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Not
long after the temporary encampment was established on the Curragh, it was clear to the
Camp planners that an cemetery would be needed for the deceased occupants, so a suitable
site had to be selected close to the camp. Instructions were sent from Army Headquarters
in Dublin that advice should be sought from the rector of Ballysax and the clergyman in
the camp, and from the Curragh Ranger and with help from the Royal Engineers. |
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| Capt. Rich, Royal Engineers
thought that an old foxcovert near the camp could be cleared and establish the cemetery
there, but Lord Seaton, the General Commanding in Ireland, suggested that it would be
better to select a site close to the rector's house in Ballysax where it could be
supervised and maintained. However it's present location was finally decided, the site
would be on the north-east side of the plains close to Walshestown. |
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So on the 14 October 1869 the
Archbishop of Dublin, Richard Chenevix, Primate and Metropolitan of Ireland and Bishop of
Glendalough and Kildare, issued the Act of Consecration for the burial place of the
military encampment of Her Majesty's Forces stationed on the Curragh of Kildare. |
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| For the next fifty years
Military funerals with their bands and final volleys of shots rang out over the Curragh
plains in respect for their deceased comrades. But not only Military funerals took place
here as the families of the military were also buried here and the gravestones record the
short lives of the men and their families. The early demise of so many is also indicative
of the state of medical science at the time. |
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