Laois County Council

Tag: church

  • Funding announced for Conservation of Laois historic buildings

    Funding announced for Conservation of Laois historic buildings

    Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, TD, today (Thursday 1 April) announced that 477 heritage projects across every county in the country will benefit from a total of €3m under this year’s Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS).

    Of this fund €72,000 has been allocated to 12 projects in Laois, ranging from small thatched houses to larger country houses.

    Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council, Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, welcomed the announcement saying “In addition to supporting owners of historic buildings in looking after their properties, this funding will also provide a welcome boost to local construction and heritage trades by facilitating works with a total value of over €15.5m and creating jobs estiated at 19,000 days’ labour. Laois County Council is delighted to be able to participate in the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, providing a link between the Department and owners on the ground and getting this funding out to Laois Communities”.

    Thatched house near Emo rethatched under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme in 2020

    The BHIS is one of two built heritage funding schemes run by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in association with the 31 Local Authorities. Through grants of up to €15,000, the BHIS assists owners of heritage structures – including those on the local authorities’ Record of Protected Structures and those in Architectural Conservation Areas – to meet their obligations to care for their properties. The scheme is not limited to private dwellings and also provides assistance to a wide range of other important heritage.
    Also included under the BHIS 2021 is a continuation of a micro-grant stream introduced in 2020 to increase the resilience of historic structures to withstand the constant effects of climate change. This allows local authorities to make smaller awards to owners of historic properties to carry out routine maintenance to offset the impact of climate change on their buildings.

    Minister Noonan said: “I am delighted to announce €3m investment in our built heritage which will assist 477 owners and custodians of historic and protected structures right across the country as they carry out hundreds of small-scale, labour-intensive projects to repair and safeguard our built heritage. These awards will provide much-needed economic stimulus in all 31 local authority areas and will give employment to the many small businesses, skilled conservation specialists and tradespeople involved in heritage-related construction activity. Not only will this €3m funding help sustain specialist heritage businesses while the market recovers, it is also an investment in this Government’s commitment under the Programme for Government to encourage traditional building skills.”

    Minister of State for Local Government, Peter Burke, TD, also welcomed the announcement, saying “the success of the Built Heritage Investment Scheme is testament to the close working relationship between the Department and the Local Authorities, particularly the Architectural Conservation Officers, Heritage Officers and planning and administrative staff without whom these schemes would not exist. It is particularly pleasing to see this year’s BHIS fund so many projects in our towns, in line with this Government’s commitment to put Town Centres First.”

    Conservation work funded by the BHIS underway at St Paul’s French Church Portarlington in 2020

    Laois Projects funded this year are as follows:

    Projects Funding Allocated
    House, Stradbally, Co. Laois €8,500.00
    Thatch Durrow, Co. Laois €7,000.00
    Thatch Fisherstown, Co. Laois €7,000.00
    Thatch Rathleague, Co. Laois €7,000.00
    Thatch Clonaghadooo, Co. Laois €6,000.00
    St Paul’s French Church Portarlington, Co. Laois €4,000.00
    Thatch Jamestown, Co. Laois €3,500.00
     House Mountmellick, Co. Laois €10,000.00
    Thatch Ballybodin, Co. Laois €1,000.00
    Thatch Graigue, Co. Laois €7,000.00
    Thatch Ballacolla, Co. Laois €7,000.00
    Forum Mountmellick, Co. Laois €4,000.00
      €72,000.00

     

     

    Details of awards granted under the Department’s other built heritage scheme, the Historic Structures Fund, will be announced following their assessment in the coming weeks.

    The list of all grantees nationally under the 2021 BHIS can be found here.

  • Clonaslee Community celebrates successful conservation of medieval church

    Clonaslee Community celebrates successful conservation of medieval church

    The community of Clonaslee has celebrated the end of another successful season of conservation at the medieval Kilmanman Church just outside the village.

     

    The conservation project which started in 2019, is funded by the Creative Ireland Programme in Laois and Laois County Council, with the help of local community fundraising. This year’s work saw the conservation of the west gable with its fragile bell cote and the east gable with its beautiful carved medieval window. Some work was also carried out to stabilise the  19th century Dunne Mausoleum adjacent to the older church.

    Kilmanman Church Restoration Committee members, members of Clonaslee High Nelly Club, with Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer, Colm Flynn, Archaeologist and Jethro Sheen, Sheen Stoneworks at Kilmanman Church, Clonaslee. Photo: Alf Harvey

    Catherine Casey, Heritage Officer with Laois County Council said “the support of the Creative Ireland programme was crucial in getting this conservation work started and the aim of the project – in addition to saving the medieval fabric of the church – was to build on the sense of place associated with Kilmanman to develop the capacity and resilience of the local community. The project has been enormously successful in this, and in addition to impressive local fundraising, the local people have been on hand to help with all aspects of the work, with the community assisting with management of vegetation, providing water and weathered stone, helping to interpret the archaeology and showing huge hospitality to the conservation team.”

     

    She continued “ On behalf of Laois County Council and the project team, I’d like to thank most sincerely the Kilmanman Restoration Committee, Fr O’Reilly, Chris Horan, Tommy Kelly, David Brickley, Fred Mathews and Denis Feighery, the Clonaslee Graveyard Committee represented by Denis Feighery, The High Nelly Club Clonaslee, the Local Employment Scheme and Caitriona Cashin of Clonaslee Development Association and the many people living near Kilmanman who donated money and also gave so freely of their time to help.”

    Fred Mathews, Chris Horan and Tommy Kelly at Kilmanman Church, Clonaslee. Photo Alf Harvey (Missing from Photo Fr O’Reilly, David Brickley and Denis Feighery)

    The work this year was planned by Conservation Engineer Aoife Murphy working with David Kelly Partnership Consulting Engineers and overseen by archaeologist Colm Flynn. The contract to carry out the highly skilled lime mortar work and masonry conservation was awarded to Jethro Sheen of Sheen Stonework in Gort Co Galway.

     

    Conservation Management Plan

    In addition to the practical conservation work on site this year, the Kilmanman group was successful in sourcing Heritage Council support for a full Conservation Management Plan on the site and this was also started this year, with Conservation Architect Richard McLoughlin working with archaeologist Colm Flynn to carry out a measured survey of the site, and an analysis of the known history to date. The community hopes that phase II of the Conservation Plan will be completed in 2021, if funding is available.

    Kilmanman Medieval Church, Clonaslee. Photo Alf Harvey

    The conservation project at Kilmanman will continue in 2021 with conservation of the North Wall high on the priority list for the next step in this important conservation project.

     

    The conservation work at Kilmanman was funded by The Creative Ireland Programme in Laois and Laois County Council. The Conservation Management Plan was funded by the local community and the Heritage Council

     

    Creative Ireland logo      Heritage Council Logo

  • Conservation of Kilmanman Church brings community together

    Conservation of Kilmanman Church brings community together

    A community-based project to save the medieval Church at Kilmanman near Clonaslee in Laois from collapse, has had two successful phases of conservation in 2019 and 2020 with the help of Creative Ireland.

    Fears for the survival of the medieval church ruins had been raised by members of the local graveyard committee, and help was sought from the Culture Team at Laois County Council.

    Catherine Casey is Heritage Officer with Laois County Council.

    “The Medieval Church at Kilmanman was in a very fragile state, so conservation work to stabilise it was urgent,” she said. “The church is part of the rich heritage of the site, which we believe goes back to early Christian times. The survival of the church is so important to the people of this area, as can be seen by the huge number of community volunteers involved each year,” Ms Casey said.

     

    Committee members, members of Clonaslee High Nelly Club, Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer, Colm Flynn, Archaeologist and Jethro Sheen, Sheen Stoneworks at Kilmanman Church, Clonaslee.

    The conservation project was supported with funding from the Creative Ireland Laois Programme, and supported by Clonaslee Community Development Association and local residents.

    Technical advice was provided by Mountmellick based archaeologist Colm Flynn, and experienced conservation engineer, Aoife Murphy, working for David Kelly Partnership.

    As the site is so sensitive, permission for the works was sought from the National Monuments Service of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and conservation work was carried out by stonemason Jethro Sheen.

    Catherine Casey, Heritage Officer with Laois County Council continued “This church and graveyard are clearly so important to the local community, they really encompass everything we mean by a Sense of Place, and we were delighted that the Creative Ireland programme in Laois was able to support the valuable conservation work here this year,” she said.

    Work continued at Kilmanman in 2020 to stabilise the east gable with its fine tracery window and the west gable with the remains of the bell-cote.

    Kilmanman Church and Graveyard after two stages of conservation works March 2021, photo by ALf Harvey (c)

     

     

     

    The project to conserve Kilmanman Church was funded by Creative Ireland Laois and Laois County Council as part of the Creative Ireland Programme in Laois.