Epitaphs of wit and wisdom found on Irish tombstones

Billyp79:The one you quote continues..*To follow you I'm not content...How do I know which way you went* I suppose the French would call it 'Le Dernier cri'...OK *the Defense rests*...I'll get my coat..!

There's a rude one which my Fa may have made up..it goes something like this...'Beneath these stones lies Mary Jones'..something something something...and goes on...'But these are not the only stones that Mary Jones lay under'...sorry he was a bit of a lad my dad...!

Wit, wisdom, and sometimes folly: An old tombstone still stands beside a ruined church in Ireland, with two of my ancestors interred beneath it. The stone carver might have been rushed, or maybe he just had poor math skills. The epitaph reads, "Sacred to the memory of Hugh _____ late of Newtown, who departed this life 12 Feb. 1782, aged 66 years. Also Patrick, his son, who departed this life 7 Nov., 1817, aged 33 years." Actually, church records show that the son was 53, not 33, at the time of his death, so he was not born two years after his father died! My immigrant ancestors did pass down the information to my father's generation that there was a mistake on the gravestone, but I wonder why they never had it corrected!

How about, "Here lies an athiest, all dressed up and no place to go."

In Wexford I have heard of one which roughly goes "Gentle reader, approach with gravity, here Dentist $**%6 has filled his last cavity"

Oh my yes. Thanks.

I think they are wonderful including the 2 from readers! I only wish I had written down the ones my parents and family knew about in the family cemetery! We are creative in our final parting comments, aren't we!!!

Then there was another favorite of mine: Here lies our beloved Anna Done to death by a banana. T'wasn't the fruit that made her go, but the skin of the thing that layed her low.

My favorite: Remember me as you pass by As you are now so once was I As I am now soon you will be Remember death, come follow me.