Longford Heritage project looks to the future by restoring the past

Clondra or 'Cluain Dá Rach' means the field of the two ringforts. It suggests the ancient origin of the village that nestles between three significant water bodies. The River Shannon, the Camlin and the Royal Canal create a frame for the picturesque community.

The population has grown in the last two decades, but still numbers in the low hundreds. Despite its small size there is a wealth of heritage in the area from Richmond Mills and Harbour to the recently developed bog walks.

Just over the bridge from the harbour is St Brendan's Church. The church graveyard is a repository of the ancient; including the medieval ruin of The Abbey, sculptured stones, a 9th century sculpted headstone, a 12th century bullaun stone and a unique 18th century graveslab.

The maintenance and care of the graveyard in the environs of the beautiful church is undertaken by a voluntary community group, the Clondra Cemetery Committee.
The group were recently awarded €100,000 under the Community Monuments Fund. The purpose of the fund is to support the conservation, maintenance, protection, and promotion of local monuments and historic sites.

This allocated funds aim to take on a huge body of work: “We have already removed some of the ivy from the Abbey. It's delicate work, because even though it's damaging the stonework, it also holds it together,” Seamus Murtagh points to the work already undertaken.
The Abbey building in Clondra graveyard is almost certainly 12th century, but there's evidence to suggest that the lower part of the walls are the foundations of the remains of an even earlier church, possibly a 9th century one. Part of the south end indicates later rebuilding, perhaps in the 15th century. Very little is known about the history of the Abbey.

It may have been the church of an early monastic settlement, but there's no evidence to substantiate this. The Annals of the Four Masters and the Book of the Clans of Ireland reference the death of Gilla Arnin O'Casey, who was Ernach of the Church of Cluain Dá Rath.
“Back in the 80s the graveyard was a mess,” Patricia Carrig Brady told the Leader, “it was overgrown. Some of the men of the parish got together to clean it up.”

Mick Gavigan, Michael Kelly, Robert Carrig, Bob Carrig, Noel Skelly, and John Feeney were among the local men to put their shoulder to the wheel. It was general maintenance work.
Because the graveyard is owned by the people of the community there was no support, all the work was undertaken by volunteers.

The graveyard is the final resting place of people of neighbouring parishes of Killashee, Tarmonbarry, and Coothall: “The river is now a divide, but in historic times it was a unifier,” Seamus explains.
The day-to-day work of the Clondra Cemetery Committee is the general maintenance of the graveyard. The funds allocated can now switch attention to the preservation of the 900 year old Abbey.

The poor condition of the Abbey walls require urgent works to prevent further loss and local collapse. The careful ivy clearance carried out by David Prunty was essential for surveying its condition.
At present, sporadic loss of stone from the wall means the ruins pose risks to the public due to stones falling from a height. Work will require expert advice and conservation skills.

The committee engaged Fergal McNamara of 7L Architects to assess the project. He recommended vegetation removal, retrieval and sorting of stone placed in stairwell under archaeological supervision, consolidation of quoin stones to each corner, repair of structural cracking to each corner using stainless steel ties and a rebuild using lime and sand mortar.
This work must be informed by best conservation practice, be reversible and should not detract from the setting of the historic place or structure.

Patricia says they want to give visitors to the site information on what they see: “It's a very special building. First and foremost we want to fix it, so it won't fall down. We would like to commission interpretative panels to present the main themes of the cultural heritage of Clondara. The cross slabs and bullaun stone could be presented in a secure and sheltered environment within the conserved church ruin.”

The funding of the restoration work is just the start of the story for the ancient ruin: “It's a historic site, a tourist attraction. People who visit want to know about it. We would like to be able to do something to answer those questions,” Patricia concluded.
Clondra Cemetery Committee will host a public meeting in the coming weeks to outline their plans and seek input from the local community.