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St. James Catholic Church - Easky, Sligo

SligoEasky (Sligo)

I have some questions about St. James Catholic Church in Easky.

I will be looking if they can be found for the graves/tombsones of two of my Ancestors when I come to Easky next year.

St. James' is the only Catholic Church in Easky today. It also has an adjacent cemetery.

Would this be the church my Carolan Ancestors attended in Easky.

Would this be the cemetery they are buried in?

I cant find a date when St. James' was built.

There is also the Easky Town Cemetery.

I would like to find the grave/tombstone of:

*Daniel Carolan Abt.1799-1841
(oral history)

*Phelim Carolan/Carrolin 1769-1852
RootsIreland

They were living in Townland Browbane (now Bowkaun) in Easkey Parish in the 1833 Tithe Applotments.

Daniel had died by the time of the Tithe Applotments in 1842. He did not come to Canada with his family in 1842. Phelim is recorded.

Would it be possible to get in the Church by prior arrangement?

Do you know if tombstones have been photographed, and catalogued for this Cemetery?

Is there any possibility of finding church records in village of Easky and/or Easkey Parish?

I have not been able to find birth records for Daniel Carolan's children including my direct descendant. The birth dates were 1821-1839 based on oral history.

Diane Gilhula

2 replies

Diane,

According to Wikipedia, St James dates to 1833.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easky

A 1937 account here refers to an earlier church in Easky (in Castletown) in use in the 1830s and before.

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4672095/4669430

In the 1980s, the Catholic church in Ireland did a reasonably comprehensive job of gathering details of it’s surviving records, and most were microfilmed and are now on the nli website. According to the John Grenham site, Easky has no records before 1864. You ask whether the church is likely to have any earlier records. I would say the answer is no but of course you can contact them to check.

https://www.johngrenham.com/records/rc_church.php?county=Sligo&parish=Easkey&churchid=747

St James church will probably be unlocked when you visit. If for any reason it is not, contact the parochial office. They should also be able to advise on likely graveyards in the area and when they were first in use. There appears to be an old one in Killeenduff known, at one time, as Black’s graveyard. Killeenduff which translates as Black Church ,is located on the Easkey/ Dromore West road near the National School.On the 1837 map it was called "Black's Graveyard. Little remains of this church and graveyard today, but can be found on Discovery Map 24 as being in Killeenduff townland, Easkey parish coordinates 400/373.A former priest, Father Tom Sweeney placed a marker on the site. 

I don’t know if the gravestones in the area have been photographed but it’s worth bearing in mind that in the 1830s the average person couldn’t afford a gravestone and the majority of the population were buried without one.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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