Signage by a narrow driveway and gate off busy Dundas Street at the western entrance to the Village of Waterdown marks the entrance to St. Thomas Roman Catholic Cemetery.

The cemetery is bordered by a line of large oak trees along the western edge of the property.

Originally, the cemetery was completely landlocked, until the narrow driveway section was acquired by the diocese in 1908. Varying in width from about 80 feet at the entrance to 125 feet in the rear burial area, the property extends southwards from Dundas Street, rising gradually to one of the highest points in the village.

At the end of the driveway, the land opens up to the site of the original St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church. Surrounding it are approximately 160 monuments. Many of the stones are still standing, but many of the early white marble ones have been vandalized and neglected. Thomas English from Barnard Castle, County Durham, England who moved to Waterdown in the 1840s, donated this small piece of property to the Roman Catholic diocese for a church and cemetery.

A small wooden church was opened in 1846, served by clergy from St. Mary’s Church in Hamilton once a month. The cemetery was opened for burials the following year; the earliest stone is inscribed to Patrick Wall, dated February 25, 1847 and to his son, John, aged 1 year, later the same year.

The opening of the church and cemetery marked the arrival of a large number of Irish immigrants who flooded into East Flamborough Township between 1840 and 1860, when the need for labourers in the mills was just beginning. Monuments recorded the names of these pioneer Irish families: Downeys from County Kerry, Flynns from County Wicklow, McCartys from County Tyrone, Dorans from County Down, together with Catholic immigrants from Scotland, England and Germany.

The first church was soon replaced by a stone one in the centre of the cemetery property until the opening of the red brick church on the corner of Barton and Flamboro Streets in 1915. After the old church fell into disuse, it was eventually demolished by Fred Carson in 1937. Today, the congregation of St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church worships in the parish’s fourth building, a new church on Centre Road, just north of the village, but the old cemetery still continues in use.

Sylvia Wray is the former archivist with the Flamborough Archives. She can be reached through the Archives at archives@flamboroughhistory.com.

This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 12 March 2015.