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James Graves (antiquarian)

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James Graves
Born11 October 1816
Kilkenny, Ireland
Died20 March 1886
EducationTrinity College, Dublin
Known forclergyman, antiquary and archaeologist
ParentRichard Graves

James Graves (11 October 1816 – 20 March 1886[1][2] was an Irish clergyman, antiquary and archaeologist of the Victorian era.

Life

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A native of Kilkenny, James's father, Richard Graves[3] (himself a reverend), kept a school in the city,[3] and James himself was born on St Canice's day, 11 October.[3] He stated his nurse regretted he had not been named Kenny, after the patron saint to whom he thus had a double allegiance.[4] He went to Trinity College, Dublin in 1834, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1839. He was ordained in 1840[3] and appointed curate to Skeirke in County Laois.[3] He rapidly obtained preferment, and as curate of St Patrick's Kilkenny,[3] was attached as Treasurer to St Canice's Cathedral, before gaining a living in the county. In 1863 he was appointed to the parish of Ennisnag (Inisnag).[5] Although married, he had no children. He had an interest in plants which found expression in his collection of ferns, a geologist and apiarian.[1]

Grave of James Graves in St. Canice's Cathedral graveyard

His fame rests in his antiquarian and archaeological interests, rather than in his clerical pursuits. A close friend of John O'Donovan, he was also acquainted with George Petrie, and like them devoted his life towards the preservation of the antiquities of his native country. His main point of interest however was the architecture of his own city and county, and his interests therefore were focussed not on the pre-Norman period of Irish history but on the period from circa 1169 onward. In particular, he was responsible for the careful conservation work on St Canice's cathedral in Kilkenny city, while he was treasurer, and in the 1860s and 1870s he worked through the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, of which he was himself a founding member,[6] when it was founded as the Kilkenny Archaeological Society,[5] towards the conservation of several important ruined medieval churches.

Although he is never accorded the degree of fame as a founding father of Irish archaeology which is given to Petrie, his effort towards the preservation of medieval Irish buildings was highly significant. In particular, as a respectable Anglican clergyman, he was able to gain the ear of the establishment more easily than some of his Catholic contemporaries. This proved of importance after the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland left many then ruinous church sites in an ambiguous position, which was rectified by their being taken into state care as National Monuments.

Bibliography

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  • Graves, James (1849). "ANCIENT TIMBER STRUCTURES". Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society. 1, No. 1: 33. (possibly hinting at water mills)
  • Graves, James (1849). "MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES". Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society. 1, No. 1: 91–94. (about the banner found in Rothe House)
  • Graves, James (1850). "Crom-Leac". Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society. 1, No. 2: 129–132.
  • Graves, James (1869). "No. 2. The Earls of Desmond". The Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Third Series. 1, No. 2: 459–498.
  • Graves, James (1878). "Bronze Shields". The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Fourth Series. 4, No. 35: 487–488.

Works published anonymously

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There are several occurances in the Transactions that bear no author's name, but where James Graves was instrumental in the research and might be the author.

Sketchbooks/ notebooks

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These have only partly been published and are held by the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

  • RSAI G1, dates 1837-1842 with sketches from Dublin, Lancashire, Co. Kilkenny and Co. Laois[7]
  • RSAI G2, dates 1840-1848 containing sketches of landscapes, ruins, medieval buildings[7]
  • RSAI G3, notebook dating to 1844; contains sketches of heraldic motifs amongst other things[7]
  • RSAI G4, notebook dating to the 1850s containing architectural observations amongst other things[7]

Further reading

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  • Ní Ghrádaigh, Jenifer (2006). ""'My dear Pickwick": the early sketchbooks of James Graves and his development as an antiquarian'". Ossory, Laois and Leinster. xi: 96–122.

Notes and references

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Notes

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b "A Sketch of the Life and Labours of the Late Rev. James Graves, in the Cause of Irish History and Archæology". The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland. 7: 469. 1886. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  2. ^ See also his gravestone
  3. ^ a b c d e f "A Sketch of the Life and Labours of the Late Rev. James Graves, in the Cause of Irish History and Archæology". The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland. 7: 467. 1886. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  4. ^ Wynne Foot 1889, pp. 8.
  5. ^ a b "A Sketch of the Life and Labours of the Late Rev. James Graves, in the Cause of Irish History and Archæology". The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland. 7: 468. 1886. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  6. ^ Wynne Foot 1889, pp. 12, 17.
  7. ^ a b c d Ní Ghrádaigh, Jenifer (2017). "The topographical notebooks of Revd James Graves: a precocious architectural historian revealed". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 147: 51–64.

Primary sources

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