Downings Graveyard & Other Nearby Ones

[Closed Account]

Can anyone provide some info on a place called Downings graveyard- namely, what years was it in use (or possibly still in use), if it has an affiliation with a particular church/religion, links to any possible photos or headstone transcriptions currently online, etc.?  I am trying to narrow down the possible locations of my ancestors' burial plots.  The last name is Larmon, and they mostly died in the 1850s-1880s at their farm in Prosperous/Curryhills. 

Some helpful folks in another post I made here suggested a place called Old Killybegs as a possible/likely resting place, but the online info for that graveyard did not include any reference to the family surname.  Assuming Downings is unlikely, what are some other nearby graveyards where Roman Catholics would have been buried at the time?  I'm come across a Barretstown in Newbridge and a Mainham in Clane as some other ideas, but don't know anything about them yet either.

[dragongirl]

Hello
 the only place in Ireland that I know is called Downings is in  Donegal just over the Border from Londonderry.It has a large holiday caravan site but the village is lovely and very friendly.
There are a few churches there but whether Catholic or  Protestant I couldn`t say. Googled Downings Ireland and this one was all that came up Sorry couldn`t be more help

[aghadowey]

Downings is the name of a civil parish in Co. Kildare which consists of the following townlands: Blackwood, Coolree, Downings North, Downings South, Goatstown, Graigues, Moods, Newtowndonore, Oldtowndonore.
Afraid I can't provide any details about the graveyards in the area but perhaps someone else will be able to help with that information.

[shanew147]

A graveyard is shown on the OSI maps in the townland of Downings North - see : Downings Graveyard

A church is shown at the location on the older maps (1824s/40s), but this is in ruins in later maps. It appears to be Church of Ireland - as RC churches are usually indicated with the caption RC Chapel or Church on the maps.

Samuel Lewis' directory of 1837 mentions church ruins at that time - see : Parish of Downings

The graveyard is located just to the west of the town of Prosperous and just visible from the road on google streetview. There are headstones still standing - see : Downings Graveyard


Shane

[cyril walsh]

another parish very near downings is caragh.
though i doubt it would have been used by your ancesters as transport was only horse and cart.
though if their people came from there,they might be.
caragh is only 4 miles from downings.
just found out larmons owned a pub in prosperous.
a ma larmon used to run it, it is now owned by * & * keenan.
hope this is of some help, and if i can help you further dont hesitate to ask.
i live in kilmeague about 6 miles from prosperous.
best wishes
cyril


Moderator Note : Details of living people removed as per RootsChat policy

[Closed Account]

Thank you all for the above replies.  This is where I am a bit out of my league though since my family is many generations removed from Ireland.  Comments about Caragh and the pub are definitely on the right track though.

My direct Larmon ancestor was baptized in the parish of Caragh in 1865 (David).  I have no idea what church, but the family was Roman Catholic.  The family itself lived on a farm in Curryhills, and my ggg-grandparents and many of their children died there up through the 1880s.  One of the surviving children married in the "R.C. Chapel" in Prosperous (not sure what that is/was, if it was the family church, etc.).   Does Caragh have an official RC church/graveyard?  Odds are it's one of the ones I named previously and I just haven't put two and two together. 

With regard to the pub, there was such a place in Prosperous owned by the brother of my ancestor.  His named was Christopher (possibly better known as Kit), and his wife Agnes took over the place after he passed.  This would have been way back in 1915 though.  Agnes seems to have died in 1932, and it's possible one of their children ran the place before it was sold to the people noted above.  I have no idea where they are buried either, but I think that many of their children immigrated to the USA.

[srmnm]

Hi jml77,

Interestingly I was doing considerable research last year around my family history and I was led to Downings where I have great and great great grand parents buried. I visited this graveyard last July (in the rain).
Let me tell you about it. It is not accessible from the road any more and you must walk through a field to get in. There is about 60-80 graves dating from late 1700's to 1960's perhaps some more recent. It is enclosed by 3 foot loose stone wall. The church that was once there is now no more than three 8 foot walls. Its original floor dimensions would be no more than 10ft X 15ft. (Yes tiny).
Many of the graves have two or even three generations buried in each plot. There are 2 or 3 large trees in the cemetery.
The location of the cemetery is about 2km outside Prosperous heading on the main Allenwood rd. There is a Kildare county council holding on the road and the cemetery is behind the field on the opposite side of the road.
There are 3 main pubs in Prosperous these days, but I cant imagine any of them being older than 100 years (certainly not the buildings they are situated in now, maybe one, cant remember the name, but It could be P.Duggans!?).

However, if you continued past the cemetery, toward Allenwood, about 2 more km you would come to a junction and there is a pub here right on the corner. I am positive that this has been here for well over 100 years and was in my family lines and went out through marriage.
I believe ownership has changed several times in the past 20 years but the common name for it around the area would be 'Dag Welds'.
I can have a root through my notes if you want and see what I have on that time for the pub?

[Closed Account]

Hello srmnm, and thank you for the above info on Downings gy.  There isn't really much posted about it online, and since I'm in the States I can't exactly make use of local resources or check out the terrain.  I think that I'm going to have to write to the Kildare county council or try and track down who administers some of these graveyards to see if they can check the burial records.  I have some of the death dates, and I can't imagine that the family would have been buried far from the their farm at the time.

I really don't know much about the pub.  Last year I had been searching/reading some old Kildare Observer articles and recall seeing that my ancestor's brother owned one in Prosperous, where he also had a farm (which was named Moatfield I think).  It may have been across the street/near another pub owned by the Mangan family.  This is all real old stuff though.  There was a subsequent article from 1915 noting that Christopher Larmon's wife had applied and been granted license to run the place after he died.  I have no idea what happened after that and no means of following-up on it either.  If the information you're referring to is handy and a quick check, then of course I'd appreciate knowing. 


General Update/Questions on this topic:

1) I've recently read that there is a place called the Church of Our Lady and St. Joseph in the area.  Is this the same place as “Prosperous Church” and the “R.C. Chapel” noted on some old maps I’ve seen- or are they three different places?

2)  I’ve also recently come across the name of two places called “Caragh Cemetery” and “Prosperous Cemetery.”  Are either of these the same as one of the places I’ve already mentioned (e.g., Downings, Old Killybegs), and if not then does anyone have a location or contact information for them?  Caragh was the parish of my ancestors.

[Churchie]

Downings, Killybegs and Caragh all have cemeteries.
Downings is the one previously mentioned (linked by Shane) and was the first church in the area. Killybegs is also an ancient ruined church, in a field behind the road from Prosperous along the canal. It is still used for burials though. Caragh is a separate parish, quite some miles away though, with its own burial ground, still in use.
The RC church in Prosperous IS Our Lady and Joseph, but only dates from the 19th century. There is no attached cemetery. It's at the crossroads, diagonally opposite Christy's pub. The other pub is Dowlings, an easy walk across the road from Christies, on the road to Curryhills.
I think there my be another, more modern cemetery in Prosperous, I will have to check with my husband, as it is his local village.
Will get back to you...
Caroline.