Dating a headstone by inscription

FURET

I found a headstone commemorating a husband and wife who died in 1792 and 1774 respectively. I suspect the headstone was erected in the 1810s or 1820s.

The engraving reads as follows:

Daniel Connell
Erect'd this Stone in
Memory of his Father
William he Deprt'd
Life May 11 1792 Aged
67 Yrs Also his Mother
Mary Lonergan
Depart'd Life April 4 1774 Aged
43 Yrs & his Brother John
Requiescant in Pace Amen

Is this phrasing typical of a particular age or era? The stone is situated close to Cashel, Tipperary in the cemetery of a long-ruined church. The local priest knows nothing of the cemetery and the church and grounds were stated in the 1830s to be already ruined and abandoned.

tabbey

It was probably erected after the last interment.

In old graveyards, there were no foundations, so headstones were liable to fall into the grave if it was opened up for another burial.
Therefore it was prudent to wait until the grave was full, before erecting a headstone

FURET

Agree with the above but I'm wondering if the phrasing of the inscription can be dated to a particular decade etc.

Hermy

Often the style of the script is as much an indicator as the wording.

pedroeibar1

To add to the above remarks –
Gravestone inscription wording is ‘formal’, so it does not evolve much and IMO it's impossible to date within a ten-year period. As Hermy says, the letter style is a better clue, but again it cannot be a basis for such a tiny timeframe. William was born in 1727 and his wife lived 1731- 1775. That hints that Daniel was born in the 1750’s earliest, making him 60-ish circa 1815. Comparatively, 1810 - 1820 was a good economic period in Ireland, good agricultural prices (result of Napoleonic Wars) so there would have been more money in circulation, and some to spare for a headstone, not a cheap item by regular income standards.

Where was Daniel buried? Had he intended to be buried there he would have left space for his own inscription – if there is no space it could be an indicator that the graveyard was not to be used again. (Unusual, unless it has no public access - there is one near me, church gone for centuries, place is so old that it is incorporated in the placename, but still in use by certain local families.) There also is a slight possibility that a small plaque recording Daniel’s interment was affixed/placed on the grave but subsequently lost in the undergrowth. (Why would he pay for everyone else and not leave room for himself? Some parish registers have burial records, have you checked this one?

Edit -
PS there is a very good Hist Soc in Tipperary, based in the library at Tipp town - I'd bet they would have some info on the graveyard.

FURET

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

To add to the above remarks –
Gravestone inscription wording is ‘formal’, so it does not evolve much and IMO it's impossible to date within a ten-year period. As Hermy says, the letter style is a better clue, but again it cannot be a basis for such a tiny timeframe.

The font is Garamond (or something very similar) and the letters are quite large. The names are ornately italicised. The stone itself is quite large and flat with a narrow border of leaves around the edge. The inscription goes all the way down to the ground with no room for anyone else's name.

William was born in 1727 and his wife lived 1731- 1775. That hints that Daniel was born in the 1750’s earliest, making him 60-ish circa 1815.

I believe Daniel is listed in Griffiths Valuation in 1851. I also believe he had a son born 1816 and 1827. My suspicion is that Daniel was born in the 1770s (maybe his mother died in childbirth or when we was a toddler) and he chose to include her name when he had a bit of money in the 1810-20 period.

Where was Daniel buried? Had he intended to be buried there he would have left space for his own inscription – if there is no space it could be an indicator that the graveyard was not to be used again. (Unusual, unless it has no public access - there is one near me, church gone for centuries, place is so old that it is incorporated in the placename, but still in use by certain local families.) There also is a slight possibility that a small plaque recording Daniel’s interment was affixed/placed on the grave but subsequently lost in the undergrowth. (Why would he pay for everyone else and not leave room for himself? Some parish registers have burial records, have you checked this one?

I have no idea where Daniel is buried unfortunately. His sons are buried in a different graveyard (reasonably nearby; it opened in 1832). I suspect Daniel died shortly after his appearance in Griffiths Valuation in the 1850s. His youngest son, born 1827, married in 1868 and died in 1902 and is buried in the newer graveyard I mentioned. I suspect that if Daniel died in the 1850s, there wasn't any money around to put up a stone for him due to the recent famine.

Edit -
PS there is a very good Hist Soc in Tipperary, based in the library at Tipp town - I'd bet they would have some info on the graveyard.

I'll check it out. The stone and its location are eerie. There are a few other stones that look to be of the same era around it and it's very close to the ruined church wall but the church was ruined before the stone went up. The graveyard is in a field down a cul de sac beside a farmhouse that is still owned by a family with the name Lonergan (ie William's wife's family home)