Photographs from the FÁS and St James's Graveyard Development Association Survey on site 1988

In 1988 the St James's Graveyard Development Association, together with FÁS, ran a community programme to clear St James's graveyard, survey the site and record the headstone transcriptions of the graves in the graveyard. Their work has been documented into two publications which can be found on our maps and resources page.

The team cleared the site of weeds and encroaching vegetation first in order to begin the grave site survey. They created an accurate map of the graveyard showing the exact location of all graves and tombstones, which can also be seen our our maps and resources page. During their research they discovered that the earliest recorded headstone was from 1627 and they also found two stones which were likely to have been part of the medieval church. In all, the survey mapped 705 tombstones and recorded around 500 headstone transcriptions.

Below are a selection of photographs that we have recently received from Thaddeus Breen from the project team of the work undertaken in 1988. We think they are a fantastic memento of the work that was undertaken and serve as great record for the graveyard. Many thanks for sharing these memories. For the full selection of photographs and titles please visit our page: https://www.stjamesgraveyard.ie/maps-resources