Deplorable State of Derryloran Graveyard, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, May 1879

Extracted from the Tyrone Constitution May 16, 1879

Transcribed, Compiled and Submitted by
Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
len_swindley[at]hotmail.com

At the weekly meeting of the Cookstown Board of Guardians, the indecent condition of the graveyard was brought to the attention of the Guardians:

DERRYLORAN GRAVEYARD

The following report was read from Dr. GRAVES regarding Derryloran graveyard: -

I hereby report to you that the state of Derryloran graveyard demands your immediate attention. On carefully examining it this day I find it more overcrowded than ever – please see my reports of 11th March, 1875, and 18th March, 1877 – I am credibly informed that some of the coffins are not two feet below the surface of the ground and certainly the sad scene which occurred at the funerals last week – brought under your notice by Rev. H.B. WILSON and Mr. ADAIR – was an outrage on public decency as well as against the health of the community, and I recommend most urgently that no new ground be opened for the future under any circumstances, and that all persons interring in their private grounds be required to sink the graves to the depth of not less than six feet.

HENRY GRAVES, Sanitary officer, May 9th, 1879