mpressive altar tomb

THE CEMETERY OF ST PETER AND PAULS CATHEDRAL IN TRIM

Visit the cemetery of St. Peter and Paul`s Cathedral you will discover an impressive altar tomb dating from around 1592. The tomb known locally as “the Jealous man and Woman” is the resting place of Sir Lucas Dillon and his wife Lady Jane Bathe.

Sir Dillon was a leading Irish Barrister and judge during the Elizabethan era. He held the offices of Attorney General for Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was held in high regard by the Crown and Queen Elizabeth was said of think highly of him. However there were many accusations of corruption and claims that he handled some of his work carelessly.

Why the tomb became known as ‘the jealous man and woman” remains a mystery. However, Dillon`s second wife Marion Sherle is buried in an identical tomb with her first husband Christopher Barnwell at Lusk, Co. Dublin. Locals believe that perhaps one of the tombs was built as a jealous response to the other tomb. Who was jealous of who remains uncertain. The most intriguing folklore surrounding the tomb remains its unusual curative power for warts.

The tomb is associated with a cure for warts:- Rub a pin on your wart, place the pin between the couple on the tomb and, as the pin rusts and decays, your wart will disappear.

Newtown Abbey is located about 1.2 km (¾ mile) east of Trim town centre, on the north bank of the Boyne. The main building is the Church of St Peter and St Paul (sometimes called a cathedral). The abbey church features lancet windows, with Norman-style sedilia to the right of the altar, and a double piscina for washing communion vessels. A smaller church in the east of the monastery is the parish church of Newtown Clonbun. This is the burial site of Lucas Dillon (1530 – 1592), Attorney General for Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and his first wife Jane Bathe. Their tomb effigies are separated by a sword of state, and so they gained the local nickname of the “jealous man and woman”.