Grave love affair sees Tony care for Forthill

City Lives –  Bernie Ní Fhlatharta hears how Tony McDonagh cares for an historic city cemetery

Most of us never stop to think who takes care of our cemeteries and until a loved one dies and is buried in one, why would we ut the McDonagh family have had a long association with the oldest cemetery in Galway City, Forthill, and they love it in a way that unimaginable to anyone who would prefer if they never had to step foot into one.

Tony McDonagh is the second generation of his family voluntarily caretaking at Forthill and now his grandchildren have joined the team, making it a four-generation operation!

Tony, who is originally from MacDara Road in Shantalla and now lives in Ballinfoile, can’t remember a time when he wasn’t associated with Forthill.

His father, John, was the caretaker and Tony and his siblings helped in the weekly clean-up and burials over the years. And when his father died, a plaque was erected on the boundary wall in his memory, right beside another plaque remembering the sailors of the Spanish Armada who were executed and buried there. That plaque was erected in 1988 by the Spanish Government to mark the 300th anniversary of the Spanish Armada being shipwrecked off Ireland’s west coast.

This private cemetery of Forthill dates back to the 1500s but the official burial records of this Augustinian cemetery only go back the early 1900s. However, old slabs that have been exposed show burial details dating back to the late 1800s.

Tony, a retired army man, now spends a few hours most days weeding, cleaning up or even talking to tourists who visit this heritage site.

Forthill is still a working cemetery, but it doesn’t have many new burials compared to the other two graveyards in the city, Rahoon, and the New Cemetery in Bohermore.

However, thousands are already buried in that two-acre plot at Lough Atalia, because it was traditionally the custom to put seven or eight bodies in the one plot.

A corner of Forthill is used by the Augustinian order and it is where priests and nuns are buried.

The little chapel at the entrance has been re-roofed thanks to the donation of materials and the labour of the McDonagh family and is used at least once a year for Cemetery Sunday, which takes place in November, as it did traditionally.

Tony and his son Mark, who is now in Australia where he has married and settled down, did a lot of work on raising ancient slabs to ground level. These gravestones have eroded by centuries of Irish weather but some names can still be deciphered on them.

The raised vaults, some surrounded by railings painted in black, look very gothic but despite this there is a peaceful air, a serenity about the place.

“I love it here,” says Tony. “Sure it gives me something to do and I have a special feel for it because my father loved it so much. He used to tell us many stories about the place, about hearing voices and sounds near the back wall . . . but I never heard or saw anything. I feel very comfortable here. We have a laugh but we are never disrespectful. I was brought up to respect the dead.”

Local businesses have been very good over the years, according to Tony. He gives particular mention to the late Dr Joe Costello and his family, who took a special interest in Forthill.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.