Fr. David O’Brien Cholera Memorial, Clarecastle In 1865, the people of Clarecastle erected a memorial to Fr. David O’Brien who had died in a cholera outbreak in the village some years previously. On the 150th anniversary of this, the Pastoral Council had the memorial renovated and also used the occasion to erect a plaque to the other victims of that outbreak who are buried in Clare Hill in a mass grave. On Sunday, 5 March 2016, the Parish Priest, Fr Pat Malone and Fr. Harry Brady blessed the Memorial in front of a group of Parishioners.
Eric Shaw of Clarecastle and Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group gave a talk on the history of Clare Hill cemetery that dates back to the early 1700s or earlier. He spoke in particular on the 1832 cholera outbreak that took the lives of 81 villagers and 22 soldiers from the military barracks. Emily Hoyne played a number of slow airs on the fiddle.