Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
Records from Clongish
St Paul’s Historic Graveyard, a book detailing the memorials and burial records of this graveyard in Newtownforbes, Co Longford, by Doreen McHugh and Desmond Mooney, was launched recently in St Paul’s church, Clongish.
With records dating from 1696 to the present, this is an extensive record charting the final resting place of generations of Newtownforbes people. Details from some 300 burial plots and 1,236 names from the burial registers provide a comprehensive insight into the lives of the people in this mid–Longford parish.
The earliest grave stone listed is ‘to the memory of John Frazer’ dated 16 April 1698. Nearby is the family table tomb of Gustavus Brooke who was interred with his illustrious relation Charlotte Brooke, the renowned poet and Gaelic Scholar. In vaults beneath the church lie generations of the Forbes family of Castleforbes, while the final resting place of Beatrice, Countess of Granard, who died in 1972 is marked by an impressive mausoleum to the north of the church. Here too are the graves of John Crawford and his wife Jane Caroline, ancestors of Alan Turing, the cryptographer who cracked the ‘German U–boat Enigma codes during WWII’. The Jones family have fifteen separate headstones with Thompson, Holmes, Geelan and Johnston families having almost as many.
Heritage Week continues today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). Dean Philip Knowles will greet and meet people at 11am today (Saturday) in Timolin parish hall and St. Mullin’s church will be open until 4pm. During the same period St. James’ church, Castledermot, will be open and the Dean will give an organ recital in Castledermot at 3pm. Monkstown parish church will be open from 2pm until 5pm with tours, exhibitions and displays. In Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, at 2pm, today (Saturday) there will be a talk on monastic landscapes and biodiversity by landscape architect Haley Farrell while in St Patrick’s cathedral at 3.30pm there will be a panel discussion on Swift’s legacy in the fantasy genre.
This afternoon (Saturday), at 4pm, in Shillelagh parish church, Co. Wicklow, the Bishop of Cashel, Ferns & Ossory will ordain Trevor Sargent to the diaconate to serve in the Tullow group of parishes with the Rector of Tullow, the Ven. Andrew Orr.
BBC Radio Ulster’s Morning Service tomorrow (Sunday) will be broadcast at 10.15am from St Patrick’s cathedral, Armagh, as part of the Charles Wood Festival of Music and Summer School. The service will feature the Charles Wood Girls’ Choir with Ian Keatley as conductor and Donal McCann as organist. Charles Wood was born at 11 Vicars’ Hill, Armagh, in 1866 and received his early musical education as a chorister in the cathedral opposite his home. He later studied at the Royal College of Music and became a Professor there before becoming Professor of Music at Cambridge University. When Wood died in 1926 he left behind a legacy of over 250 sacred works plus a large number of hymn tunes andit is largely for his sacred music that he is remembered today.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the services in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, will be sung by the Past Choristers. All Past Choristers are invited to take part. Rehearsals will begin at 9.45am for the 11am Eucharist with rehearsals for the 3.30pm Evensong beginning at 2.30pm. Details from Victor Coe at pastchoristers@christchurch.ie
On Friday evening at 8pm the Revd Alan Breen will be instituted as Rector of Kill o’ the Grange by the Archbishop of Dublin. Mr Breen, who was ordained in 2014, has been curate of Greystones and chaplain of Temple Carrig school since 2015.
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times