Thursday 6 July 2017

New book: St Paul's Historic Graveyard, Newtownforbes

A new book, St Paul’s Historic Graveyard, Newtownforbes, Co Longford, has been published by Turners of Longford.

Researched and compiled by Doreen Mc Hugh and Desmond Mooney, and sub-titled Clongish Memorial & Burial Records 1698-2016, the 142-page book focuses mainly on a pictorial and written record of almost 300 headstones and church memorials, while also containing details of c.1200 burials from the Clongish Parish Records [1820-1917].

Additionally, there are short articles on the Forbes, Auchmuty and Auchmuty-Musters families, as well as snippets on people such as Charlotte Brooke [Poet & Gaelic Scholar]; Colonel James Hay, who fought at Waterloo; James Bell, Longford's first County Surveyor; and Alan Turing - famous for cracking the German U-boat Enigma code in WW2.

An interesting analysis of the registers includes references to gaps in the records, discrepancies between headstone inscriptions and registers, recorded deaths per decade and age distribution at death. It also suggests that family historians should treat such records with caution.

The book is priced at €10 and is available in Bell’s and Smith’s, Newtownforbes, as well as Newsround and Baxter’s Pharmacy in Longford. If you have ancestral connections to the area but don't live nearby, purchase enquiries can be forwarded to des.moon3@gmail.com.

Headstone images and inscriptions are also available at HistoricGraves.com.