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Bells in cemetery trees - what do they mean?

  • 04-09-2010 3:27pm
    #1
    shell42970
    Closed Accounts Posts: 57 ✭✭


    I attended my first Irish burial this afternoon, which was held in a newer Catholic cemetery. I noticed small iron bells- about 6" in height - set into the crooks of a few of the trees at the end of the rows and was wondering why they were put there?
    The bells had been there for awhile, as they were weathered and the trees appeared to have grown around them somewhat. The headstones nearest the bells belonged to people who had died late in life, though I'm not sure if they had anything to do with the bells placed in the trees nearest them.
    None of my Irish in-laws knew why they were there, and I can't find anything online to tell me, but am curious to learn their meaning.


Comments

  • #2
    Darlughda
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,886 ✭✭✭Darlughda


    As far as I know, there were coffins founds with fingernail scratches on the inside of the coffin:eek: Which led to a spate of tying a thread to the toe of the corpse in the coffin to an outside bell in case they had been accidentally buried alive!


  • #3
    CrankyCod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 90 ✭✭CrankyCod


    In the last few years people have begun to put sets of windchimes on the trees in Kilcully (St Catherine's) cemetery, near Blackpool. Thes usually consist of little metal bells or tubes. I'm not sure who started it but it adds a nice atmosphere if you're visting a grave.

    There's no real meaning as far as I know. I think the cemetery managers do a clean up every now and then and remove the chimes, it's possible the little bells you saw were part of a set at one time.

    Sorry the answer is so boring!


  • #4
    shell42970
    Closed Accounts Posts: 57 ✭✭shell42970


    Thank you for your answers - better a "boring" answer than no answer at all, and yes - the wind chimes and bells added a pleasant ambiance to the place.


  • #5
    mik_da_man
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 9,980 ✭✭✭mik_da_man


    Darlughda wrote: »
    As far as I know, there were coffins founds with fingernail scratches on the inside of the coffin:eek: Which led to a spate of tying a thread to the toe of the corpse in the coffin to an outside bell in case they had been accidentally buried alive!

    I actually heard something similar too.
    Not too sure how true it is though.........


  • #6
    Red Hand
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,986 ✭✭✭Red Hand


    Darlughda wrote: »
    As far as I know, there were coffins founds with fingernail scratches on the inside of the coffin:eek: Which led to a spate of tying a thread to the toe of the corpse in the coffin to an outside bell in case they had been accidentally buried alive!

    There was a whole Victorian industry dedicated to this. Edgar Allen Poe had a lot to answer for as a few of his stories featured people being buried alive. Many patents were filed for devices that would alert people to a "corpse" that was not dead. Bells, chimes, etc.


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