Day 3 Monday May 25th 2009 Site visit to Murlough Bay, Co. Antrim

by Conor Kelly, 27 May 2009

A key focal point for my period of research will be a site at Murlough Bay, Co. Antrim. Situated between Fair Head and Torr Head, Murlough is an area of outstanding natural beauty and for many years has played host to sporadic memory-work on Casement. It is where Casement wished to be buried. It was a place that took prominence in the memory and imagination of the incarcerated Casement in 1916 whilst awaiting execution at Pentonville prison. He expressed the wish that his m o r t a l r e m a i n s b e r e m o v e d f r o m ‘ t h a t d r e a d f u l p l a c e a n d b e b u r i e d i n t h e o l d c h u r c h y a r d a t M u r l o u g h ’. After his execution in London many appeals were made for the return of his remains but all were denied. In 1965 his remains were brought back to Ireland but were interred at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin and not in Murlough, which now resided (post-partition) on British soil after the birth/half-birth of Casement’s beloved republic.

Today there exists a type of empty grave at Murlough. It was the site of a monastic dwelling belonging to former local hermit St.Mologe. In a sense, Casement lies unburied here and it seems more than a fitting place for any memory-work to begin.