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Description
Watch as Dr Alastair Ruffell and his team from Queen’s University Belfast; archaeologist John Tierney of www.historicgraves.com; and the Friends of Shankill Graveyard and community volunteers join together to try uncover the history of Shankill Graveyard (Lurgan), including the location of 227 famine burials from 1847.
The Ground Penetrating Radar survey of Shankill Graveyard can be downloaded at: https://lurgantownscapeheritage.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Shankill_Report_March22_v.1_final.pdf
The survey of the Shankill Graveyard headstones can be viewed at: https://historicgraves.com/graveyard/shankill/am-snkl
The Ground Penetrating Radar survey and graveyard surveying workshops were made possible thanks to funding from the Department for Communities: Historic Environment Division; and through the Lurgan Townscape Heritage Scheme, which is supported by the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and the Lottery Players, through The National Lottery Heritage Scheme. Find out more at: www.lurgantownscapeheritage.com
A
A
You
set
the
group
up
a
couple
of
years
ago
to
highlight
the
vandalism
that
has
happened
in
the
graveyard
and
to
raise
public
awareness
of
how
important
this
site
was,
and
our
history
and
our
heritage,
the
the
whole
history,
social
history,
family
history
of
our
time,
is
here
all
the
the
great
the
Great
and
the
good
are
buried
here,
but
also
we
have
hundreds
of
unmarked
Graves,
which
we
want
to
identify.
We
want
to
be
able
to
name
all
all
the
people
who
are
buried
in
this
site.
A
B
Hello,
my
name
is
John
Tierney
I'm,
an
archaeologist
with
the
historic
Grace
Project
and
we're
here
in
changkil
graveyard
in
Oregon,
and
we're
working
on
a
community
survey
of
the
headstones
of
the
graveyard.
We're
doing
this
in
a
project
that's
funded
by
the
department
of
communities
and
the
the
aim
of
the
project
is
we
we
want
to
look
at
every
single
headstone.
That's
in
this
graveyard.
We
want
to
take
a
record
Shot,
a
photograph.
B
We
want
to
fill
out
the
names
and
the
dates
that
are
on
the
headstones
and
we
have
community
volunteers
who
are
doing
that
so
I'm,
a
field
archaeologist
and
as
part
of
my
day,
job
I
survey,
graveyards
all
over
the
island
of
Ireland.
We've
done,
maybe
500
graveyards
with
Community
groups
and
we've
learned
an
awful
lot.
It's
very
interesting
for
me
to
come
to
this
pocket
of
mid
Ulster
and
to
compare
the
graveyard
that
we
have
here
with
the
ones
I'm
used
to
seeing
we've
done
graveyard
service
in
cavan.
B
We've
done
them
in
Monahan,
we've
done
a
few
in
literal,
and
we've
done
a
rake
all
down
in
Leinster
and
in
in
Munster,
and
it's
very
interesting
to
compare
this
part
of
the
island
to
what
we're
finding
down
there.
What
we're
finding
is
the
dates
and
the
headstones
are
fairly
similar.
We've
just
been
working
that
out
this
morning,
the
earliest
headstones
that
we
can
find
here,
some
of
which
are
just
behind
us
17,
not
5,
17,
11,
1720s
and
then
a
lot
in
the
1740s
1760s.
B
That's
the
same
kind
of
profile,
we're
finding
in
in
graveyards
down
down
south.
The
big
differences
here
is
the
number
of
early
headstones
is
higher,
there's
a
better
preservation,
or
else
there
were
far
more
of
them
at
the
time
in
those
1720s
to
1740s.
Headstones
are
a
sign
of
status
and
they're
a
sign
of
prosperity,
so
I
think
what
we're
seeing
is
the
rise
of
Lurgan.
B
The
wealth
that
was
being
created
in
the
town
is
being
represented
by
the
wealth
that's
represented
in
the
headstones,
so
how
the
graveyard
developed,
we
think
is
that
here,
where
the
brown
low
Mausoleum
is
it's
up
on
a
rise,
and
we
believed
at
the
early
medieval
Church
in
shankill
was
here
just
to
my
left
at
the
top
of
the
rise,
and
this
rise
is
oval
shaped
and
we
think
that's
the
core
medieval
site.
The
medieval
Church
would
have
been
East-West
in
the
Christian
tradition.
B
We
bury
our
people
facing
East
and
then
because
Irish
people
reuse
their
grave
plots
and
put
up
headstones.
Then
what
we
end
up
with
is
Rose
knots
out
rows
of
headstones
and
the
graves
are
then
in
front
of
them.
We
start
by
looking
at
the
grave
the
graves
that
have
gravestones,
and
after
that,
then
we
start
to
look
for
the
missing
Graves.
Where
are
the
graves
for
the
families
who
couldn't
afford
to
put
up
a
headstone
and
to
do
that?
We
look
at
the
humps
and
the
hollows.
B
That's
why
it's
important
that
the
humps
and
the
hollows
and
these
graveyards
are
preserved,
because
that's
very
often
how
we
only
find
the
families
who
didn't
have
a
few
few
Barb
in
their
pocket
for
sticking
up
a
headstone.
Another
reason
we're
looking
for
the
the
hidden
Graves
or
the
humps
and
the
hollows
is
that
there's
bleed,
there's
a
tradition
that
there
is
a
famine
grave
somewhere
here
in
the
graveyard
and
we're
looking
at
various
humps
and
Hollows.
B
C
So
the
main
technology
we're
using
today
is
called
Ground
penetrating
radar
and
it
uses
radio
waves
which
will
bounce
off
something
of
a
different
makeup
in
the
ground
like
a
grave
but
also
metal
objects
voids
tree
roots.
That's
part
of
the
problem
generating
a
signal
which
we
see
on
the
screen
and
then
we
mark
up.
You
use
the
radar
to
survey
the
whole
ground
and
when
we
get
a
group
of
features
below
the
surface
at
about
the
right
depth,
maybe
50
centimeters
one
meter,
one
and
a
half
meters.
C
We
can
change
the
operation
of
the
machine
to
actually
make
a
map
of
the
subsurface
just
like
you
will
have
seen
on
like
time,
team
or
digging
for
Britain,
which
gives
the
actual
position
of
the
features
in
the
ground
and
their
shape.
It's
great
for
the
brain
nest,
because
it's
never
as
you
expected.
C
So
we've
picked
up
some
geology,
which
are
possibly
also
where
the
old
limits
to
the
graveyard
were
given
the
age
of
the
trees
and
Lisa
is
looking
at
the
ages
of
the
headstones
to
see.
If
that
agrees,
we've
got
an
area
with
what
looks
like
a
grave
and
a
collapse
below
it,
and
then,
at
the
moment,
we've
got
a
bit
of
a
conundrum
in
that
we've
got
two
groups
of
grave,
like
features
that
don't
really
make
a
lot
of
sense,
but
that's
what's
fun
about
this
is
working
through
it
in
your
mind,
to
go.