‘They were citizens, just like everyone else’ – Mayo community project to honour hundreds buried in forgotten graveyard
A local heritage group has spearheaded efforts to restore dignity and bring public awareness to a long-forgotten burial ground at Aglish in Castlebar, where hundreds of former patients of the Castlebar District Lunatic Asylum are believed to be buried in unmarked graves.
The project, led by the St Mary’s Hospital Castlebar Heritage Society in collaboration with Castlebar Tidy Towns, the HSE, and Mayo County Council, has seen significant improvement works carried out at the site.
Most recently, the group has installed an information board detailing the history of the graveyard and the former asylum.
Aglish Graveyard is a mass burial site on the grounds of the Castlebar District Lunatic Asylum, which later became known as St Mary’s Hospital. It was in use until 1921 as a burial place for patients whose bodies were not taken home by their families.
While the exact number buried there is unknown, records show that 1,956 patients died in the asylum between 1866 and 1922, many from tuberculosis.
Many patients who died from the Spanish Flu between 1918 and 1919 are also buried at Aglish.
There are hundreds of people buried there; people could be passing the road there and not even know the graveyard is there
This year marks the 160th anniversary of the opening of the Castlebar District Lunatic Asylum, a development that was regarded at the time as a major improvement in healthcare provision for Mayo.
Prior to its opening, patients had to travel as far as Ballinasloe to access psychiatric care at the Connaught Lunatic Asylum, later known as St Bridgit’s Hospital.
Anthony O’Boyle, chairperson of the St Mary’s Hospital Castlebar Heritage Society, said the primary aim of the community project is to improve the site, raise awareness, and ensure those buried at Aglish are remembered with dignity.
“We wanted to remember them in a dignified way and make sure people know that it is there - to acknowledge it in the same way people would for any other graveyard,” he explained.
“To have it a part of the whole ethos and culture of the town in terms of remembrance. There are hundreds of people buried there; people could be passing the road there and not even know the graveyard is there.”
Work to improve the site began around six years ago, with volunteers clearing overgrowth, creating a new pathway, and installing a headstone to commemorate those buried there.
The most recent improvements have focused on public education through the installation of an information board outlining the social and medical history of the asylum and graveyard.
The main reason they are there is because no one took them home
“It is a phenomenon all over Europe these graveyards,” Mr O’Boyle said. “Most of the psychiatric hospitals have gone down this road in trying to give a dignified resting place - it is happening all around Ireland.”
One example is the former burial grounds of St Conal’s psychiatric hospital, formerly known as the Donegal District Lunatic Asylum, which was in use from 1868 to 1902 and where approximately 1,880 people are buried.
Mr O’Boyle said Aglish was created at a time when burial facilities in Castlebar were under pressure, and many families either could not, or did not, reclaim the remains of loved ones due to stigma, poverty, or practical constraints.
“The main reason they are there is because no one took them home. The culture and the stigma at the time that was around mental illness - all the people buried there, their relatives didn’t take them home,” Mr O’Boyle explained.
“They also mightn’t have had the capacity to take them home. You’re talking about the late 1800s and early 1900s period in history, and [the lack of] transport and resources at the time.”
Mr O’Boyle explained that the burial ground remains deeply relevant today, as descendants of those laid to rest at Aglish are still living.
“You can take it for definite that people who are buried there have relatives living, they may be very distant relatives, but they are still living. There is a connection there,” he said.
Mr O’Boyle explained that burying people in mass unmarked graves would have been common practice for these facilities at the time, and that those buried in Aglish would’ve come from all four corners of County Mayo.
“It's hard to make a judgment on what happened 160 years ago when you compare it to today’s standards,” he said, “Asylums became to be known as places of refuge, and some people would’ve been delighted to get in there after going to war. The war of Independence was on at the time; there is a whole other social side to it.”
Funding for the works carried out on site has been provided by the HSE and Mayo County Council, with Castlebar Tidy Towns also backing efforts to restore the graveyard. The council is currently exploring funding options to develop a fitting memorial for the site.
They were citizens, just like everyone else in the county
Nearly 160 years after the asylum first opened, the group hopes the work at Aglish will ensure that those buried there are no longer forgotten, and that their place in Mayo’s history is acknowledged.
“They were citizens, just like everyone else in the county,” Mr O’Boyle said, “If there is awareness raised - that in itself will be something.”
The society hopes that raising awareness will encourage public engagement with this chapter of Castlebar’s history. Members have already delivered presentations at ATU Castlebar, which borders the former hospital grounds.
Mr O’Boyle also gave his thanks to David Mellett, head of the Castlebar Municipal District, and Charlie Meehan, head of mental health services at the HSE for Mayo, Roscommon, and Galway.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.