Delight as Mayo town awarded funding for graveyard project

Claremorris Tidy Towns and Claremorris Historical Society have been awarded €3,887 under the Heritage Council Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2023.

The funding is for the second phase of the St. John's Church of Ireland Graveyard Project.

This includes the development of a management plan, initially funded in 2022, and a geophysical survey aimed at locating unrecorded graves in order to complete a final graveyard map and provide new signage.

St. John’s Graveyard is relatively undisturbed and has the potential to become an important biodiversity area.

Until recently, the site was overgrown, many of the graves were in serious disrepair and the ground had become dangerous in places.

However, the success of the first stage of the 2022 management plan has begun the process of ensuring that the graves and memorials will be preserved, recorded and presented in a respectful manner whilst also securing the site as an important natural habitat for existing flora, fauna and other wildlife.

A programme of ongoing research will seek to educate and inform the public about the history of the site while increasing the economic profile of Claremorris by growing visitor numbers and tourism genealogy.

Welcoming the news, Pauline Flynn, a spokeswoman for Claremorris Tidy Towns. said, “Together with our colleagues in the Historical Society, we are delighted to have secured this funding from the Heritage Council.

"The finished project will secure and renew this important urban green space as a natural biodiversity wildlife area, a key National Tidy Town’s objective.

"It will also showcase St John's Church, now Claremorris Library, and its graveyard as part of the historic heart of Claremorris and ensure that the site can be accessible to all.

"It will also discourage anti-social behaviour and develop the area as a potential library resource by providing an outdoor reading space.

“Implementation of the second stage of the Management Plan will ensure the long term stability of this iconic site.

"As well as producing a graveyard map with index to memorials and burials, the plan will guide annual maintenance and facilitate the planting of bulbs, shrubs and trees to enhance the site.

"Bird and bat boxes, bee hotels and a hedgehog house will also be installed to help increase community awareness of local biodiversity, wildlife and history,” she added.

A number of events associated with the St. John’s project will feature in National Heritage Week, August 12 to 20.

Information will be available on the Heritage Week website.