Old headstone found at Bridgetown shop

October 1994

When council workers were removing a wall alongside Doyle’s shop in Bridgetown, they uncovered a headstone over two hundred years old and thought they had come upon a long-forgotten grave.

Archaeologists and local historians were notified, but it transpired that the old flat headstone had only been used to cover a shore.

When cleaned up, the inscription was clearly legible, as follows:

‘Here lieth the body of Catherine Brown, alias Molloy, who departed this life the 12th December, 1779, aged 59 years; also the body of John Brown, who departed this life the 11th of October, 1786, aged 67 years.’

Older inhabitants were aware that Doyle’s premises were formerly owned by a branch of the prominent Browne family, who were buried in Mulrankin cemetery. The headstones are said to have been demolished when the Protestant church was being built.

Later generations of the Brownes were buried in Mayglass, where a monument was erected, commemorating all the Brownes of Mulrankin.