Bring up the bodies:
FORENSIC GENEALOGY ON EXCAVATION PROJECT
Probate genealogy can be a mixed bag. One day, we’re tracing heirs to unclaimed estates; the next, we’re helping shape the future of the city—literally.
In 2015, we were asked to assist with a unique challenge: tracing living descendants of individuals buried in the historic graveyard behind St. James’s Church, Dublin. The research was required to support an application for exhumation, clearing the way for redevelopment of the site.
Background Information:
The request came as part of the redevelopment of the historic St. James’s Church site in Dublin 8, now home to the Pearse Lyons Distillery, which opened in 2017. The project involved restoring the 19th century church and working sensitively within the grounds of its graveyard.
The current church building was constructed in 1859 on the footprint of earlier churches dating back to the 1180s. Behind it lies a large graveyard, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Dubliners for over 800 years. The church and graveyard are protected structures on the city’s archaeological register.
By the 1970s, the decline of the local faith community led to the deconsecration of St. James’s Church of Ireland. The building was sold and repurposed for commercial use, before eventually falling into disrepair.
In 2013, Dublin City Council granted planning permission to redevelop St. James’s Church and graveyard as the Pearse Lyons Distillery Visitor’s Centre.
Given the site’s historic significance, archaeological excavation and supervision were conditions of the approval. The site archaeologists were Aisling Collins Archaeology Service (ACAS) https://www.acas.ie/
Once work began, the church building was stripped back to its foundations. St. James’s Church traditionally served as the starting point for the pilgrimage known as the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago de Compostela). Artefacts uncovered during the excavation included gold coins from Spain.
During the excavations of the church and burial ground, archaeologists inevitably uncovered human remains. Under Irish law, burials prior to 1 January 1800 are classified as ‘ancient’ and may be exhumed and reburied without restriction. However, burials from 1 January 1800 onward are considered ‘current’ and can only be disturbed with the permission of the deceased’s family. It was only a matter of time before they found a burial that required the permission of the family.
The Project:
Gould Margaret Carlile was born in 1797 and died 17 January 1800. She was buried with her father James Carlile, in the graveyard attached to St. James’s Church. Her burial was after the cut-off date that separates ‘ancient’ from ‘current’ burials.
When archaeologists uncovered her remains, they informed the Dublin City Archaeologist, Dr. Ruth Johnson, who shut the site down. All building work stopped until living family members could be found and permission to exhume was granted. The developer faced tens of thousands of euros in daily costs. At this point, Eneclann was brought in to search for living descendants of James Carlile (d. 1799). The race was on.
July 16 1799
Beneath this stone is deposited in sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection the remains of James Carlile Esq. aged thirty years
“Oh if I forget thee in my mirth.”
Gould Margaret Carlile
born March 25 1797
Died January 17 1800
aged two years ten months
In just a few intensive days during October 2015, we navigated the complex genealogical records spanning seven generations, rapidly tracing the Carlile family forward to identify living relatives in the present day.
Please note for privacy we’ve had to redact the tree so that no living person is identified.
The archaeologists were present at every step to make a full record of the exhumation. Raising the gravestone was a delicate operation. The team wanted to get it out in one piece.
After the bodies were removed, the archaeologists undertook a finger-tip search to ensure nothing remained. The remains were then reinterred in a family plot in county Down, where the original gravestone was re-erected. Following the exhumation and reburial, construction work on the site was able to resume.
Work began again in St. James’s Church to develop the planned Visitor Centre. This is the inside of the church with the new floor laid down.
In 2017, the Pearse Lyons distillery and visitor centre opened here.
RESOURCES:
https://historicgraves.com/graveyard/st-james-s/du-sjms