Memorials of the Dead, Counties Galway & Mayo ( Western Seaboard)

Compiled and Edited by Ian Cantwell

Irish Memorial Inscriptions Vol 1

•Sherry Irvine, Ancestry Daily News, 5 November 2002

Burial Records In Ireland Before 1864

There are many transcriptions of memorials on tombstones. The most recent source is a new CD from Eneclann - Irish Memorial Transcriptions, Volume 1, Memorials of the Dead, Galway and Mayo, Western Seaboard. Ian Cantwell, trudged and cycled across the western extremities of Ireland in, as he puts it, "145 different types of precipitation and high winds," to record all this data. He visited 128 graveyards, copied inscriptions from over 3,000 stones (anything up to 1901), and recorded more than 8000 names. It is a remarkable record, well presented and easily searchable by surname, graveyard, place name, and occupation. The inscriptions cover the period of the famine and of greatest emigration. Some useful analysis has been done; e.g., males are one third more likely to be recorded, and younger women more than old women. Tables list each graveyard with the number of memorials copied and the number of names.

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