A to Z April Challenge: X marks the spot - Peter Radcliffe

Genealogists always want to know where their ancestors are buried. It’s not just to see what else they might learn from their gravesites. It’s more than that. It’s a need to connect with them, to know they’re ‘at peace’. Many countless hours are spent seeking out their final resting place, so to help ensure they're not forgotten again, I'm creating a virtual graveyard, incorporating a memorial for each one. X marks the spot, i.e. the position of the grave of Peter Radcliffe, my maternal fourth-great-grandfather.

Peter Radcliffe

Birth:	November 1798
	Baldoyle, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Death:	17 March 1887, (aged 89 years)
	Yellow Walls, Malahide, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Burial:	March 1887
	Abbey Graveyard (probably)
	Malahide Castle, Malahide, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Plot:	See below - X marks the spot
Link to:	Memorial at Find A Grave

Headstone:
There was a headstone erected on this grave in 1996, when Michael Egan published a volume of the Memorials of the Dead, transcribing the memorials on the headstones in the Abbey Graveyard, Malahide. His transcription of the Radcliffe headstone reads:

‘IHS | Erected | by | Peter Radcliffe | of Malahide | in memory of his beloved wife | Anne, who departed this life | Decr 18th 1866 | Aged 67 years.’

Egan also describes the condition of the headstone in the mid-1990s, as:

made of limestone with a granite base, in good condition, but lying on its face. At the top, above the inscription, there was a Maltese cross on the IHS, with a ‘large sunburst’.

Map of Graveyard - X marks the Radcliffe Grave:

Adapted excerpt - Michael Egan, Memorials of the Dead,
showing Radcliffe Gravesite

No evidence Peter shares his wife's grave has so far come to light, however he fought long and hard through the courts to preserve his burial rights there, so it would be great to think he got his wish.

Links to memorials of immediate family members:

Spouse:	Anne (Sarsfield) Radcliffe (Abt. 1799-1866, m. 1825)
Son:	John Radcliffe (1827-1866)
Son:	Thomas Radcliffe (1829-1905)
Son:	Peter Radcliffe (1833-1891)
Son:	Joseph Radcliffe (1835-1918)
Son:	Christopher Radcliffe (1844-1872)

Father:	Thomas Ratty/Radcliffe (died after 1841)
Mother:	Mary Cullen
Brother:	Mark Radcliffe (1797-1865)

My intention is to create a virtual graveyard with a memorial for each of my ancestors. The category 'Theme: Virtual Graveyard', seen on the right, is the graveyard gate. Clicking here, you enter my graveyard. You can visit each grave, irrespective of where in the world they are physically located.

Links for my direct ancestors above are, or will be, to their memorial in the 'virtual graveyard' at Black Raven Genealogy. Links for members of their immediate family are to a memorial at Find A Grave, if one has been created. Find A Grave is an online collection of gravesites and memorials from around the world.



The 'A to Z April Challenge' - 26 blog posts, in 26 days, with 26 letters of the alphabet, and one post dedicated to each letter.