Walking the Dead – Following an old Funeral Road in the Comeragh Mountains.
- Details
- Published: Friday, 21 June 2013 20:01
Funerals are no fun, it's a serious business. A few generations ago going to a funeral in the Nire or anywhere in the
The coffin was “shouldered” carried on long poles and along the way there were places where the coffin was placed on a large boulder and everyone took a rest, one such boulder exists on the Nire side called Cloch an Choirp (The body rock). After a rest the funeral proceeded to the Gap, here some mourners would have headed back to the Nire while others from Rathgormack would have waited to join the cortege. The burial took place in Rathgormack and the poles for carrying the coffin were left in the cemetery. The last funeral went through the gap sometime around 1930, a localised outbreak of influenza in 1926 saw three members of one family die in the space of one week and all three were buried in the grounds of the
The Funeral path today makes an interesting walking route you can choose to walk from the Nire just to the Gap or continue all the way to Rathgormack. Why not head for the Nire this week end and follow the Green Arrows that will bring you along the way from the Nire Car-park to the Gap.
If you walk the route, please check the weather before you go, bring rain-gear water and a mobile phone and walking boots. Enjoy the Nire.