Gravestone Inscriptions at the old burying ground beside Billy Parish Church in North Antrim

Previous Records of Inscriptions

There are three burying grounds associated with Billy Parish Church.

1) The Old Burying Ground which was closed in 1943 but with some limited reservation for family burial.

2) The Grave yard surrounding the present Church. The earliest noted grave is dated 1875 and the ground is still in use although new grave space is very limited. There are about 80 headstones some fifteen of these dated pre-1900.

3) The New Burying ground, consecrated sometime prior to 1943.

The Records of Inscriptions shown herein relate only to the Old Burying Ground (with a few stated exceptions) and are based on recordings made by the late Johnny Maybin, Billy, in c1973. These have been corrected and augmented by recordings made by JAI McCurdy and Shane McCurdy in 1977, 1983, 1989 and 2000, and more recently as recorded by Norman Parkes and John A I McCurdy, 2001-02.

Previous surveys of the Inscriptions have been made as follows:

Ordnance Survey of Ireland. 1830-1838

Lt Thomas Hore, RE., 1830, and Mr J Stokes and Mr Thomas Fagan, civil assistants, January to June 1838, worked on the preparation of the Ordnance Survey Memoir for the Parish of Billy. This project, because of shortage of funding, was never completed for publication as originally intended. In 1992 a team of the Institute of Irish Studies at The Queen's University of Belfast edited and published the original work records and reports held in Trinity College, Dublin. The surnames of families appearing on head and tomb stones at Billy are listed in the Memoirs as follows: Acheson, Bell, Barr, Cunningham, Davis, Grey, Hill, Lark, Porter, Patterson, Robinson, Todd, Taylor, Trail, Walker, Fullerton, Hunter, Hume, Akin, McCollum, McConaghy, McCurdy, McCaw, McElroy, McIninch, McIlinch, McKay, McKinley, McPharson, McNeil, Anderson, Bell, Boyd, Barbar, Barr, Curry, Coyle, Carnegy, Casky, Corkydall, Clark, Diamond, Douglass, Deen, Darragh, Dickey, Dinsmoor, Ferguson, Getty, Gannon, Garole, Hogart, Hatte, Huey, Forgy, Johnstone, Kerr, Kelly, Lark, Laughlin, Longmoor, Mogey, Magee, Magowan, Macowan, Moore, Stewart, Steele, Sharp, Scally and Wallace. (total 71 including 3 repeats)

A revised listing arranged in improved alphabetical order lists the following: Aken, Achison, Anderson, Bell, Boyd, Barber, Barr, McCollom, Curry, Coyl, Carnegy, McConaghey, McConaughey, McCurdy, Cunningham, Casky, Corkydall, Corkdell, McCaw, Clark, Diamond, Douglass, Davis, Deen, Darragh, Dickey, Dinsmoor, McElroy, Ferguson, Fullerton, Getty, Grey, Garmon, Gardle, Hunter, Hogart, Humes, Hatte, Huey, Forgy, McIninch, Hill, McIlinch, Johnstone, Kerr, McKay, McKinley, McKinlay, Kelly, Lark, Laughlin, Longmoor, Mogey, Magee, Magowan, Moore, Porter, Pollock, McPharson, Patterson, Robinson, Stewart, Steel, Sharp, Scally, Todd, Taylor, Trail, Wallace, Walker, Wray, McNeil, McNeal. (total 73) The OS Memoirs make reference is to the family Vault erected by George A Wray in 1837 and a second vault, then under construction, to the memory of the late Archdeacon Trail. The epitaph to Antony Kennedy, the oldest Inscription noted in the 1830s, is recorded in the documents of the OS Memoirs.

Memorials to the Dead

Memorials to the Dead, 1897, Vol IV, records the inscription on the stone marking the grave of Daniel McCurdy who died in 1721. This stone is extant but in rather poor condition. There may be other inscriptions of Billy recorded but I have not located a copy of this Volume since 1978 when I researching 'McCurdy'.

Camac

Camac, in his Parish of Derrykeighan, 1910, recorded the inscription on the tablet erected to mark the grave of Rev Jeremy O'Quinn, 1657. This is obviously not the original engraving as the Latin inscription refers also to the Rev Thomas Babington, 1823, both he and Rev O'Quinn having been Rectors of the Parish. Dr Julia Mullen on her 'History of Dunluce Presbyterian Church' states this stone was recut following the interment of the Rev Babington. This stone is extant and in good condition within a thick walled and high railing surround. See SW 37 Johnny Maybin in his recordings provided an English translation of the Latin inscription.

Map and Listing, 1942, by Ministry of Home Affairs, NI.

Shows locations of graves and named individuals who had preserved title to, but strictly limited, burial rights on the closure of the graveyard in 1943. Copies of these documents are held in Ballymoney Museum and Keith Beattie, Museum Administrator, very kindly gave me copies. The map shows many graves, with and without headstones. Two sets of reference numbers appertain to certain graves but I have been unable fully to reconcile these with the map.

Mrs E McClay, 1960.

Mrs McClay made extensive recordings of the inscriptions on gravestones at many of the burial grounds in N Antrim and East Londonderry and deposited her records in the PRONI. The records are contained in 13 loose-leaf volumes in manuscript form. The records do not include the Billy Parish Burial Grounds and have not, to my knowledge, been published.

John Maybin c1973.

Johnny Maybin was caretaker of Billy Parish Church for many years and during this time he made a list of the inscriptions on the gravestones of the three burial grounds. In 1978 he showed me a typed copy of his list which he had recorded several years previously. He allowed me to browse through the list and copy any which I wished. I found that he had recorded several McCurdy inscriptions which Shane and I had missed. There were a very few which he had not recorded. He offered to let me have the list to copy but I declined his offer advising him that he should never lend his list to anyone as it was a very useful document. When Johnny died in 1989 he was buried in the same grave as his parents about 20 yards from his home. When I contemplated this current task in 2001 I thought of Johnny's list but no one I spoke to knew anything of it. It was only by chance that that I happened to see a copy in Ballymoney Museum and again Keith Beattie kindly let me have a complete copy.

McCurdy Listings, 1977-2000, recorded by myself and my son Shane mainly in 1977 through to 2000. These cover McCurdy and associated families of my own connection in all three Billy burying grounds. Unfortunately we jotted down only the salient points - names, relationships, dates and residence locations where stated. The locations of the stones were neither recorded nor mapped.

Heritage, 1991. Dungannon.

This comprehensive work, covers separately all three burial grounds of Billy Parish. I have seen a copy for the old burying ground. The list is very similar in format to Johnny Maybin's work. It shows some inscriptions additional to those recorded by him but a few extant inscriptions do not appear. Sketch maps were produced by Heritage showing approximate locations of each of the grave sites recorded. Billy is only a small part of this vast Heritage work which is a useful reference; specific searches if requested are available through the internet and I understand the records cover most of the burial grounds throughout Northern Ireland and perhaps the Republic of Ireland.

Other recordings.

During my various visits to the site over the past 25 years I have met many people who were seeking graves of individuals or families. No doubt these have been recorded for personal archives and family histories. If anyone has a recording of an inscription not represented herein, or indeed any suggested corrections, I would be pleased to receive a copy of the records for possible inclusion in any future edition of this work.

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