The Story of St. James's graveyard, Charleville, Co. Cork

This graveyard and church are located in the townland of Rathgoggin Middle, in the

parish of Charleville, in the Barony of Orrery and Kilmore.

 

Set back from the main street in Charleville town, it was the former Church Of Ireland parish church and graveyard of Rathgoggin.

 

This church was built in the Gothic Revival style in 1846 and according to Lewis

(1837), built on the site of an earlier church erected in 1663 by Roger Boyle

(1621-1671). He was the 1st Earl of Orrery and the founder of the town after the

Restoration of Charles 2nd, as referenced in the town's name of Charleville. IThe church is built of limestone ashlar. This building now houses Charleville Library and Archive since the 1990’s.

 

There are approximately fifty memorials in the adjoining graveyard, some 18th century, but mainly early 19th century. The earliest inscription outdoors is of Mary Jameson who died Jan. 12. 1777. The Jameson family still farm in Co. Cork today.

 

Surnames recorded include Bolster, Sanders, Hoyle, Myrs, Haines, Morris and

Brennan.

 

 

The grassed-over barrel-roofed burial vaults in the graveyard look unusual to the casual visitor but ehy are of a type of vaulted tomb found throughout Ireland.

 

One of the memorials (No.13) is dedicated to Edmond Duckworth Sanders. He was born 20 Sept 1868 and died 27 Sept 1915, aged 47 and noted that he was unmarried. He was the son of Thomas Sanders and Mary Charlotte Dunn who were married in 1861. It is recorded that they had ten children. Thomas was a barrister and held Office of Justice of the Peace for County Limerick, and later for County Cork. They lived at Sanders Park, also known as Charleville Park, located north of the town.

 

The carved limestone tomb of the Bruce Family, a prominent banking family of  Charleville and Limerick in and around 1806, is located outside the churchyard gates, in the plaza area in front of the church.

 

There is a plaque inside the church with the name Evan Gwyn de Granegranog, dated 7 Feb 1679.

 

Square limestone piers and caps with limestone walls and spear-headed cast-iron railings front on to the plaza.

 

This post was researched and written as part of a grassroots heritage tourism project (www.incultum.eu) in collaboration with Ballyhoura Development CLG (https://www.ballyhouradevelopment.com/), Cork Co. Council (https://www.corkcoco.ie/en) and Limerick Co. Council (https://www.limerick.ie/council). The stories were initially gathered during a community survey of the graveyard. They form part of the Historic Graves Project Destination for Ballyhoura (https://historicgraves.com/destination/ballyhoura).