The gravestone marking the burial plot of Philip Lynott and Philomena Lynott is now back in place in St. Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton, Co. Dublin.

Where until recently the stone carried only the name of the great Thin Lizzy frontman and songwriter, now this has been joined by that of his mother, Philomena Lynott, who died on 12 June this year. A photograph taken today shows the freshly inscribed name, with a red rose lain across underneath it. It is a powerful image, symbolic of the extraordinary relationship that existed between Philip and Philomena.

Philip Lynott famously wrote the song ‘Philomena’, which appeared on the Nightlife album, released in November 1974, about his mother.

Philip Lynott died on 4 January 1986. His mother was with him at the time, and she told the heartbreaking story in vivid detail in her autobiography My Boy – the full updated version of which was published by Hot Press Books in 2011. Written with Jackie Hayden, it went to No.1 in the best-sellers here in Ireland.

Philomena Lynott led the campaign to have a statue in honour of Philip erected in Dublin. The statue now stands on Harry Street – just off Philip’s beloved Grafton Street, and close to St. Stephen’s Green, where he and other members of Thin Lizzy, and their friends, often hung out.

As with the statue, the grave has been a place of pilgrimage for fans of Thin Lizzy and of Philip Lynott. The fascination with St. Fintan’s will now be renewed, as fans and friends of Philomena Lynott also flock to a famously quiet place that has a strange appeal all of its own. The gravestones there are all laid out flat, giving it a very different and almost bucolic atmosphere, compared to graveyards generally in Ireland.

And so this is another moment for everyone who were inspired by Philip Lynott and by Philomena Lynott –and the extraordinary dedication she had to keeping her son’s legacy alive – to say a fond farewell. May both mother and son rest in peace.