The Irish countryside is replete with old graveyards, some of them better maintained than others. But oftentimes those left to fend for themselves are more appealing than well-ordered sites. That’s the case here, an old graveyard at a spot called Stone Cross in County Meath. Surrounded by fields and contained with the remains of a dry stone wall, the place holds a modest number of tombs, almost none of them upright, but instead looking as though they have been pitched about by high winds.
I think the souls are dancing.
Graveyards need sheep or goat residents to keep the vegetation in check. Haphazard strimming is not good.
Visited a graveyard in Co Wexford last weekend. St Iberius, near Our Ladys Island. Saw a magnificent memorial to a local doctor who died in 1850. Erected by his grateful friends. Its in very poor shape, sad to say. Is there any organisation that saves such memorials? Evidence of heavy herbicide use was everywhere which I wont comment on. Such places deserve much more sympathetic minding.
Graveyards in good condition tend to have committees of locals each with a defined role, one recording the interments, others cutting class, clearing away withered wreathes, some living nearby watching for vandals. The big difficulty is where there are graveyards with no recent burials or people alive with known connections to them. At least there is no vandalism indicated in the picture.