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Grave Digging

  • 04-12-2018 10:34pm
    #1
    Roger Mellie Man on the Telly
    Registered Users Posts: 1,096 ✭✭✭


    Have you ever dug a grave?

    I had to bury our dog a while back and for one man and a shovel I can attest that it's hard work.

    I can see why they use mini excavators nowadays.


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Comments

  • #2
    Fordcspri23
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 60 ✭✭Fordcspri23


    Yea track machine only job, remember to put the blade behind you and track motors also while digging.


  • #3
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    I have helped dig 5 or 6 graves for family members and friends. It seems to be all done by machine nowadays but at one time the family and community came together and three or four men would dig the grave. It was exceptionally hard work in some locations. Always followed by a good few drinks in the nearest bar with reminiscing about the deceased


  • #4
    mad muffin
    Registered Users Posts: 8,034 ✭✭✭mad muffin


    Dug one for a dog. Indeed it is harder than it looks.


  • #5
    pleas advice
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,492 ✭✭✭pleas advice


    Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him,


  • #6
    MarkR
    Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators Posts: 11,044 Mod ✭✭✭✭MarkR


    Supposed to dig down four feet for animals. Sod that.


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  • #7
    JeffKenna
    Registered Users Posts: 4,506 ✭✭✭JeffKenna


    I normally find it's easier to burn the body


  • #8
    feartuath
    Registered Users Posts: 341 ✭✭feartuath


    Around here it is all done by local neighbours
    I have dug several of them, living beside a grave yard when we were kids we used to have to watch out for bits of bones, coffin handles and name plates.
    all collected and buried at the bottom of the grave.

    Two years age a grave was dug for dad, my brother and I were not allowed help as it is bad luck to dig a grave for one of your own.

    Lucozade and water have replaced the bottle of whiskey due to drink driving.


  • #9
    Archeron
    Registered Users Posts: 6,155 ✭✭✭Archeron


    Dug a grave for a dog and accidentally killed two fish while doing it. That was not a nice morning.


  • #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    Tatum Long Switch wrote: »
    I have helped dig 5 or 6 graves for family members and friends. It seems to be all done by machine nowadays but at one time the family and community came together and three or four men would dig the grave. It was exceptionally hard work in some locations. Always followed by a good few drinks in the nearest bar with reminiscing about the deceased

    Still done by hand by neighbours/friends in my area.


  • #11
    SEPT 23 1989
    Registered Users Posts: 43,024 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    In Dublin if you start digging a grave it's only going to end one way


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  • #12
    judeboy101
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,246 ✭✭✭judeboy101


    feartuath wrote: »
    Around here it is all done by local neighbours
    I have dug several of them, living beside a grave yard when we were kids we used to have to watch out for bits of bones, coffin handles and name plates.
    all collected and buried at the bottom of the grave.

    Two years age a grave was dug for dad, my brother and I were not allowed help as it is bad luck to dig a grave for one of your own.

    Lucozade and water have replaced the bottle of whiskey due to drink driving.

    Bad luck? Where'd you hear that?


  • #13
    Raheem Euro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 327 ✭✭Raheem Euro


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKnaRziQRms


  • #14
    tigerboon
    Registered Users Posts: 721 ✭✭✭tigerboon


    Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »
    Have you ever dug a grave?

    I had to bury our dog a while back and for one man and a shovel I can attest that it's hard work.

    I can see why they use mini excavators nowadays.

    You from Granard by any chance?


  • #15
    Macdarack
    Registered Users Posts: 813 ✭✭✭Macdarack


    In my area the friends and neighbours dig the grave and fill it in during a decade of the rosary at the end of the ceremony, nice touch.


  • #16
    JohnnyFlash
    Registered Users Posts: 7,055 ✭✭✭JohnnyFlash


    It’s a great honour to be asked to dig a grave. Still carried out by friends and neighbours where I’m from.


  • #17
    begbysback
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,910 ✭✭✭begbysback


    I’d be honored if ya didn’t ask me


  • #18
    pleas advice
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,492 ✭✭✭pleas advice


    MarkR wrote: »
    Supposed to dig down four feet for animals..

    and two feet for a human?


  • #19
    ahnowbrowncow
    Registered Users Posts: 2,562 ✭✭✭ahnowbrowncow


    Francis Juicy Physics wrote: »
    Still done by hand by neighbours/friends in my area.


    Would they not use a shovel?


  • #20
    obi604
    Registered Users Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭obi604


    ahnowbrowncow wrote: »
    Would they not use a shovel?

    I can’t stop laughing at this. An oldie but a goodie.


  • #21
    blinding
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 7,466 ✭✭✭blinding


    Get the guy to dig the grave before ya kill him . They are very keen to dig it very deep ! ! !


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  • #22
    Outlaw Pete
    Registered Users Posts: 10,423 ✭✭✭✭Outlaw Pete


    Yeah, a Deliveroo rider brought me cold food.


  • #23
    Doctors room ghost
    Registered Users Posts: 4,798 ✭✭✭Doctors room ghost


    Archeron wrote: »
    Dug a grave for a dog and accidentally killed two fish while doing it. That was not a nice morning.


    Must have been fierce wet ground you were digging when you struck 2 fish.😀


  • #24
    zapitastas
    Closed Accounts Posts: 498 ✭✭zapitastas


    Tatum Long Switch wrote: »
    I have helped dig 5 or 6 graves for family members and friends. It seems to be all done by machine nowadays but at one time the family and community came together and three or four men would dig the grave. It was exceptionally hard work in some locations. Always followed by a good few drinks in the nearest bar with reminiscing about the deceased

    We used to drink a bottle of whiskey while digging the grave. Would be in terrible shape by the end of it, especially trying to get out of the grave and the trauma of finding assorted bones


  • #25
    johnayo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,718 ✭✭✭johnayo


    I had to dig a grave for my poor old auntie who was dying at a fierce rate. But when she didn't die, I had to fill the bloody thing in again.


  • #26
    TCM
    Registered Users Posts: 736 ✭✭✭TCM


    Recently I have attended two funerals of elderly country relatives. I think it's a lovely tradition of neighbours digging the grave. In the Ist instance a small digger was used. In the second a digger could not access the site (old grave yard) so it was dug manually by about 10 people. The only reimbursement was a cup of tea. It's extraordinary to see how country neighbours rally round to support & comfort the bereaved family.
    Here in Dublin a person a few doors down could be dead and buried before one would know about it.


  • #27
    byronbay2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,772 ✭✭✭byronbay2


    I was the official grave-digger for Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, USA for about 2 months in the summer of 1989. There was absolutely no mechanical equipment allowed in the cemetery so the graves had to be dug by shovel. Luckily, MV is a small island so everywhere was mostly sand and it was an easy 2-hour dig for a six-foot deep grave. Got $50 cash for each hole plus (usually) a decent tip from the bereaved family.

    Best job I ever had; only problem was people were not dying regularly enough on the island (only dug 6 graves in 2 months!) and I had to do less appealing jobs (painting, carpentry etc.) to make a living. Never had to do it in the winter, mind, which may have been a tougher proposition.

    I was also the official vermin controller of the area, which mainly consisted of trapping and drowning raccoons and skunks. Another wonderful job which paid well but not regularly enough. Happy times!


  • #28
    decky1
    Registered Users Posts: 975 ✭✭✭decky1


    Doctors room ghost wrote: »
    Must have been fierce wet ground you were digging when you struck 2 fish.��

    tales from the riverbank,:eek:


  • #29
    JustJoe7240
    Registered Users Posts: 1,435 ✭✭✭JustJoe7240


    Fordcspri23 wrote: »
    Yea track machine only job, remember to put the blade behind you and track motors also while digging.

    You can't put both the blade and the track motors behind you ;)


  • #30
    Folkstonian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 421 ✭✭Folkstonian


    byronbay2 wrote: »
    I was also the official vermin controller of the area, which mainly consisted of trapping and drowning raccoons and skunks. Another wonderful job which paid well but not regularly enough. Happy times!

    You must have had some seriously cruddy roles in your time if you class ‘drowning raccoons’ as a wonderful job. Sounds horrible!


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  • #31
    Bob Harris
    Registered Users Posts: 3,462 ✭✭✭Bob Harris


    Archeron wrote: »
    Dug a grave for a dog and accidentally killed two fish while doing it. That was not a nice morning.

    Is that you spongebob?


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