Milligan Cross

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Freestanding memorial, erected c. 1916, located within family plot within Drumragh Graveyard to the west side of Blackfort Road. Memorial consists of rockfaced granite plinth surmounted by granite cross.

East elevation of plinth has inscription; ‘In loving memory of Seaton F Milligan MRIA died 6th April 1916 aged 80 years. His wife Charlotte Elizabeth Died 13th January 1916 aged 72 years. Also their children Charlotted Olivia Fox Died 25th March 1916 aged 52 years. Edward M Milligan … Maud Milligan…’. Recessed panel to centre of cross contains carved Celtic cross motif; west elevation is blank.

Memorial set within family plot enclosed by low plinth walling; short square piers to corners. At right, plinth wall inscribed ‘George died in infancy, nurse Mary Walker died 1874. At front of plot, memorial stone reads ‘Alice L Milligan. She loved no other place but Ireland. Born Omagh September 1866 Died Omagh April 1953’. Broken headstone within plot reads ‘To the memory of William H Milligan….1905’.

Plot located to the south-west corner of Drumragh Graveyard; selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century gravestones and memorials. Graveyard bounded to road at east by rubble walling, accessed through square sandstone pillars supporting pair of iron gates. Old graveyard to south contains ruins of Drumragh church.

Roof N/A
Walling Granite
Windows N/A
Rainwater goods N/A

Historical information

The ‘Old Church’ is captioned on the first edition OS Map of 1833. The second edition OS Map of 1854 captions it as ‘Drumragh Church (in ruins)’ and ‘Grave Yard’.

OS Memoirs makes the following remarks; “Drumragh old church is pleasantly situated on the river of that name, and has the walls and gables yet standing. No account can be obtained respecting its history, except that it was burned in Cromwell’s time, rebuilt and is now a ruin.” (p.108)

Rowan comments; “The ruins of Drumragh Church…in an old graveyard just after Drumragh Bridge consist of the walls of a rectangular early 17th century building reputedly burned by Cromwellian troops. The side walls are low, but both gables stand. Double-chamfered window reveals.” the church is a scheduled monument.

The memorial marks the Milligan family plot. Seaton Milligan was an Omagh businessman who was a prominent member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. The most celebrated member of the family, Seaton’s daughter Alice Milligan, is also commemorated. She was a poet, playwright, novelist, Celtic scholar and Irish nationalist; friend to Roger Casement and W B Yeats. Her most famous poem is entitled “When I was a Little Girl”

When I was a little girl
In a garden playing,
A thing was often said
To chide us, delaying

When after sunny hours
At twilight’s falling
Down through the garden walks
Came our old nurse calling –

“Come in! for it’s growing late
And the grass will wet ye!
Come in! or when it’s dark
The Fenians will get ye!”

(Johnston 1994)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/43/1-3 – Ordnance Survey Maps (1833, 1854, 1906)
2. Day, A and McWilliams, P eds. ‘OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone I, 1821, 1823, 1831-36, Vol 5’ Institute of Irish Studies, 1990

Secondary Sources

1. Johnston, S K ‘Alice – A Life of Alice Milligan’, Colourpoint Press, 1994
2. Rowan, A ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’, Penguin Books, 1979

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Freestanding memorial, erected c. 1916, located within family plot within Drumragh Graveyard to the west side of Blackfort Road. The memorial, consisting of plinth surmounted by a cross displays ornate Celtic stone carving. As the burial place of a prominent local poet who had connections to Yeats, the structure is of historic interest as a link with the wider world of the Celtic Twilight.