Inaccessibility damaging tourist potential of Derry City Cemetery

The Creggan entrance to Derry City Cemetery has been compared to the entrance of HMP Maghaberry in County Antrim.

The highly unflattering comparison was made by Creggan man, Seamus Brelsin, who established the Friends of Derry City Cemeteries - Historic Headstones group along with fellow history graduate, Trevor Temple.

The project was a response to the decay of the old headstones in the Victorian section of the cemetery, as well as a successful attempt to eliminate ongoing anti-social behaviour.

The Grave of Hymn writer Cecil Frances Alexander.

Speaking to Derry Now, in the cemetery, on an extremely windy morning, Seamus said the Historic Headstones group was trying to rejuvenate the area by capitalising on the tourist potential of the cemetery and the economic benefit it could bring to local businesses, including cafés and taxis. 

“Our tours begin in Iniscarn Crescent,” said Seamus, “where there is absolutely no signage directing or welcoming visitors to Derry City Cemetery. People come here from all over the world and they are left wandering about, wondering how to get to the City Cemetery. The same goes for tour bus drivers.

“There are no signposts, no heritage signs, nothing, except one wee sign on the roundabout there, which is only visible if you are coming up the New Road (Eastway). Four roads converge on that roundabout and City Cemetery signage should be visible on all four or it really defeats the purpose of the exercise.

The Devil's Tree in Derry City Cemetery.

“We are trying to encourage tourists away from the city centre, up to the cemetery. We have visitors from all over the world but, sometimes, I have actually had to send scouts out looking for them because of the lack of signage,” said Seamus.
Seamus also questioned the efficacy of the CCTV installed on the outside of the cemetery toilet block. 

“I understand CCTV is very expensive to operate and maintain. Apart from the jarring signage, all the international evidence indicates it is not CCTV but projects like Friends of Derry City Cemeteries - Historic Headstones, which reduce anti-social activity. We are educating people about what a gem the cemetery is to the city. We are bringing them in. 

“Welcoming signs and coach parking would be a better idea. Coaches sometimes drive in here thinking there is a visitors’ centre, by the time they realise there isn’t, they can’t get turned to get out. You can understand that older visitors want to get into the cemetery without walking. 

“Derry City Cemetery is a hilled site, desperately in need of access to its priceless Victorian heritage. There are absolutely no access issues in the modern section. However, it is the Catholic section. Protestant visitors and international visitors want to see our ancient history. For  that they have to go to the Victorian section where there are no paths.

The Lone Moor Road entrance of Derry City Cemetery.

“Every day of the week, people stop me and ask where John Hume is buried because we want to pay our respects. Visitors want to pay their respects to Sr Clare Crockett, Martin McGuinness, the Hunger Strikers, the dead of Bloody Sunday,” said Seamus.

Seamus said the Victorian section of the cemetery was quite dangerous to access because there were no paths and the grass was slippy underfoot. 

“When I visit St Augustine's up on the Walls, there are beautiful signs welcoming visitors and saying, ‘This is here’, ‘That is there’. It is the same at St Mura’s Graveyard at Fahan. But, when you come into Derry City Cemetery, it is, ‘Do this’ ‘Don’t do that’. It is comparable to the entrance of Maghaberry prison with all the signs and CCTV.

“When I visited Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, I told the fellas I envied the support they received, with their visitor centre, the facilities, the welcoming signs, the shop and the café. Unbelievably, they said they were actually jealous of Derry City Cemetery because our stories are new and right up to the present day.

“I think nearly every state in America has been represented on our cemetery tours. We have stories about US service personnel during WWII and all the links to emigration. We even have the family plot of Stephen Foster, the father of American music.

“Unfortunately, our tours have to stop when we reach the old section of the cemetery and that is where all the interesting stories are. It is too unsafe to walk any further. I was once told it would be too difficult to put in paths, which is laughable because the Victorians put in the original paths with shovels and wheelbarrows,” laughed Seamus.

By this time we had reached the grave of Captain Erik Kokeritz, who was honoured this weekend.

“There is a dangerous bend here but rather than put in speed bumps, we got a sign saying, ‘caution, slow down, 10 miles an hour’. No-one pays any attention. Ironically, there was a big pothole here at one time, at which everyone slowed down.

“The accessibility situation could give rise to the perception of bias towards Catholics. The section at the top of the cemetery has well used, very good paths. I am actually embarrassed about that situation. It is a shameful state of affairs when you consider that on the Hallowe’en tours we had almost 250 people over the weekend and we couldn’t access the Victorian section.”

The Republican Plot at Derry City Cemetery.

Stopping at the Grave of James McKnight, lawyer, editor of the Londonderry Standard, gaeilgeoir, who was in the Land League with Michael Davitt, Seamus said no-one knew who was in the adjoining grave because it was so overgrown.

“Cemetery management throughout the world says we do not want to turn our cemeteries into doctors’ surgeries, where everything is spotless. We need to leave habitat for the wildlife, including red squirrels and rabbits,” said Seamus.

“I had to actually erect a wooden cross and signage on the grave there of the famous hymn writer, Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander. Everybody, even our Japanese visitors and South Korean visitors know her story. It is akin to having Mozart or Schubert buried here, yet I have to tell visitors, ‘ Sorry, we can’t go to the grave because there are no paths’.

“When visitors see the church at the Lone Moor entrance of the cemetery, they ask if that is a visitors’ centre. I am embarrassed to say, ‘No, that is where they store the grass seed’. That building is a Victorian jewel.

“Adjacent to the grave of Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander, we have the Knox family tomb from Prehen, from which we have the great story of Mary-Anne Knox and Half Hung McNaghten. However, we can only view it from afar unless it is a very, very dry day and we don’t get many of them in Derry,” said Seamus. 

The Hunger Strike Memorial at Derry City Cemetery.

Seamus pointed out the Tillie (of Tille and Henderson factory fame, mentioned by Karl Marx) family plot and the grave of Dr Bernard who restored Grianán Áiligh fort at Burt in Inishowen.

“We also have the grave of the war heroes and an icon to the Protestant Loyalist Community, Sir Basil McFarland, who led his men in WWII,” said Seamus.

“We need access to these historically valuable graves,” said Seamus. “Belfast accessed Lottery funding to the tune of one million pounds and now has paths, signage, a visitor centre, the lot, all within four years. 

“There is heritage money available. We need to get it to Derry and get the City Cemetery restored to its previous glory and accessible to all.”