Kilrush graveyard not an ideal resting place

ONE could regularly walk or drive past the Church of Ireland graveyard in Grace Street, Kilrush and never know the level of disarray and dishevelment that lies beyond the stone wall and black gates.

While the church has been refurbished and since 2007 is the responsibility of Kilrush Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, who run traditional music sessions in the building, hundreds of the graves at the back of the church are unkempt, while a number of vaults are wide open and can be accessed without undue difficulty. The graveyard is also completely overgrown and the knee-high grass has not been cut since last June.
Along with fellow Kilrush man, Seán Danaher, Tommy Scully has tended to the graveyard for several years but at this stage, he feels that he has done his utmost. The Scully family plot is located in the graveyard and is one of a handful of graves in good condition.
Tommy has eight brothers and sisters, a great grand-father, grandfathers, great-grandmothers, parents and cousins buried in the cemetery, hence his emotional connection.
However, the state of the graveyard, which includes the ruins of a 1,300-year-old Catholic church, the oldest in the town, up to 30 World War 1 graves and the Vandeleur family vault, reflects poorly on how the town of Kilrush treats its dead.
Walking through the graveyard last Saturday, Tommy Scully pointed to an open vault.
“There’s children coming in here by night. I came down here the other night and told them to get out but you can’t keep out children because they’ll come in. They were dancing up on that. See that there? Just picture that breaking. It’s five feet deep. Can you believe that?” he asked, highlighting one of the open tombs.
The committee in charge of the upkeep of the graveyard, which included Tommy, hasn’t operated since 2008. 
“We had all this cleared completely. You could walk all over there in 2007,” Tommy Scully added, looking at the expanse of vegetation that now dominates the graveyard.
A few years ago, Tommy and Seán Danaher closed the entrance to the Vandeleur vault, which was easily accessible.
“I even called the guards at times because the children were interfering with coffins,” Tommy explained.
While he feels that the employment of a caretaker would sort out many of the problems, Kilrush Town Council say that the maintenance of the cemetery is not their responsibility.
“Kilrush Town Council have no responsibility for the Protestant graveyard in Grace Street,” the council said in a statement to The Clare Champion.
“As a gesture of good will, however, Kilrush Town Council provide some materials to the graveyard committee to assist them with any maintenance they carry out. We are, however, aware that it is now run down and is falling into disrepair. I have been in touch with FÁS to see if they would be interested in commencing a maintenance programme there but this may take some time. I think it would be great for the town if it could be maintained as the graveyard obviously has a lot of historical significance for the town,” Kilrush town clerk, John Corry added.
Tommy Scully says that a draining issue was sorted out and that he recently met with town engineer Derek Troy to ensure that draining problems don’t resurface.
“Fair play to him, he’s sending a digger over this month to go in there and do it again. They need to be done every two years. That’s the water problem solved,” Tommy said.
He recalls a funeral some years ago, where water had to be pumped from a grave.
“We had two pumps pumping the water over there,” he noted, picking out the grave in question.
More recently, Tommy’s cousin was laid to rest in a dry grave.
“The only one that came into a dry grave a few months ago was Bernadette. The priest couldn’t believe it. He said ‘what happened here?’ There’s one thing that I’m proud of. My first cousin went in there and there wasn’t a drop of water in that grave. That meant at lot to me,” he maintained.
Although wall-high briars and rushes are not as prevalent now, that’s because Tommy Scully got rid of them some years ago.
“You couldn’t see any of them walls with briars. I was going around that graveyard with a can up on my back. The rushes were the biggest problem. They were head height,” he stated.
As far back as October 2006, Richard Cronin, Clare County Council’s conservation officer, recommended the employment of a caretaker.
“It is imperative that one person be dedicated to the maintenance of this graveyard on a daily basis,” Richard Cronin said in his report on the graveyard.
He described the cemetery as a “recorded national monument,” which included the ruins of a late mediaeval church.
“Access to the graves is almost impossible, mainly due to the growth of brambles and the uneven ground, which may be dangerous. There is a serious health and safety issue for the hundreds of visitors who come each year, trying to locate the resting place of their ancestors,” the four-year-old report added.
The state of the graveyard has deteriorated significantly since.
“You have to respect the dead for God sake. A lot of these people, they have nobody to clean their graves,” Tommy Scully observed sadly.