Reilig an tSléibhe Famine Graveyard, Ring, Dungarvan - November 25, 1998
Reilig an tSléibhe: This is the famine graveyard in the Waterford Gaeltacht, it is located in An Seanphobal, off the N25 from Dungarvan to Cork just before An Seanachaí pub.
The field itself was owned by the Villiers-Stuart family and was opened in 1847 for the purposes of burying victims of the famine after other burial sites in Dungarvan became full. Henry Villiers-Stuart was chairperson of the Board of Guardians who ran the workhouse at the time.
There are possibly 3 mass graves in the field that were used to cope with the large numbers and as the deaths declined, it is believed single graves were dug. The corpses were brought by pony and trap from the town along what would have been the old Cork road.
A Mr Fitzgerald made this journey with his cart up to three times a day. A Mr Barron was also in charge of the burials. Currently, it is not known how many were buried there but there are certainly 100s if not up to 1000. Officialdom, at the time, had such disregard for the inmates of the workhouse, they only had a number and no names were recorded. Many literally had to dig their own graves a matter of days before they themselves would be tipped in. They were buried without coffins or even shrouds.
There is a local story of a young baby that was about to be buried with a number of other corpses and just before the cart was tipped in, she left out a loud cry. That child emigrated to America and lived into her 90s.
An Seanachaí, which is located beside the graveyard obtained its first licence in 1845, issued to John Ketts. The public house was originally established to provide food and drink for the gravediggers and the Kett family were caretakers of the graveyard in the immediate aftermath of the famine.
A wooden cross was erected in the middle of the field soon after the famine but this had reportedly crumbled well before 1943. In 1953 the 16 ft limestone cross, which still stands on the site, was erected to commemorate the Holy year and a small inscription was included to mention the famine victims.
In 1995 for the 150th commemoration of the famine, a new memorial was created which was inscribed with part of Máire Ní Dhroma's poem, Na Prátaí Dubha. Also to be seen at the site is a solitary figure in mourning, at the side of the field. This sculpture was created by Seán Creagh; he died before it was complete and so the fibreglass structure that would have been used to create the mould for the final piece was erected instead.
There are depressions in the surface of the field that are most likely the burial sites of the mass graves and the single interments. None of the graves are marked in any way. Within the field there is also a headstone where G. R. Jacobs from the HMT Bradford is buried. He died at sea in 1916.
