Cemeteries

Catholic
Ireland

Lemanagh (New) Cemetery: This cemetery is managed by
Bunratty: located around the site of the old twelfth century
Drumline: a small burial ground in the grounds of the .....
Fenloe: attached to the old monastic site, of which St ......
Kilnasoolagh: in the grounds of the Church of Ireland ....
Kilmaleery/Kilconry:beside the ruins of the old parish church .....
Clonloghan: Beside the ruins of the old parish church.......
Priests’s Burial Ground: Traditionally priests have been ...
Ballycar Killeen: In the past unbaptised infants and adults

There are different explanations for bringing the coffins in over the walls and then laying them down for a few seconds on a particular spot. The two customs may have different origins.
During the period of the anti-Catholic laws of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, burial grounds were locked and the key was in the charge of the Church of Ireland local vicar. Generally the priests refused to look for permission to use the cemetery and get the key, carrying the coffin over the wall was the alternative.

There are a number of suggestions to explain the custom of laying the coffin down on a particular spot. Quite often due to penal laws no priest would be safely available to attend burial and bless the grave, so a designated spot was blessed secretly in advance. There is another suggestion. The poor could not afford coffins so laying the corpse on the ground put marauding wolves off the scent and protected the freshly interred corpse.

Interesting