The Cody family were important Catholic merchants in Dungarvan throughout the 19th century and Cody’s Quay at The Lookout is named after them.
The Waterford News of 11 December 1863
published a detailed report on the erection of a memorial to Patrick Cody in St
Mary’s Parish Church cemetery. Cody was
one of the wealthiest Dungarvan merchants along with John R Dower and Andrew
Carbery. In 1855 he was elected as one
of the first Town Commissioners. He had
many business interests, butter and bacon merchant, coal dealer, ship owner,
grocer, and ship chandler.
‘A handsome monument has been erected in the new
chapel yard of this town by William Cody, Esq., merchant to the memory of his
beloved father Patrick Cody, merchant. The
design is in the modern Gothic style, most admiringly executed…since thrown
open to view hundreds have visited the place, and all have pronounced it a
masterpiece of art in its way, which reflects great credit on the designer and
the parties who in Dublin so tastefully executed the work. It stands about twenty feet high…the
superstructure is raised about five feet high, and on each side there is a
black slab neatly polished, set in Gothic arches…in the centre stands a
beautiful and admirable figure of the Blessed Virgin, in white Carrara marble. A spire about twelve feet high terminating
with a very handsome cross. The
pallisading which surrounds the monument is in the hands of a competent
person’.
The monument has the following inscriptions:
Patrick Cody died January 10th 1863, aged
62 years. Margaret Cody his wife died
January 31st 1840, aged 38 years. Their children, Nicholas died in infancy,
Stephen Patrick died July 2 1858 aged 23. William Joseph died January 8 1870 aged 33,
Philomena died December 15 1902.
Margaret Cody died January 13th 1917, aged 88 years. Hannah Frances Cody died 27 February 1922.
The article noted that both Patrick and his son
William had paid for parts of the internal decoration of the church.Hannah and Frances were unmarried and lived
at South Terrace.
The monument was badly damaged in 2019 when the top section fell over, damaging parts of the stonework but all the pieces are still at the base of the structure. The statue of the Blessed Virgin is not visible, so it is not clear if it survived the damage.
