My Moynahan Genealogy Blog: "Try Where the Old Chapel Was at Freemount” .

Thursday, July 11, 2019

"Try Where the Old Chapel Was at Freemount” .

For decades we have been collecting our ancestor's stories by tracking their footsteps since they first arrived in Canada and America in the early 1800s.

In 2019, our brother Pat Moynahan sponsored our very first trip to Ireland so that we could search for our ancestor's stories there.

We have many stories to share and we are calling them our " Kerry Chronicles"

The three cemeteries that we visited in count Kerry 2019

This is the story about our visit to the Freemount cemetery which was the second cemetery that we visited in county Kerry in 2019 and here is what we found.

The gate for the Freemount cemetery

When we visited St. Joseph's cemetery in Rathmore, the Parish secretary told us to try the old cemetery where the old chapel was in Freemount and gave us directions to get there. She suggested this because our Moynahan/Moynihan ancestors left the area in the 1820's.

Pat and Kelly at the Freemount cemetery in county Kerry

In the National Folklore Collection below, there is mention of Freemount in the early days:

"Cnoc An Lisín (the hill of the little fort). Called "Freemount" during Anglicising period. Area: 185 acres 2 roods 37 perches.
Traces of the lisin or little fort may still be seen in James Mahony's. The Moynihans (related to the O'Connells of Derrynane) were agents or middlemen of Captain Fagan of Cork and lived at James Mahony's. They were responsible for "freemount". Here is the cemetery of Sean Sheipéal meaning "old chapel" and for a while so called Darby Moynihan a very old man, who died lately said that (as one would naturally expect) these were priests buried here."

Archival Reference The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0451, Page 099 © National Folklore Collection, UCD

" It is stated that he even knew their names. Cemetery wall was built by the guardians of the poor about 1810. Stones of the old chapel were put into the wall. But there are two heaps still remaining. The two oldest graves are the McCarthys of Minte Oga (d. 1854) and Brosnans of Minte Oga (d. 1833). There are no tombs. "People are leaving here now and going to the New Ground in Rath Mhor". The most interesting thing in the little cemetery are the unmarked graves side by side of the Donnellys the victims of the moving bog of 1906 in Gniomh Go Leith parish"

Archival Reference The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0451, Page 100 © National Folklore Collection, UCD

Laurence Dunne Archaeology are the foremost specialists in graveyard surveying in Kerry. For several years they have undertaken highly detailed GPS surveys mainly of historic graveyards for Kerry County Council. http://www.ldarch.ie/graveyard-surveying

In 2012, they surveyed (41) Freemount (-near Barraduff, Rathmore, RMP KE068 00)

And what that means is that there was a map indicating the path, grave settings, inscribed headstones, and uninscribed markers.

Of the inscribed headstones, Moynihan headstones were found at:

9 Moynihan (B-3)
10 Moynihan (C-3)
11 Moynihan (C-3)
26 Moynihan (B -2)
27 Moynihan (B-2)
34 Moynihan (A-2)

N. MOYNIHAN
Of Rathbeg
Died Nov 10 1898
Aged 83 Years

And Friends
R.I.P.

IHS

Gone
But Not
Forgotten

Erected By
HUMPHERY MOYNIHAN
To The Memory Of
His Beloved Father
JOHN A. MOYNIHAN
Died Augt. 1st 1887
Also His Mother
NORAH
Died Nov 1st 1897

In Memory Of
MANUS MOYNIHAN
Stagmount Died
1938 Wife CATHERINE
1907 T. M. MOYNIHAN
Knocknacoppul 1936
Wife HANNAH 1940
CATHERINE MOYNIHAN
Cornhill 1940.

R.I.P.