Discovering layers of history

The cold and damp did nothing to quell the spirits on the Heritage Minister’s visit to a number of the county’s historical sites last Friday.

Junior Minister Malcolm Noonan stopped by Moybologue Old Graveyard, Lough an Leagh, Drumgoon Hill Old Graveyard and Drumlane Abbey to meet with local groups who are working to conserve the sites.

Organised by local TD Niamh Smyth, it was hoped the visit would give Minister Noonan “a flavour of Cavan’s heritage”.

“It’s so wonderful to have the Minister here today to actually see what’s happening on the ground. There’s a wonderful group of volunteers here that have maintained it, conserved it, nurtured it and treated it with the reverence and respect that it deserves,” said Deputy Smyth.

They were accompanied across the county by Cavan County Council’s Heritage Officer Anne Marie Ward and Chief Archaeologist with the National Monuments Service Michael McDonagh.

Situated between Bailieborough and Mullagh in the parish of Tierworker, St Patrick is said to have celebrated mass in the now ruined church within Moybologue graveyard.

However, it’s believed the site was of importance well before the Christian era in Ireland, with historical records showing the High King of Ireland held a banquet there before he and his party were massacred at the site.

The graveyard is believed to date back at least 1,300 years as the oldest gravestone has been dated to between the 8th and 9th centuries. The site also contains a holy well, which it’s said contains the cure for warts.

Work began on the project in earnest about 10 years ago with the cutting back of trees and vegetation at the site to begin further historical exploration.

Brian Callaghan of Moybologue Historical Society says a lot of hard work has been carried out:

“We’ve been non-stop going really since 2012. It started off with a little bit of research in terms of having geophysics in to try and get a feel for what was beneath the surface at the site. We have done headstone mapping and gravestone recordings - that happened in 2017.”

Work has been ongoing at the location since, with the boundary wall and gates being restored and conservation works on the church ruins carried out most recently.

“We’re delighted to be able to showcase all of our work here for the last 10 years. It culminated with the large restoration works under the community monuments fund. So we’re thrilled,” said Brian. The Moybologue group received €42,760 under the fund in October 2020, allowing the restoration works to the boundary wall and the main gates.

County Heritage Officer Anne Marie Ward was praised for her work in supporting local groups across Cavan in their work. Funding from the Heritage Council in 2017 allowed the Heritage Office to set up the Historic Graveyards Network in the county, with the aim of improving access to the sites and coordinating repair and conservation works.

“It’s grown from strength to strength,” says Anne Marie.

“As Heritage Officer I’ve always been getting calls from local groups about historic graveyards in their locality. It’s the one area - graveyard tourism - where we can encourage people to visit graveyards but we want to ensure that all works done are done sensitively.”

Biodiversity

While first and foremost a historic and sensitive site, there are plans afoot within the Moybologue committee to capitalise on it from a heritage and biodiversity point of view.

Seven species of bats and a barn owl live on or near the site.

Brian Callaghan says they hope to increase awareness of it: “The plan going forward is to promote the site as much as we can both locally and nationally and to increase access to it and increase parking. Also we’ve a strong biodiversity plan for the site. We want to see what we can do for bees and wildlife going forward.”

Minister Michael Noonan praised the work taking place across County Cavan. He says it shows the importance of the role played by local communities and the country’s Heritage Officers: “I’m seeing it in Cavan and I’m seeing it right throughout the country, that connection between the Heritage Officer, between communities and between Government policy and how that transposes itself and how it’s meeting such a huge need in energising communities to be involved in their local heritage.”

COVID-19

The restrictions introduced during the pandemic and the travel limits, in particular, saw people confined to their local areas. Since then we’ve heard of the significance of local recreation sites, walking routes and historical sites and Anne Marie Ward is hopeful the newfound interest in the latter will continue as the pandemic hopefully nears its end:

“A sense of place, a sense of belonging has been very, very important for people. We’ve seen that with our heritage groups and the amount of visitors that are visiting these local places of interest.”

Minister Noonan too is hopeful projects, like that at Moybologue, will encourage others to take an interest in their own local sites: “I think these sites are hugely important for all of us to collectively learn of our history and understand our own origins.

“I think it’s when you just scratch beneath the surface that you discover those layers of history that are really important.”