Galway - Iniscaltra, alias Holy Island. St. Mary's Churchyard

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Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives
Galway Index
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File contributed by:  C.Hunt & Celia Ewald

INISCALTRA, ALIAS HOLY ISLAND. ST. MARY'S CHURCHYARD
  [From Mr. T. U. Sadleir]

'Inside the ruins of St. Mary's Church there are the remains 
of an O'Brien (or Mac I Brien-Ara) tomb, which was 
originally an altar- tomb, with a mural monument over it, 
shaped like a pediment. 'The inscription is all on the 
pediment portion, and very much mutilated; it is in two	
parts; the upper part is in five lines, on either side of an 
oval, bearing a coat-of-arms, viz: -- A hand issuing from 
the dexter side, holding a sword erect: and three lions 
passant in pale. 'The left-hand side of this part and of the 
inscription is read first,and then that on the right-hand 
side. As there are two versions of the reading -- one by Mr. 
T. U. Sadleir, and the other by Professor R. A. S. 
Macalister -- they are here shown for comparison --

  +                                   T?
 SHS*                   MA (Maria)    SR
 THIS        Coat       BRIEN          MB                    E.B.(=Elya Butler)
 MONVMENT    of         MOTHER TO      THIS            Coat  BRIEN
 WAS ERECTED Arms                      MONVMENT         of   MOTHER TO
                                      WAS ERECTED      Arms
           SR TERLAGH                                        TIRLAGH
BY THE LADY SLANEY    c               BY THE LADY SLANEY    30TH Oct 1640
                      MIRRIEN


Professor Macalister's Reading:			Mr. Thomas U. Sadleir's
Reading:
Vide "Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy,"	And compiled with a MS
transcript in the Vol. Xxxiii, C. 6, o. 166	 Office of Arms of about 1850
__________________________________________________________________________
* Supposed by Professor Macalister to be an error for an IHS

Owing to the battered condition of the slab, it is very 
difficult now to decipher the lettering, which is in Roman 
capitals, as will be seen in the accompanying illustration.

'The lower inscription runs': --

  HERE LYE THE BODIES OF THE NOBLE KNIGHT Sr TERLAGH Mc I 
BRIEN ARA BARRONETT WHO DIED THE 28 OF MARCH ANNO D. 1626 
AND HIS LADY ELYS BUTLER DAUGHTER TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
WALTER ERLE OF ORMOND WHO DIED THE X OF FEB: 1625.  PRAY FOR 
THEIR SOVLES.
  MEMENTO MORI.

'These inscriptions appeared incomplete and incorrectly at p.
325, vol. vi. of this Journal. Sir Tirlagh's father was the 
Right Rev. Murtagh O'Brien (or Mac I Brian Ara), Chief of 
his Name, and Bishop of Killaloe, from 1570 to 1612, who 
died on the 30th April, 1613, and was buried at 
Castletown-Arra, Co. Tipperary. 'His mother, Slaney O'Brien, 
according to Mr. G. D. Burtchaell, Athlone	Pursuivant of 
Arms, was a daughter of Dermot, 2nd Lord of Inchiquin. 'With 
the death of Sir Tirlagh and without issue, in 1626, the 
Baronetcy became extinct. 'It is not known why Sir Tirlagh 
and his wife chose to be buried at Iniscaltra, when the 
family burial place was at Castletown - Arra, in the County 
Tipperary. Though his father became a Protestant Bishop, Sir 
Tirlagh appears by the 	inscription to have remained a Roman 
Catholic.


Source:
Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the 
Memorials of the Dead in Ireland Vol. IX  (FHL# 1279285)