GARRAUNAKILLA STONE UNVEILED AND BOOKLET LAUNCHED

GARRAUNAKILLA STONE UNVEILED AND BOOKLET LAUNCHED

Great evening with huge turn out to mark the unveiling of commemorative stone and booklet in Ennis . Here are a few pictures.

Clara Hoyne

Clare Roots Secretary

ENNIS PARISH NEWS LETTER. GARRAUNAKILLA ( GRAVEYARD)

Garraunakilla (Graveyard) Upper Market Street, Ennis:

A  memorial plaque will be unveiled at Garraunakilla by Mr. Frankie Neylon, Deputy Mayor of Ennis after a short Liturgy of Prayer, to commemorate the burials and past residents associated with the area at 7.00 p.m. on Friday the 4th. October. In conjunction with the unveiling, a booklet on Garraunakilla prepared by Clare Roots Society will be available for sale at €5.00 All are welcome to this event.

The booklet is a limited edition of 120 for sale.

Those who wish to pre book by post should allow for €7.00 incl. postage & packing.

PRESS RELEASE: By Clare Roots Society.

Date: 22^nd September 2013

Garraunakilla (Graveyard) Upper Market Street, Ennis:

A  memorial plaque will be unveiled at Garraunakilla by Mr. Frankie Neylon, Deputy Mayor of Ennis, at 7.00 p.m. on Friday the 4^th October, after a short Liturgy of Prayer to commemorate the burials and past residents associated with the area. In conjunction with the unveiling, a booklet on Garraunakilla prepared by Clare Roots Society will be available for sale at €5.00 All are welcome to this event.

The erection of this memorial, along with the organising of same, was the idea of Tony & Robert Mc Carthy, both natives of the Town. After speaking to Fred Coffey prior to his death and Tony & Walter Coffey subsequently, all agreed the importance of this planned event. Unfortunately Fred passed away on the 25th July 2013. At the Famine Memorial event held at Drumcliff in May of this year, Tony & Robert linked up with Clare Roots Society and jointly planned the event, along with publication of a 
booklet to record it. Larry Brennan of Clare Roots Society researched and wrote the booklet.

The approach employed with the booklet was a flexible one, which allowed optimum exploitation of the relatively small body of available source material.

Garraunakilla translates as Garrán na Cille (church grove). Cill has the meaning of Church but also implies a burial ground. Garrán means a grove or a cluster of trees and could have referred to the visual aspect of the lane prior to the building of the houses which took place circa 1800-1810.The laying down of the laneway dates back to circa 1750; it was one of a series of lanes (Garraunakilla Lane, Corkalley Lane & Fahy's Lane ) laid out at the time to connect Upper O' Connell Street with the lower end of Mill Street.  

Unfortunately the Graveyard’s opening date cannot be identified but closure seems to date back to the Cholera epidemic of 1832. Then the danger of spreading this virulent contagion in the crowded urban centre made it impossible to bury victims in the town cemeteries of Garraunakilla & Corrovorrin. Thus Drumcliff became the principal graveyard for Ennis

The booklet includes genealogical information including records from the Griffiths Valuation of 1855, along with details from the 1901 & 1911 Census returns for the area. We also get biographical details for past residents including details on members of the Cronin, Downey Guilfoyle, Danagher, Daly, O' Grady, Queally, Killeen, Kelly, Keane, Moloney, Mangan, Garrahy, Hyde & Michael 'Bowsie' Casey who traded from a shop on the Laneway. We also read of current descendants like the singer Maura O' Connell & Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle who currently co-hosts The Five on Fox News Channel in the U.S.A. 

The demolition of one side of Garraunakilla Laneway, along with the area known as Cloughaunagower, took place in 1970. The area is now made up of a public Car Park & Public Toilet and also houses the Friday & Saturday Market in Upper Market Street.

Old Photographs available if required.

Contact:

Larry Brennan.

Larry Brennan <bbs.ennis@eircom.net>