The cast-iron railings surrounding a tomb in Beauparc Graveyard, County Meath feature an unusual detail around the top: a skull and crossbones. There is no information on who was responsible for this work, and the tombstone is unfortunately too worn to be able to read whose resting place it marks.
Just love this series of articles, keep up the excellent work!
Not a good idea to identify the location. My recollection comes from a past experience when an interesting feature was referenced in a publication only to have it ‘disappear’ a few weeks later.
Thank you for your comment. However, one might equally argue that making a site well-known better secures its future…
The skull and bones was the traditional ancient symbol of the Freemasons since replaced by the square and compass. Indeed the legendary predecessor of the masons were the knights Templar. When they were betrayed by the Pope and king of France on Friday the 13th, their navy based in Portugal escaped just in time and disappeared. However occasionally their maritime flag of the skull and bones was seen on the high seas !
Eternal Rest at Ardcarne Cemetery
…my greatest pleasure was to stop in country cemeteries, to stretch out between two graves,
and to smoke for hours on end. I think of those days as the most active period of my life.
Emil Cioran, The Trouble With Being Born
The once surrounding wrought-
iron fence has sunk with its slab
into the earth and left two tilting
bedsteads on an acre of alluring
green quilt which has sucked up
to a summer of rain still gathering
below and across the Roscommon
plains like armies hardly distinguished
in shades of black and towering greys.
Underneath, a democracy of dead:
Tommy Maxwell, the MacDermotts,
the King-Harmons and the two
to three daily interned for the first
seven weeks of black forty seven.