County council urged to take charge of neglected graveyard
The entrance to Haroldstown Cemetery
CARLOW County Council has been urged to “do their due diligence” and take responsibility for an historic graveyard that’s been allowed to fall into total neglect.
Peter Curran has relatives buried in Haroldstown Cemetery and for years has been left appalled by its deplorable condition and the lack of action by the local authority.
Haroldstown Cemetery, located approximately 7km from Hacketstown, close to the historic Haroldstown Dolmen, is completely overgrown, with headstones broken and completely covered by vegetation, an inaccessible pathway and poorly-fitted access gates.
Access to the cemetery is particularly difficult, located just off a busy road with a kissing gate allowing the public in, before crossing a privately-owned section of land and then gaining access to the cemetery through another kissing gate.
“Carlow County Council needs to do their due diligence of Haroldstown graveyard,” stated Peter, who lives in West Midlands, England, but travels regularly to Hacketstown, where his family originated.
“They need to reinstate the pathways from kissing gate to kissing gate and do a risk assessment on public safety on both gates. Inside the graveyard, they need to reinstate the pathway that runs around the inside of the boundary wall and have a year-on-year maintenance plan,” said Peter.
“This graveyard has been neglected for far too long, with refusals by the council to do anything, except by fitting the kissing gates, which they failed in doing correctly by not checking that they were safe to use and fit for purpose,” he added.
“I am only asking for them to do what they are responsible for but have neglected to do over many years,” added Peter.
Carlow County Council has indicated that it is responsible for the provision and maintenance of 18 cemeteries in the county; however, it is not responsible for the provision and maintenance of private, parish and historical cemeteries, and Haroldstown Cemetery falls under this category.
The local authority has advised that the option of forming a community group and applying for heritage funding is available to local areas looking to have conservation and maintenance work carried out.
Heritage officer Eoin Sullivan pointed out to that Haroldstown Cemetery is private property and “we don’t know legally who is the owner of that graveyard”.
