These are photographic catalogues of the legible headstones from almost every burial ground in north Mayo (80 cemeteries, 22,000 photos). They are freely browsable and searchable. There are three main purposes in sharing these photos:
• to help preserve the memory of ancestors, family and friends,
particularly for those who live too far away to visit.
• as a resource to other family historians. Inscriptions can provide family
relationships and information not available from other records.
• to archive the information for future generations, as headstones and
inscriptions gradually weather until they are lost forever.
Locations of the burial grounds catalogued to date:
NW Mayo (below), NE Mayo (above)Click on a number or the list to the left
Buffy the Vampire Slayer on a
'stake-out' in Doonfeeny Graveyard
Tip for reading and deciphering weathered headstones
Take a water spray bottle with you. Thoroughly soak the area of the engraving by spraying with water, then photograph it from an angle, preferably with the camera pointing up from the side or below. The light from the sky reflected off the wet surface reveals the slightest indentations in the stone (see example below). This approach does not damage the headstone, unlike scrubbing or using chalk.
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Copyright notice: You are welcome to download any information or images from this website for personal use. Private individuals and
non-profit organizations may re-publish any images and original material from this website provided the purpose is not-for-profit and
due acknowledgement is given e.g. "Reproduced courtesy of www.GoldenLangan.com". Commercial organizations may not publish
or reproduce information or images from this website without written permission. Anyone is welcome to link to pages on this website.
While every effort is made to ensure accuracy of the information presented, no liability is accepted for any errors or omissions.
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Locations of the burial grounds catalogued to date: Click on a number on the maps below, or click on a name from list to the left
Photo index
The photos are grouped by the burial ground, and indexed in alphabetical order by the family name(s) on the headstone. Where there is more than one family name on the headstone, the photo is normally indexed under the other family name(s) also. They are browsable and searchable using the Search menu page.
You can click on any name in the list to open a photo of that headstone. To close the photo and return to the list, just click on the photo (do not use the 'Back' button). To maintain fast download times, the photos are low resolution, but original high resolution copies are available on request.
No stone left unturned?
These lists of indexed headstone photos are not comprehensive burial lists, they are simply lists of all the legible headstones that were reasonably accessible at the time of photographing. Typically, they include at least 99% of all legible headstones in each cemetery.
Some potentially legible headstones may not have been photographed because they were inaccessible, for example, behind railings, obstructed by dense bushes/trees, hidden in undergrowth, or fallen face down, or possibly omitted in error. Though reasonable attempts were made to clear obscuring undergrowth, no attempts were made to move headstones or clean them. Some headstones were completely obscured by lichen growth or severely eroded. However, if a few letters were discernable then several high resolution photos were taken from different angles in the hope they might be deciphered later. This approach has proved successful in a significant number of cases. Of all the photos, only a very small number were unusable for reasons such as corrupt data file, too blurred, or the surname was not visible.
Missing or updated headstone?
If you have a photo of a headstone that appears to be missing from the lists here, or a photo of a renovated, updated, replacement, or new headstone, etc., we would be pleased to add it to the list with due acknowledgement. Please report any errors, etc. to goldenlangan2020@gmail.com.
Headstone photos
As there are no parish burial records for most Mayo cemeteries before the early-to-mid twentieth century, these indexed lists of photos may be the most complete or even the only such record available for many of these burial grounds. (Note the Civil Deaths Register commenced in 1864 and is maintained by the General Register Office)
These headstones photos were originally taken for the author's own research as the author's relatives can be found in most of the graveyards throughout north Mayo. However, they have been shared here for the benefit of all.
St Mary's Church Cemetery in Marne (Berlin) MI, USA: Burial listing
(includes immigrants from Ballycastle area)
Mayoancestors.com (pay per view): Search Graveyard Inscription Records
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