Powerstown community rally to clear up "pure jungle"

The prevailing community spirit in Powerstown has been exemplified by the dramatic ongoing restoration of the Kilgrant (Old Powerstown) graveyard.
The mammoth clean-up is down to the efforts of the community who have uncovered this historic site that was previously inaccessible due to years of neglect.
Paddy McMeel was one of the driving forces behind the project that first began in the Summer of 2019.
“At the beginning it was a pure jungle,” said Paddy. “I gathered anyone with strimmers or hedge cutters to meet one Tuesday evening at six o’clock.”
The project was backed by Parish Priest Father Peter Ahearne, who first announced the project at a parish dance that summer.
The newly established maintenance committee were taken aback at the high interest in recovering the graveyard with over twenty five people attending the first night.
The volunteers included locals and friends of the committee, with many having a vested interest in the site as they had relatives buried there.
The magnitude of the task soon became clear to the group, with even opening the gates proving a challenge.
When Paddy and sacristan Antionette Ryan first entered the graveyard to get an idea of the undertaking, they couldn’t see each other due to the high grass and brambles that had entrenched the site.
The biggest challenge was tackling the ivy that covered headstones as the dense overgrowth meant it was difficult to locate them.
“There was nowhere in the graveyard you could see,” said Paddy.
The process of uncovering the tombstones from the years of neglect took over eleven dumper trucks and months of effort from the team.
The group gather every five weeks a turnout between fifteen to twenty five members tending to the site, which each member offering their own unique skill to the project.
“We’ve maybe found gravestones and tombs that haven’t seen the light of day in maybe eighty to one hundred years.”
The Old Powerstown graveyard is steeped in history and church was built in Pre-Reformation times, hosting services for the civil parish from as far back as 1654.
Una Power is a local historian who is well versed in the history of the graveyard which is home to the ruins of a church historically known as Cillchronachtan.
The church once held services for over eighteen townlands within the area of Kilgrant.
One interesting historical element of the site is the tomb of Reverend Willim Hennessey who was buried in 1738.
“His gravestone is facing West. This is unusual as all Catholic gravestones faced East towards the rising sun up until about the beginning of this century,” said Una.
“His gravestone is West facing as there is a tradition of the Priest to be buried facing his flock.”
The church also hosted patterns or pátrún, devotions for a Patron Saint before they fell into decline around the turn of the twentieth century.
The graveyard is also home to seven Arma Christi and Una has identified two since the team’s restoration of the site.
“One of them is very accessible and is on a panel of the headstone of Thomas Murphy who died in 1777,” said Una.
The cross the front of the graveyard was initially covered in moss and neglected. The efforts of the team saw tarmac put down, the base of the cross restored with patio slabs and fresh flower pots are tended to by Teresa Maher.
The team continued their work throughout the Covid-19 lockdown, adapting their work to comply restrictions. It became a valued social outlet during a period where many felt isolated.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do all this without the support of the county council,” said Paddy, who paid a particular tribute to Marie O’Donnell, Marian O’Neill and Aine Brett.
It was Aine Brett who instigated the idea of planting a wildflower patch at the left hand corner of the graveyard to attract a wide range of pollinators over the summer months.
Since the restoration, families from as far as Derry have come down to trace their ancestors.
The historical calligraphy on each gravestone is now visible and has uncovered a wealth of history about the parish.
The team are continuing to work on the site, with the aim to plant more trees, hedging and work on securing the ruins of the historical church.
“I think it down to the very good community we have here in Powerstown,” said Paddy. “I pass here going in and out of work, and it gives me great pleasure when you see people in the graveyard visiting graves.”
There are plans to hold graveyard masses on the scared grounds now that they are fully accessible to the public.
The restoration of the Old Powerstown graveyard restoration has proven how even the most arduous of tasks can bring out the best in a community.