Friar's Bush Graveyard:
A Mass Burial Ground in Belfast With Over 5,000 Victims of the Famine

By SHARON GREER

Early one Sunday morning this past August, as I was walking down the road from my aunt's home on Ulsterville Avenue in South Belfast headed towards Stranmillis Road, I noticed an unusual cemetery close to the Ulster Museum in Botanic Gardens. It was the second day of my arrival in Belfast and it seemed strange to me now that I had not noticed this particular site on my many previous visits.

FRIAR'S BUSH cemetery is the oldest Christian burial site in Belfast and it has long fascinated historians. Our writer discovered it by chance and learned some astonishing facts upon investigation.

Friar's Bush is tucked away and seemingly almost invisible from the street, but I must have sensed something substantial and intriguing. The white walls that face the street seem to render it almost imperceptible, but you can actually look down upon the near gloomy atmosphere from one side of the museum

Tours are only offered at Friar’s Bush every Sunday at 3 PM, however I knew I wouldn’t be able to make that afternoon visit, but quite by marvellous accident I discovered through the Ulster Historical Foundation that a special tour was being given at 11 AM on August 8 – I was absolutely thrilled.

As I scurried down the street that day, leaves swirled wildly around the curbs and danced about on the road. It was the perfect morning for a graveyard tour – windy, overcast, with dramatic effects courtesy of the early fallen leaves, casting a rather eerie quality on the morning light. Later that afternoon, around 3 PM, the skies opened to a torrential downpour and I felt quite fortunate that particular day.

When I arrived at the front gate of the cemetery, about 15 or 20 minutes early, a large crowd had already gathered in eager anticipation. There were probably about 30 people by that time, and by the start of the tour our group had already swollen to approximately 50.

THE "PLAGUEY HILL" Famine site at Friar's Bush Cemetery on Stanmillis Road in South Belfast.

As the door opened, we all tramped in and were greeted by our delightful and fabulous guide, Dr. Eamon Phoenix, a senior lecturer in history at Stranmillis University College, Belfast.

Eamon has written a wonderful booklet and teachers guide on the cemetery entitled, Two Acres of Irish History, A Study Through Time of Friar’s Bush and Belfast, 1570-1918. He has also written several books on modern Irish history and is a well-known broadcaster.

Friar’s Bush is Belfast’s oldest Christian burial site. There is a feeling of “ancient mystery” surrounding this old walled graveyard, which has long fascinated historians. There is the tradition of a link with St. Patrick and very strong evidence of a medieval friary on the site, which also served as a “penal refuge” for the local Catholic community up to 1769.

Dr. Phoenix’s booklet, through its historical associations and monuments, reflects the landmarks in local, Ulster and Irish history throughout the ages – from the Penal Era to the Irish Volunteers, from the Catholic Emancipation to the Great Famine and from the growth of Belfast to the First World War.

In fact, the cover design of the booklet is a reproduction of a painting by Belfast artist, John Nixon, from Friar’s Bush Graveyard circa 1782, showing a review of the Irish Volunteers.

But what touched me most deeply was the discovery that this cemetery held a mass grave of over 5,000 victims of the 1845-49 Famine. A mass grave that only in 1996 received recognition of its existence by the city when a plaque was presented by the Irish Government commemorating those buried during the Famine.

After almost 150 years, a plaque finally acknowledged the tragedy of the Great Hunger in Belfast when thousands of people in the North of Ireland died of starvation as a result of the blight of the potato while there was still sufficient food to feed them.

There was a massive influx of beggars into Belfast – the destitute and impoverished – accompanied by an outbreak of typhus and cholera. There is a section in the graveyard called Cholera Mound or “Plaguey Hill” where these victims are buried.

In 1832 over 400 people died in Belfast from a cholera outbreak when Asiatic Cholera spread across Europe and they were buried at Friar’s Bush. This “cholera pit,” as it was known at that time, was reopened during the Famine years and over 5,000 corpses were buried there from 1845-49. In 1996, after so many long years, Friar’s Bush was finally designated Belfast’s official famine site.

For anyone planning a trip to Belfast, I would highly recommend visiting this fascinating piece of history in a South Belfast cemetery.

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