€177,000 to protect archaeological monuments in Mayo
OVER €7.4m. is to be awarded to 140 projects around the country through the 2024 Community Monuments Fund to help owners and custodians of archaeological monuments to safeguard them into the future.
Five projects in Mayo are set to receive €177,559, Minister of State Alan Dillon has confirmed.
The Community Monuments Fund aims to conserve, maintain, protect and promote local monuments and historic sites.
The five Mayo projects awarded funding are as follows.
Talach Blast Furnace - €97,214: It is proposed to carry out conservation works to furnace in 2024, including the consolidation of unstable and loose stonework, resetting of fallen masonry and flagstones from the floor and roof of the casting house and blowing house along with repairs of top lintels and voussoirs.
Ardnaree Augustinian Abbey - €30,000: Works to the abbey will include emergency structural repairs to collapsed sections of the abbey walls, including resetting of masonry, management of ivy and vegetation, some rebuilding of fallen masonry and consolidation of walls.
Inishkea Cross Slab, Inishkea South - €20,340: The proposed project will implement a management plan for the care and conservation of the slab, based on recommendations of a stone conservator, a site survey and desk-based study, which were undertaken in 2023.
Turlough Graveyard - €15,005: Construction of a section of roadside boundary wall at Turlough graveyard, at the site of Turlough church and round tower, national monument.
Carrowleckeen Church (Knockatemple Church) - €15,000: Following the preparation in 2022 of a conservation management plan for the early medieval church at Knockatemple, near Ballyvary, conservation works commenced in 2023. The final phase of conservation works will be undertaken in 2024.
This will include masonry repairs to the north wall of the church, along with a geophysical and ortho-photographic survey of the site. Other works will include improving the presentation, access and fencing at the monument.
Said Minister Dillon: “I would like to thank Mayo County Council and especially Deirdre Cunningham, heritage officer, and her team for all their hard work and cooperation with the National Monuments Service in rolling out and administering the Community Monuments Fund. I would also like to acknowledge the private owners as custodians of much of our archaeological heritage and I am delighted that they are able to avail of this funding.”