Carmavy graveyard would appear to be very ancient indeed. It is situated in the townland of Grange of Carmavy (whose accepted, modern spelling is actually Carmavey). The Ordnance Survey memoir for the parish of Killead (compiled in 1838) described the graveyard in less than flattering terms, though its antiquity seemed in no doubt. According to these Memoirs, “within memory the foundations of a church stood near the centre of the burial-ground although all trace of them had for many years been obliterated”. There was a tradition in some of the neighbouring districts that this church (along with those in Dundesert and Ballykennedy, also in the parish of Killead) was burned and battered down by the rebels who took refuge or made a stand there in 1641.

In 1838, the graveyard was said to be the favourite place of interment for the people of the neighbourhood but it was added somewhat dismissively that no family of note was buried there. The names were mostly those of the descendants of Scottish settlers, the only two apparently worthy of mention being the Shaws of Ballytweedy House and the family of Thomas Ludford Stewart of Belfast.

The graveyard, measuring some 57 x 54 yards (52 x 49 metres), was enclosed by a “good” stone wall with an iron gate, just as it is today. Some 160 years ago, the oldest headstone bore the date 1698, another 1717. Today, a number of eighteenth century stones still survive, the oldest being the one dated 1717. In 1921 Mr. W. F. Reynolds surveyed part of Carmavy graveyard. His transcriptions of the wording on headstones were printed in the Memorials of the Dead, Vol. XI. In the 80-odd years which have elapsed since, a number of headstones seem to have disappeared entirely, there being no trace of eight of the forty he listed. This suggests that many more headstones have fallen into disrepair over the centuries. A few have toppled sideways, their lower halves long since buried deep in the earth. In one or two instances, stones have fallen flat, face downwards and resisted all attempts to raise them. Erosion of sandstone headstones in particular has been considerable.

In 1993, there were over 300 identifiable burial plots in the graveyard. A minority of these have no grave marker of any kind. The graveyard committee possesses three registers relating to the burial-ground – an alphabetical index to surnames, a list of plots and a burial book. These date, however, only from 1937 and are known to have omissions. Indeed, the headstones themselves may tell us far more that the records.

On the whole, the monuments are plain and workmanlike, not a flying angel or chubby cherub in sight. There are a number of obelisks (Harper, Molyneux, Suffern, Barron, Thompson, Robb families) and two pillars each topped by an urn (Gilmore of Ballyhenry, White of Ballykennedy). Crests are in short supply. One with a motto commemorates John Boyd Moore, F.R.C.V.S., originally from Clady who died in 1927. The other is a Royal Irish Rifles crest on the headstone of J. Kirkpatrick who died in 1915 in the First World War.

Poetry (or poetic words at least) features on some headstones. Composed perhaps by the families themselves, the words are by turns not only charming but thought- provoking or touching. Biblical texts are noticeably absent. This does not necessarily imply that Carmavy people were any less religious than their contemporaries! It would be interesting to compare this non-trend with inscriptions from other graveyards. For those of a classical turn of mind there are several lines of Latin on the Samuel Ferguson mausoleum.

“Death the leveller”, a phrase coined by the writer Shirley has decreed that in Carmavy farmers and labourers, doctors and nurses, lie alongside a Sovereign of Belfast and unidentified paupers. The stones and memorials themselves range from the mausoleums of the Stewart and Shaw families through obelisks and standard headstones of marble, granite or sandstone to simple iron markers or glass (now plastic)- domed immortelles. The paupers’ plot actually occupies a small area built out like an alcove in the main eastern wall, but little is known about it, when it first appeared or how many un-named individuals are buried there.

Carmavy graveyard is not attached to any church and consequently, all denominations have been buried there. Whilst it is true that burials in the graveyard are mostly of local folk, a surprising number had obviously moved away to conduct their lives elsewhere. Either by their own request or the wishes of their families at death, they were laid to rest back in Carmavy. Some had taken the comparatively short journey to Belfast, others travelled further afield. Descendants of a number of individuals (to judge for example by the addresses on cards inside immortelles) also found their way not only to England, but to Canada, America and Australia. One mid-nineteenth century family, somewhat exotically, lived in Peru.

In general terms, the most common names found on Carmavy headstones could well be the same as those found all over Ulster. Stewart tops the list followed closely by Bell and Brown. Then come more unusually (and more locally) Barron and Harper. Amongst slightly lesser numbers of Crawford and Scotts are the more locally prevalent McComb(e), Robb, Kirker and Patrick. Conspicuous because they are unusual are the surnames Officer, Winder, Marwick, Herdman and Louden, for example, which have only one instance each.

About fifteen different stonemasons have added their names to the various memorials they have worked on. The only pre-1900 dates on these particular memorials are 1836 and 1886. The majority date from the 1930s to more recent years. What is perhaps surprising is that not only Belfast and Antrim monumental sculptors were employed (such as Kirkwoods) but also some from Broughshane and Castledawson.

Carmavy is mostly of interest to the family historian. Apart from the families already mentioned, others whilst not universally known were nonetheless distinguished in their own field. One could pick out the Robb Family in this category. Three faces of a large obelisk refer to no less than 19 individual members of the Robbs and the McHarrys who married into the family. The information is detailed, giving dates of death, ages, and relationships and providing a wonderful platform from which one could carry out further research using other sources such as civil records and obituaries.

One of the Robb family was a J.P., whilst a McHarry son-in-law and grandson were respectively distinguished physician and surgeon. They were the McHarry’s. When Hugh McHarry died in Belfast in 1897, the intimation in the Belfast Newsletter indicated the funeral was strictly private. Few, therefore, would have known that he was buried in Carmavy. One inscription is to the memory of Mary, wife of William Robb but says she was buried in Drumbeg churchyard. This could be a useful pointer perhaps to Mary’s own origins.

Distinguished too, but sadly in a different way, is David James (Jimmy) Millar, who died as the result of an accident in the Manx Grand Prix, Isle of Man on 30 August 1984. The exact date of death is the key to finding out more from a newspaper obituary and report of the accident. Jimmy Millar was a Templepatrick garage owner, known locally as a club racer, President of the Ulster 80cc Road Racing Association and survived by his wife and two daughters.

James Suffern (1770-1854) is noted as an elder in Killead and Dundrod Presbyterian Church and as the first man to call a meeting to take into consideration the erection of Dundrod Presbyterian Church.

Infant mortality is obvious in many of the inscriptions. Many of the children who died in the nineteenth century were not named individually, noted only as children who died in infancy. This, of course, is a phenomenon found not only in Carmavy, but in every graveyard in the country.

There are three mausoleums in Carmavy, two rectangular, one circular. The largest of those gives details of the Stewart family, the next the Shaws of Ballytweedy and the third (a smaller circular edifice) was erected by Samuel Ferguson of “Bellyhill”.

The Stewart family mausoleum is indeed the most prestigious monument in Carmavy graveyard. The large rectangular structure has a tablet set into the outside wall above the door, with four stone tablets on the interior wall, facing the door. A whole dynasty is commemorated here, but no less than three individuals bear the name “Thomas Ludford Stewart”, two of these designated “junior”. The names and dates constitute a genealogist’s nightmare, since at least one “junior” died before his senior. Newspaper intimations do nothing to solve the problem of who was related to whom and how. The only one mentioned in this source is, however, definitely the Thomas Ludford Stewart, Esq. who was Sovereign of Belfast for a brief spell. He died on eighteenth May 1845. The memorial tablet gives his age as 86, the newspaper as 84. This highlights another problem faced by those researching family history – can we believe everything we read on a headstone? Or, indeed, in a newspaper.

Thomas Ludford Stewart, who died in 1845, did so at the Castle, Belfast. Benn, in his History of Belfast indicates that the office of Sovereign was not much prized. It seems to have been that of a bailiff or sheriff or a person who exercised powers now belonging to these officers. The “Lord of the Castle” was chosen in June and took up office in September. Some incumbents resigned during their term of office. Nothing seems to have been written about Thomas Stewart’s time as Sovereign. In 1817, however, Thomas Ludford Stewart lived in Seapark House, Carrickfergus. A description of the house appears in C.E.B. Brett’s Buildings of County Antrim where it is noted that Thomas Stewart “had become rich as Lord Donegall’s agent”. It would be interesting to look even further into the lives of the Stewart family.

The mausoleum belonging to the Shaws of Ballytweedy House is “a little pledge of affection” from William Shaw’s mourning widow, grateful son and daughter. Sadly none of this loving trio is named. Buried in the mausoleum also is James Potter of Mount Potter, Esq. Co. Down. He died in 1779, four years after William Shaw. (Mrs. Shaw may have been a Potter). Neither gentleman reached a ripe old age, William Shaw being 52, James Potter only 36 – a salutary reminder of the somewhat shorter life-span our eighteenth century forefathers enjoyed.

The circular mausoleum was erected by Samuel Ferguson in memory of several generations of his family, from his grandfather (who died in 1775) to his mother, wife and daughter (died 1814, 1817, and 1815 respectively). The Fergusons are listed on one tablet on the mausoleum with several lines of Latin at the top and bottom. The inscription on the second tablet is most interesting. It refers to the naturalist Grace Elizabeth Drennan who died more than 150 years after the Fergusons, in 1974. The wording includes the phrase “her ashes are returned to the land she loved”. Grace Drennan was born in Belfast, however, and died in Killarney, so the appearance of her name on a tablet in Carmavy graveyard is intriguing. Her parents lived in Jordanstown, and her mother’s maiden name was Downey. If there is a Ferguson connection at all, it must be further back.

Grace Drennan’s passing was mourned by, amongst others, members of the Ulster Branch of the Irish Deer Society. In Pomeroy forest, Co. Tyrone, there is a Grace Drennan Memorial nature trail, so she has certainly not been forgotten.

One unusual stone belongs to the Garlands –unusual on two counts. Firstly, it would be rare to find a headstone erected by a daughter - in - law to the memory of her mother-in-law. This is what Elizabeth Garland did, however. Secondly, Elizabeth describes herself as “wife of Alexander Garland of Calleo, Peru”. This is interesting, indeed. What were Alexander and Elizabeth doing in Peru, or was it only Alexander who had business there, with Elizabeth left at home, dealing with domestic matters such as the erection of family headstones? The current telephone directory for Peru disappointingly has no listed Garland. It would have been nice to think a little bit of Carmavy was still flourishing in South America.

Members of other families too, as mentioned, obviously made their way abroad. Headstones provided useful pointers as to where to look for these individuals. For example, Nurse Jane Bell who died in 1960 and her sister Margaret (died 1954) are buried in Carmavy. Their memorial stone notes, however, that their brother, James was interred in Sunset Memorial Park, California, USA in 1968.

It could be deduced that Mathew Moody Molloy and his two children emigrated after the death of his wife Ethel in 1960. The latter’s headstone indicates that Matthew was in New Zealand by the time the stone was worded. Information on the remainder of Matthew Molloy’s life and those of his two children, Arnold and Lester, could therefore be found in New Zealand.

John, son of Clements and Harriett Bell was interred in Canada in 1953, Samuel Harper died at Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA in 1891. Mary Elizabeth Barron (née Brown) died in New Zealand in 1926. Mrs. Eliza Kimball was already in New York when she erected a stone in memory of her mother Isabella Barber who died in 1857.

Those who travelled less farther afield but were buried in Carmavy include a good many “of Belfast”, others of Bidore, Londonderry, Ligoniel.