Esker Cemetery lookup - Hickey

[If Only]

Hi all,

would appreciate very much a lookup for the grave/details of my Grandmother Mary Hickey (nee Graham) in Esker Cemetery.......Mary died circa 1954 (aged about 82).

Regards

Joe

[Frazer]

I know Esker Cemetery and will have a look for you.  Where did your relative live?

[If Only]

Hi Frazer,

Thanks for your help....Granny Hickey lived at 8 Woodfarm(or Red Cow..I am told that the name changed) Terrace, Palmerstown.

My other problem is finding her husband Patrick who I'm told is in an old cemetery in Mill lane, Palmerstown.....he died in the thirties I think.

Regards

Joe

[Frazer]

I'll have a look for your gran's grave.  A 1950s headstone should still be legible - provided there is a headstone.   Didn't know there was an old cemetery in Palmerstown.

[Frazer]

Had a look in the old part of Esker cemetery today.  Did most of the Catholic side and some of the Protestant side.  No Hickeys from Palmerstown and nothing matching your criteria.  A couple of Graham graves but no Mary Hickey on the headstones.

Will look through the rest of the old part and start on the new part (opened in 1939) next weekend.

Strange she wasn't buried with her husband.  Did she remarry?  Are you sure she was buried in Esker?

[If Only]

Hi Frazer,

Thanks a lot for your help.

My late sister and my cousin(now living in Birmingham) both said that she was buried in Esker.......she did not re-marry and spent her last years in St. Kevin's hospital, or as we called it "The Union"

We have never figured out why she was not buried with her husband......in fact we have never traced the marriage....only the children's births in Chapelizod where the family lived before moving to Palmerstown....Grandfather Patrick was a gardener on the Guinness estate at Farmleigh.

Regards

Joe

[Frazer]

Ok.  Will look again next weekend.  She could be buried in the new part.

I should have explained about Esker.  There are actually 3 cemeteries there. 

The oldest one is derelict beside a ruined mediaeval church.  I know (because I have relatives buried there) that there were burials there until the 1920s or 1930s. 

The other two cemeteries are about quarter of a mile away and situated either side of the road.  The older of these two cemeteries dates from the late 19th century and had two sections, one for protestants and one for catholics.  The newest cemetery in Esker was opened in 1939.

I spoke today to a member of the family who were caretakers of the latter two cemeteries and he told me that it is unlikely your grandmother would have been buried in the oldest cemetery because by the 1950s burials there were prohibited even for people whose spouses were already buried there.  If the Local Council had made the same rule for the old cemetery in Palmerstown that could account for the reason your grandparents were not buried in the same grave.  There are quite a few people from Chapelizod and Palmerstown buried in Esker.

It might narrow down my search if you could ask your cousins whether there was a headstone on the grave?  Do they know whether she was buried in, possibly, a Graham family grave?  What is the likelihood that some of her surviving relatives would have had her name engraved on the tombstone?  It is quite a distance from St. Kevin's Hosp. to Esker Cemetery.  Could some of those relatives have lived in the surrounding area or, perhaps, was your grandmother originally from the area?

[If Only]

Hi Frazer,

During the years that Granny Hickey spent in the Union my dad's sister Brigid Kane (nee Hickey) and her family were living in the house at Woodfarm....they later moved to Birmingham.

I don't think that she would be in a Graham grave as I have not yet traced any of the Grahams.....but there may be some Kanes there.

I am sorry to be so vague but when I was growing up in Drimnagh, like most children/teenagers my mind was on the important things like boxing orchards (that expression will puzzle some of our non-Irish rootschatters....substitute scrumping) and girls.

I will try to re-make contact with my cousin and ask about the headstone.

Dad was in the Palmerstown pipe band.

Regards

Joe

[Frazer]

Hi Joe,

No luck finding your Gran's grave.  Went back to Esker today. Found a Hickey grave (from Bluebell) but the first burial was a few years after your Gran died and there was no Mary listed on the headstone.  There was a Kane and a Graham grave too but your gran wasn't named on them either.

I tried, unsuccessfully, a few years ago to get access to the records for Esker cemetery.  Things might have improved lately and you might have more success if you contact South Dublin Council from abroad.  SDCC are responsible for Palmerstown village cemetery too.  Please let me know how you fare out because I could do with seeing the records.

Here are their contact details, which I have copied from the SDCC website:


Opening Hours and Contacts Maintenance and Records of Burial Grounds:

Maintenance is carried out from Ballymount Depot. Burial Records are also kept at Ballymount. E-mail jbutler[a.t.]sdublincoco.ie or gburrows[a-t]sdublincoco.ie , or call (01) 4596354.

Opening Hours & Contacts:

All burial grounds are accessible on foot 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Opening hours for burial grounds with main gates for car access are from 8.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m. Monday – Saturday and Sunday from 10am - 4.30 pm.
These burial grounds are: Bohernabreena, Esker
The email address for burial grounds enquiries is chenry[a.t.]sdublincoco.ie

Telephone number (01) 4149286

Postal address:

Burial Grounds Section
Environmental Services Department
South Dublin County Council
Town Centre
Tallaght
Dublin 24

Moderator Comment: e-mail addresses edited, to avoid spamming and other abuses.