The Thomas Hickman grave of 1677 is one of the earliest Church of Ireland burials in the Friary and is located in the chancel. As you can see from the photographs, it is extremely worn making it very difficult to read.

Initially all that we were able to make out were the words, Here, of Thomas, ber, his wife, 30th, George Co. Thankfully, we were able to record a rather basic sketch of the crest or coat of arms on the top. Again that is difficult to make out. However, it was the crest that led us to recognise that this was a grave fully transcribed and recorded by Thomas Johnson Westropp in 1895 in an article for The Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead. He at that point was able to read: HERE LYES THE BODYES / OF THOMAS HICK[MAN] OF B[ALLY]HINNAN ESQ WHO DYED… / OF 7BER 1677 & E[LIZABETH] / HIS WIFE WHO DYED .. / 30th YE SAME YEARE DAUGHTER / TO GEORGE COLPOYS O[F] BALLYCAR ESQ.

When it comes to doing research or genealogy there are an amazing amount of free resources to be found online and in these strange days when we have to spend so much more time at home, people might find that now is a good time to start on their family tree that they have put off doing so often. Anyone with family links to Clare are especially lucky to have a fantastic free resource in the Clare County Library website. There is a huge genealogy section containing census records, tithe applotment books, Griffith’s Valuation, journal articles, trade directories and many many more sources of information. It certainly worth checking out. Below is a link to the article where we found the Hickman inscription.

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/memorials/drumcliff.htm