Re my post above(5 up)which touches on the subject of catholic burials in protestant church graveyards, I have just received further information from one of the clergymen who I initially consulted and who told me he thought it highly unusual. This gentleman tells me that after our conversation he did some further digging and has since found out certain things which have caused him to revise his opinion. It appears that while it is extremely unusual in living memory, catholics were, in fact, sometimes buried in prod churchyards in earlier times. He gives examples of three catholic burials from the 1700s in Lambeg Church of Ireland(COI)(can drums waken the dead?). It seems that this was as a result of the Penal Laws which curtailed the construction of religious buildings/sites for denominations other than the established church, ie. COI. This led to catholics along with dissenters sometimes, if not often, being buried in COI churh yards as they were the only ones available at the time. It seems that this practice continued up to the beginning of the 1800s when the Penal Laws started to be relaxed. It must be remembered that Roddy was not buried in Duneane COI until around 1860, so maybe his burial in a COI churchyard at this relatively late date could still be seen as an indication of prod religion.
As a matter of interest, many years ago I remember asking my own grandfather, a presbyterian, about family burials. He told me that his own grandfather had told him that long ago the family members were all buried in a corner of a particular field on the family farm rather than in any churchyard. There was no marker, but everybody knew where the corner was. He told me the name they gave to this burial corner. It was an ancient sounding word, but sadly I can not remember it now. Can anybody help? He said that this was the common practice among presbyterians at the time. The above post about catholic burials in prod churchyards is from me. Sorry, I forgot to add my name. Regards ROY McLEAN (you see "meself", my wrath is postively mouldering now, not even smouldering. What a pussy I've become!)