Anger as new graves not facing the rising sun

A new layout in the extension of Drum Cemetery has been dubbed a "disgrace" by a local person this week as the graves will not be facing east/west towards the rising sun as he says has been traditional for hundreds years. The man, a native of Drum Parish, who didn't wish to be named, said he was extremely annoyed the traditional Christian way of burial had been changed by somebody in an office in Roscommon town without consultation with the local people. "If I'm going to be buried there like that, I'll change my address and be buried elsewhere in the traditional way," the local man fumed this week. "It's totally wrong what the council is doing. It has a lot of people upset and a lot of people are only finding it out about it because the extension is new and only one burial has taken place there two weeks ago." Instead, he claims the first grave is facing north-south, while the graves in the adjacent old graveyard and monastic site are all standing facing the usual east/west trajectory. The objector said whoever drew up the plan in Roscommon County Council should go back and do it the proper way, accusing the local authority of "terrible cheek" and "a lack of respect" changing the traditional form of burial in a rural area. However, a spokesperson for Roscommon County Council said the new layout was designed to maximise the number of graves in the extended graveyard in Drum and the direction which they would be facing was not a consideration or an issue highlighted to the local authority during the planning process. He said this layout will be replicated in any other new graveyards or extensions in the future. "The foundations have been put in to accommodate headstones going back to back, one will be north-south and the other in opposite direction," he said. "It could well mean neither way is east/west but the traditional thing of the grave facing east was not a consideration," the council official told the Westmeath Independent. That response did cut any muster with the Drum native however, who replied: "They just got it wrong and they're just trying to talk their way out of it," he retorted. "It's really oversight on the council's part. They are saying they are doing it to maximise the grave space but they could start at the back wall and do it the proper way and get the same number in. It's a disgrace what they are doing, when you look at all the other graves in Drum," the man, who said all his ancestors are buried in the area.