My friend and fellow Youtuber, Mark Porter of the Church History Trail Channel, drew my attention to these two graves and headstones, remembering a lady called Ann Graham. Ann Graham died in 1774. The graves are sitting close together in the graveyard behind the church.
On the first headstone, the deceased, Ann Graham, is said to be of 60 years and on the second, Ann Graham is said to be aged 59. On this second headstone, husband Francis Graham, who was a Belfast merchant, is also remembered. He died in 1795 aged 80.
Grave headstones were expensive back then. Normally only one family headstone would be erected. That headstone would be made big enough for the names of any other relatives to be added at some future date.
Presumably this was not the case for husband, Francis Graham. When he died in 1795 there was obviously no room, on his wife Ann’s headstone, for his name! So another headstone was made and erected. It remembered both Francis and Ann, -husband and wife together.
And this, I believe, is why Ann Graham ended up having two headstones marking her grave.
the morning to Saturday the 15th of June and it’s just coming up to 12:00 and I’m trying to dodge the shows here you can see a a big uh blob of wetness coming in down here I’m at the top of pry lay um outside uh beer the entrance to Beaver Golf Club on one side there’s Harland with Koreans nice we shot off them there yeah I’m outside uh Beaver Golf Club entrance and I’m outside no breeda Parish Church Church of Ireland and this is a particularly old church and uh it was a well sought after place of rest for many of the leading citizens of Belfast who didn’t even live in this area they wanted to be buried in uh NOC Brea Parish old Cemetery uh so that they could Overlook so they could Overlook uh the city of Belfast and Charles lanon was one of them and he’s in there in here and uh there there’s uh quite a few other leading citizens of Belfast in here too um so some of the uh graves are are extremely old and this I believe uh this graveyard has got uh a massive number a large number of mums and there you can see them in the background here and you’ll see them in the background of my video so some of the graves are particularly old in this section of the graveyard through those through that passageway much uh much newer Graves but my good friend Mark Porter from uh the church history Trail he’s a YouTuber and Mark and I have got together on several occasions and it’s always worthwhile keeping in with fellow YouTubers because you never know uh what Gams they’re going to lay at your feet and uh there’s something up here that is just amazing and Mark told me all about it Mark’s channel is is fascinating he’s he’s like a a we Terrier a we terrier dog and and he he he hunts out uh all sorts of interesting Graves and uh he has certainly told me about a couple of graves in here I’m just letting you see the uh the mums cuz they’re very very uh I mean they’re they’re big they’re massive uh compared to lot of other mole lims about the place and and they’re all over the place here uh lot of rich welltoo people and families uh bu their their dos and these mums so where’s the grave the grave headstones I’m looking for they’re not far away and I’ve been in this graveyard I’ve been in this graveyard dozens of times and I never spotted this I’ve never spotted this that uh Mark told me about let’s see if I can find these grips graveyards are full of mysteries and stories and on all sorts here’s one of the headstones uh I’m looking for and this dates from 1774 and you know it’s not that old uh what does it say here left the body of uh an Grim wife of Francis griam of Belfast uh is that Merchant who departed this life 23rd of September 17748 6 um that’s well good and I went down to luran uh shangle graveyard some time ago and very old the grave uh of a lady who was buried twice but died once and um I made a video about that but this is this is this is very strange this is very strange here because we’ve got a headstone here belonging to Francis scam died 1774 and then got another [Music] headstone here left the remains of an Grim wife of Francis Grim of Belfast Merchant who died departed this life October 74 age 59 so there’s a difference oh also the remains of said Francis Grim who died at lesbourne 1795 aged 80 so we’ve got this lady uh Francis Graham and she’s got she’s got two headstones remembering her and you know that’s very very unusual you know the head Stones back in the day you know many people didn’t even have headstones because they were so expensive and these headstones here would have been very very expensive so what is this really doing having two headstones I have never come across this before two headstone side by side I’ve never come across this before and I’ve been in multiple graveyards and and cemeteries up and down the the the country and this is this is this is extraordinary and it was Mark as I say put me on to this so thank you Mark exelento and I’m looking at this grave headstone um of a of a man called Ronald Gavin crack and it Norland we have a a we phrase a a we expression you know you meet up with somebody and you say what’s the crack and it it’s nothing to do with crack cocaine or drugs or anything like that it just means what’s happening how you doing you know and and I’m just asking the question about this mystery what is going on what is the crack if anybody can uh can fill us in about this any uh KN Breer Parish churchard historian please get in touch and uh let us know what the crack is some of these headstones and not are are uh you know they’re they’re very they’re aged and uh there’s a a cordon around these ones here because they’re afraid that they might blow over and topple down on somebody so that’s always a worry and concern in in any old graveyard but uh come and check out KN Breer Parish old graveyard it’s it’s it’s full of interesting people and stories and and uh all the rest of it but there’s there’s another one and thank you again Mark for letting me know about this and Mark has this uh has a we uh video about this uh the this double headstone for this lady on on his channel and he he he’s got he probably has the most videos about United Irish man and United Irish men Graves uh that I’ve ever come across I thought I had a brave number of those kind of videos but uh I think Mark Mark has Sur P pass me so check out Mark’s uh video channel it’s called Uh Mark Porter uh the church history Trail I just add this in here this is uh a new just boarded outside the church uh telling you about it and I have done frequent videos on no Brea Parish consecrated in 1737 built by Lady mid Middleton on land donated by our son Arthur Hill Trevor the first v c d Gall designed by Richard castles leading pan architect of his day churches had existed in the parishes of breida and no since Medieval Times however the church at breida was in Ruins and L of knock was barely suitable for worship there a lot of details here this is a a very very interesting church I’ll run the video camera down here Richard Castle’s uh was responsible for some of the big houses in of Ireland pars Court Beaver house um do to say earlier in the video it was a fashionable place to spend eternity in this graveyard ah Wale Cunningham is in here I earned an awful lot of us well through uh the sleeve trade according to local folklore two wild lands preceded his funeral procession and remained in his tomb for a week to deter Body Snatchers Robert ship boy mcallum passionate about the Irish language Sir Charles Lan he even designed his own Gothic tomb imagine imagine the idea of designing your own Gothic tomb an INF and Samuel nson an influential member of the Revolutionary Society of United Irish arrested 1798 imprisoned in Scotland so there you go lots of History here at uh not breeda Parish Church come along and check it out for yourselves that’s interested to find out about these two headstones learn something new every day Okie doie
6 Comments
Interesting video Tom, thanks
Good man Tom,thanks for the shout out😃👍👍
Hi Tom, I remember going through there when I was a schoolboy, used to go for long walks then. The tombs and old graves fascinated me. Thanks for this.
Ah its great to see another graveyard video Tom, its a while since we saw one and thanks to Mark,what an extraordinary story i suppose the first line of enquiry would be through the church records and history but its a safe bet that Mark has already gone down this road,and possibly yourself Tom, maybe one day all will be revealed.
Hello Tom , that was a first for me to see 2 head stones , i would also be very curious myself to know . Thanks Tom.
That’s a very well kept cemetery. In 82 I lived a few months in Glengormley . We walked through a cemetery nearby there and it seemed like the area with headstones from the 1700’s were severely overgrown with briars and gorse. We owe much to those who’ve gone on before us. Thanks for sharing another interesting video Tom.