Friday 23 August 2013

The memorials of St Mary's, Gowran: talk 24 Aug

A talk about the memorials in St Mary's churchyard, Gowran, County Kilkenny will be held at the church at 2pm tomorrow as part of Heritage Week.

Mary Casteleyn, Vice-Preseident and Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society, recorded all 250-odd memorials in the graveyard last year with friend and colleague Bernie Kirwan, and will be talking about the many interesting examples that survive in the grounds of Girwan's beautiful early-medieval church. Among them is a 17th-century altar tomb with carvings of the apostles; St Peter is skillfully depicted smoking a dudeen, a clay pipe that was fashionable in the 1640s and a joke from the stonemason.

Mary's talk will be followed by two more talks of local history interest, while free guided tours of the 13th-century Collegiate Church of St Mary's will be going on all day from 10:30am to 4pm.

More details from St Mary's: +353 (0)56 7726894.