, which was part of the reason for the Tate O'Blight.
00:31:46
Speaker
So he did a lot of great work later on. As it's happened, those 30 years later didn't really, it didn't come to fruition to the same extent. It was just a couple of cold summers.
00:31:57
Speaker
Cold summer, we've got used to cold and wet summers. We look forward to it then, of course. What happens, Colin? You know, ah So essentially you could say that the Irish gave the world the Beatles then because of the Lennon and McCartney aspect as well. so Of course it is. And also I think George Harrison as well had Irish linkage.
00:32:18
Speaker
And i think somebody was trying to prove that so did Ringo Starr, but I'm not, I think that's maybe taking things a bit far, but really absolutely. Oh, very much. And in fact, I don't think they actually sang any Irish songs.
00:32:31
Speaker
They did occasionally and sing songs like um Maggie Mae, which is a ah folk song, which I think is on, which is on, I think it's on one of the last albums, possibly Let It Be, when they were probably fed up talking to each other and thought, right, we'll stick that on, you know, we don't have to talk to each other. We know it backwards.
00:32:51
Speaker
So we have very, very much. and And of course, there are lots of other Irish links to music all over the world, Fancy Brothers, um Tommy Maycomb making it big in Greenwich Village, giving Bob Dylan the inspiration.
00:33:07
Speaker
And there are lots of lots and lots of other Irish troubadours, only to mention, none of them connected, of course, really to Friars Bush, people like Van Morrison spring to mind. But yeah, of course, the the the Irish poetry, it's all over the world, isn't it, really? Yeah.
00:33:25
Speaker
That's great, John. Thanks very much. And if there's one story from the graveyard that you think everyone should know, what would it be Great. It's quite amazing. like And it's probably one of the last graves I do on the left-hand side, the four left.
00:33:38
Speaker
And it's the Kearns family grave. And basically, um that is the... current Charles Kearns was the butler to the second Marquess of Donegal.
00:33:50
Speaker
I think he was a bit ah about fifth generation or whatever. Now, he actually bequeathed the land to the Catholic Church and made sure that the buildings, everything was put in place, really, for Friars Bush.
00:34:04
Speaker
And he really gave it lift around 1829. Now, the problem with that, with with with them the second Marquis, was he couldn't stop spending money. He was a bit of a party man.
00:34:15
Speaker
They actually banished him from Belfast. They kicked him out. They kicked him out to Ormo Cottage. And the thing was that basically he lived in Donegal. The castle had long gone.
00:34:27
Speaker
And that was just a terrible, unfortunate that fire in 1708. eight whereby three of the daughters died so you could forgive them for becoming absentee landlords, basically call them.
00:34:40
Speaker
He was in Donegal Place and they got fed up with him, just with his parting and his misbehaviour. Mr. Cairns was his butler. And Mr. Cairns got hold of the building. He was given the building and chi called it the Royal Hotel.
00:34:55
Speaker
I suppose it sounded very grand and imposing. And then i say, He was dismissed out of Belfast and he had to go live in Ormo Cottage, Ormo Park in Ormo Cottage.
00:35:08
Speaker
Ormo Park was the first public park in Belfast in 1871. This would have been around the 1830s, 1840s. But he was still partying like a demon and he got fed up with being in a cottage and he built a mansion. And if anybody knows Ormo Park, it's roughly where the tennis courts are, where the race part is. And of course, it's it's long gone.
00:35:30
Speaker
But he had a mansion built. He had his horses. ah fed and watered in what is now Hay Park Avenue. That's how the name came about. He's just spent like a demon. As I say, he owed money all over the place. His creditors were always coming after him.
00:35:45
Speaker
When he died, he owed 400,000 pounds. and This is in terms of the 1840s. 1840s, immense amount of money. Now, the other side of that was that Mr. Cairns, who probably thought, oh, great, I've got this i've got this hotel, everything's good.
00:36:02
Speaker
The creditors kept turning up and poor Mr. Cairns must have had his head in the sands. He's not here. that cleared off. Where is the scoundrel? He's not here. Poor Mr. Cairns.
00:36:13
Speaker
But what it led to is a couple of really interesting changes in political and social, more social and economic changes, actually. An act came in 1849 called the Encumbered Estate Sands.
00:36:25
Speaker
You know why all these acts have very euphemistic names? Well, really, it was help us. We've run out of money. The Chichester's run out of money and said to the people of Belfast, have it.
00:36:38
Speaker
We can't afford it anymore because they had actually owned all of it before that. And as a result of that, slowly but surely, maybe not that slowly, the suburbs started to develop.
00:36:50
Speaker
Malone, Stran, Millis, Ormo and all the rest of it, the people who were starting to work in the centre of Belfast, they would have with the tramways, with the railway coming into effect from the late 1830s, they would have had a means of getting in and out of town so therefore they didn't have to live anywhere near the centre of which was getting a wee bit kind of smoggy and dirty anyway, because of the Industrial Revolution.
00:37:17
Speaker
So it all kind of dovetails together like a bit of a jigsaw. So that's the incumbent estate act. Now, there was also one other act called the Tollpike Abolition Act.
00:37:27
Speaker
As you may be familiar, there there were toll gates all over Belfast, one in one at Sadler's Row, that particular tricky roundabout at Rosetta and another one in Tate's Avenue and all over the place and this was of course to means that sort of coach and horses would have to spend more money when they when they when they were they came through so basically that also when once that had cleared away it meant there was more coming and going much more carriage for business I mean
00:38:03
Speaker
So Charles Levanian rebuilt the bridge to from Ormo, Lower Ormo, over to Newton-Breda. And that actually created the impetus for Ormo to become part of Belfast as well.
00:38:16
Speaker
So all these reasons. So suddenly this bit of the the chitsters running out of money meant that um these acts came in. And once they took effect, then that then created a bigger town, which became a city city in 1888 when city status was conferred by Queen Victoria.
00:38:39
Speaker
All this story is linked up with this one grave, the Cairns family grave. So it always sort of slightly tickles my fancy call on that story.
00:38:50
Speaker
I always think, when you slightly irreverent towards the Chichester's, but you know, it's a bit of fun, a bit of fun. So I very much enjoyed. um The only thing I would say about Friars Bush is I'm afraid Storm A. Owen has meant that um the the the bush is now lilting and tilting.
00:39:11
Speaker
In a way, it probably hasn't done for 300 years, but there's nothing really can be done about that. That was absolutely fantastic. If I can just ask one more question before Of course.
00:39:23
Speaker
If we can bring it up to to the modern day, do we know when essentially the graveyard was filled to capacity?
Current Burial Status at Friars Bush
00:39:30
Speaker
And then if there's any, ah ah do we have any more burials left?
00:39:35
Speaker
Is it open for special, like like you said, like families who maybe had a plot in the past and they still hold on to that? That's a very good question. In fact, we have some people from the Lavery family.
00:39:47
Speaker
So Lavery's had pubs in in May Street in the early 1970s that were sadly firebombed. But of course, they have a pub in Bradbury Place, which is still going well.
00:39:59
Speaker
They're well-known publican family. That's another kickback or consequence of the um the penal laws. A lot of Catholics went into entertainment and um culture and also pubs as well as their way of earning a living.
00:40:17
Speaker
The Laverys were one of those. And we had the joy of having three members of the Lavery family with us about last February or March for a very early tour last year.
00:40:28
Speaker
And one of the gentlemen actually manages the big house, the pavilion up in Ormoe. and he um he brought some photographs of the family. and i'm just The point I'm um'm coming to is by around the 1850s, 1860s, most of the lots, the plots had already been bought, and those plots basically, then nobody else could really get in, and other people had to be buried, other families had to be buried elsewhere.
00:40:56
Speaker
But the Lavery family, there was one person buried there in 2019,
00:41:02
Speaker
Whether that's going to be the last person in the up column, I don't know. The other might be able to shed some light on that. I most certainly cannot. I do apologize for that.
00:41:13
Speaker
But 2019, there's definitely a burial there. Right. so there's no So there's no space for me then. That's that's fine. I'll have to go somewhere else. That's great, John. Thanks very much.
00:41:27
Speaker
Deirdre, did the group get founded and what work are you doing at the minute and how do you see it going forward over the next few years? Right. Well, I'll try my best to answer.
00:41:38
Speaker
and The ah first question i have is, it it's a bit easier. um It was, I started with a lockdown project. and My son dragged me from the other end of the city to to go to the same hairdresser as that city where we used to live. And I would be waiting for him going, you know, i across from Friars Bush going, I never, ever got in there. That place all was locked.
00:42:04
Speaker
And then read about it and my goodness me, you know, ah even that this was a time that, you know, everything wasn't supposed to be completely locked down anymore. And I'm going, to you know, this is this is crazy. Any other place has to be open. And started to do research and just went, oh, my good Lord.
00:42:20
Speaker
You know, and the more and more research, the more rabbit holes, the um good more I wanted to know and the less I felt I knew and I just went on. And then I realised this is too big a project. to this is this This should be a community project and start talking to more and more people.
00:42:36
Speaker
and John probably, Brabbery would have been one of the one of the um early folks consulted. And at a certain point, the decision was, and and it was sort of a back burner one, you know, but trying to talk to as many people as possible, if anything, to go, am I crazy? Is this crazy thing or not? You know, and the more people, oh, you know, they you'd hear just hear stories, even if it was simply just stories of,
00:43:01
Speaker
My parents, you know, were always, you know, intrigued with the place or that certain little bits and pieces of whatever, that little snippets, but still it all adds together. It hadn't gone completely out of people's memory, you know, and that's important.
00:43:15
Speaker
m But it was decided to do something serious about it. And getting people into community groups can be difficult, mind you, because you've some great people, but they just don't want to be and on boards. They don't want that version you know So anyway, um it was a loose community group and then eventually became a firmer community group that and the name Karchin Achilla was accepted and the best mechanism was considered to be a community interest company.
00:43:48
Speaker
um to ah have... the It wasn't just relating to Fray House Bush, mind you, Fray Bush was the inspiration because many people had felt this about other graveyards in Belfast and indeed dotted over Ulster that had been neglected as well and that are very much part of our our history and heritage. And ah The focus, I suppose, was really on the the older, the more ancient, if you like.
00:44:21
Speaker
I think the decision was that, well, the consensus was that, you know, the Victorian graveyards generally, the newer Victorian graveyards are well catered for and are pretty well promoted. And there's folks already doing tours and all of that. and youre First of all, you don't want to step on other people's toes. And secondly,
00:44:37
Speaker
You know, there's a certain, have to, you know, think of the economics of things and the practicalities of things. and Too many operators in one space is not good for anyone. and you You certainly want a bit of variety, but, you know, you don't want to be squeezing anyone.
00:44:50
Speaker
So suppose that was, it was really along those lines. I mean, there are other ancient graveyards. There's the like of, um you know, Knock over in East Belfast.
00:45:01
Speaker
um other graveyards like Brida and other other sites that haven't been terribly well developed, other burial sites that are perhaps free Christian as well. So but was it was really a mix of of all of that without anything too defined.
00:45:17
Speaker
But I suppose having a ah site that was so fascinating that clearly was needing attention, it did become a focus and... and when the the board now got formalised and finalised and all of that, and I ah effectively became a de facto executive director, if you like.
00:45:37
Speaker
And one of the first organisations we contacted was DTNI, Development Trust NI, relating to, look, what's the feasibility? What's the... back to Calumary, how realistic could it be? And it it seemed you know feasible and realistic. And we set off on the route of trying to acquire a lease on the gatehouse because was sitting empty and had appeared to have been abandoned for some time. so ah
00:46:08
Speaker
That part was actually February two years ago. I just realised, you know, February's just gone. That's well over two years. And we're still here. It's a very, very long time before we even got permission to do a feasibility study that we actually managed to get funding for from Heritage Lottery and that shouldn't be the case. you know So there's been um tremendous, thankfully, a great moves relating to the promotion of heritage ah for everyone and ah here, including Belfast.
00:46:41
Speaker
But when it comes to and you know the aspirations of communities doing it, because communities actually do do it better, that's been proven everywhere.
00:46:53
Speaker
Across the water, particularly, I would have to say, but also down south. So why not here? And communities have done so many wonderful projects here. But I suppose relating to and graveyards as such...
00:47:07
Speaker
It's seen as, I suppose, almost virgin territory. shouldn't necessarily be because there's some very fine examples, you know, elsewhere. and but I think I'd rather just summarise that very briefly by saying and we haven't really been treated with open arms.
00:47:23
Speaker
It's been made extremely difficult and that has put a tiny little organisation like ours under enormous pressure and it has... and made element of project. I mean, the idea was not just for Irish Bush, but many other graveyards.
00:47:41
Speaker
And instead, it became all consuming. um And unfortunately, whether it's and very restricted or limited policy or policy being used as an excuse or I think I prefer to call it perhaps and just not very effective policy but that's kind of being used against genuine ground up community development, community development and community tourism, cultural tourism, um community social development as well in terms of not just tourism for visitors and how how local at people can benefit and all of that, but in the whole learning experience across community intercultural, all of that, um you know, social development, particularly relating to heritage, shared heritage,
00:48:35
Speaker
And language dimensions, like I mentioned, for example, the Irish language became very important. We're not an Irish language organisation, but because of the history of this site, it's apps, we feel it's key. It's key. and it ah It cannot be overlooked or neglected.
00:48:51
Speaker
And without a knowledge of that, you know, I just don't think it's perhaps the education experience could be as deep. um And that's not ignoring all the other dimensions. You know, there's it's it's a site that has so much. it's It's wonderful, even just in the Victorian. But, you know, there's just so much within that as well, but particularly because else I don't need to tell you, no doubt.
00:49:18
Speaker
Obviously, we have a mass famine site there. which is very, very poignant. And in fact, indeed, it is so far and the only official and you know memorial site to the the Great Irish Famine on Gortemore in Belfast.
00:49:36
Speaker
and And it is there. it was It's there because of initiative, whilst it was still um under the auspices of the Catholic Church, it would have been in the 150th anniversary of the Irish Famine. and And in fact, this year it's the 180th anniversary.
00:49:50
Speaker
So... we are hopefully going to mark that this year with something small, but certainly um and little tourism events that will hopefully reflect the ah tragedy that it was.
00:50:05
Speaker
And um ah we, in fact, we we do volunteering and we cleared simply because the council did not even attempt to clear pathways that tourists could start there or graves that we had indicated on several meetings.
00:50:23
Speaker
wasting our time, many times meeting them, many times, many letters, many, many, many, you know. At a certain point I said, you know, to hell with this, let's just do it ourselves, you know.
00:50:34
Speaker
That's how Volunteering Project started, it's not one of our objects to run volunteering programmes. It was very successful, mind you, and it's in many ways, Volunteer Project is probably what kept me going when you know, certain certain things happened that shouldn't have happened relating to and essentially, I said, poor policy, pitching competitors, commercial competitors against a community group.
00:50:59
Speaker
It just shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen in, you know, in civic society and a it shouldn't happen considering what's really required in terms of development, even just in tourism in Bedfast, because certainly Northern Ireland tourism in it, recognise the need for that and bottom-up approach.
00:51:22
Speaker
You know, embracing the giant spirit, all of that, that's essentially about communities and about authenticity. And nobody does that better than, you know, ah people on on on the ground who have the stories and who are most most passionate, really.
00:51:39
Speaker
But anyway, the the the ah volunteering project in many ways is what has perhaps kept me going and um and kept me positive and because you realise there's so much goodness around you um People get so much benefit from that and and we've transformed many neglected parts of the graveyard.
00:51:58
Speaker
and But considering that, you'd have expected the council to then maintain what it is we've done. And that's not happened at all. A crazy situation where the council have, we've been doing the grass and all the pathways and everything for about nine months unpaid.
00:52:13
Speaker
and We asked for a little bit something towards As soon as we asked for something towards it, the council still said, oh, no, no, you're not supposed to be doing that. Don't do it now. Do not do that. That's it. You're not allowed to, in fact.
00:52:23
Speaker
So this is the kind this is what you're up against. um I'm just telling you the truth. its It has not been a positive and you know approach towards and community activism.
00:52:37
Speaker
um And I think there's perhaps an element of sexism in that because essentially I'm, I suppose, a woman leader and I'm not experiencing anything different to many other, what many other women leaders have had to face.
00:52:50
Speaker
You know, so i thought that's what happens. But you know what? When you have a site is precious. When you realise that it actually belongs to the citizens of Belfast,
00:53:01
Speaker
you know ah And the ratepayers of Belfast, more importantly, perhaps. and you know It is perhaps ah worth fighting for and worth and making sure that it passes on to generations to come.
00:53:17
Speaker
in a good state. and And I suppose one thing that focuses that is, for example, as we head towards, and time flies, towards 2045, the 200th anniversary of the Great Irish Famine, wouldn't it be lovely to think that You know, the generation that's come after us are taking care of it and it's in good hands. So in terms of the volunteering, and very recently and we we started to attack, is the only word probably, the terrible overgrowth and invasive weeds and you name it.
00:53:55
Speaker
layers and layers and layers and layers and of overgrowth on a Plaguey Hill and the famine and area. at It was an absolute disgrace.
00:54:05
Speaker
It was really not serving Belfast well. and We've got about, i think, two thirds, three quarter way through. And it's really tough going. It really is tough going, you know, um simply because of the terrain.
00:54:19
Speaker
So hats off to our volunteers because they are the best, the best people in Belfast. and And there they are. and But have to say, you know, they the site itself is it's just so pleasant. and Birdsong, the trees, the green space,
00:54:39
Speaker
and It's good physical exercise. So I'm kind promoting our volunteering here. I don't know if you noticed that. Hopefully we get more people interested in joining us because it's certainly, it's a space that's worth the work.
00:54:53
Speaker
and worth the the work That was Dr Deirdre, Nick Ash-Honey and John Bradbury from Cards and Achilla sharing their invaluable knowledge on the history, key events and notable figures of Friars Booth's graveyard.
00:55:06
Speaker
A huge thank you to both of them for shedding light on this remarkable sight and its place in Belfast past.
Conclusion and Contact Information
00:55:12
Speaker
If like to learn more about Frarish Bush and the work of Cawd to Nicola, be sure to follow their efforts in preserving Ireland's historic graveyards.
00:55:19
Speaker
Don't forget to subscribe and write Pieces of History on iTunes and Spotify and you can also reach me at piecesofhistorypod at outlook.com or find me on Instagram and Facebook at Pieces of History.
00:55:30
Speaker
Thanks for listening.