‘The Hilly Field’ in Clonmel - Residents want return of their right-of-way

Recently, members of the Glenconnor community walked to the entrance of “The Hilly Field” at the Heywood boundary of the estate. They were quietly, but firmly, asking for the re-opening of the right-of-way through the field which formerly linked the two areas of the estate - east and west.
This grassy pathway is, at least, a hundred years in existence, dating back to the development of the estate in 1926, for the accommodation of Irish men who had fought in World War I. Indeed, it may be much older, since a section of the old Riall lands, on the eastern side, was traditionally an unofficial “sportsfield,” where football and hurling matches were played, and to which access was gained via “Flaherty’s boreen,” which, now widened and paved, is the access road to the eastern (Heywood Road) side of the estate, while access from the townsland of Glenconnor may well have been via the Hilly Field.
But all of that is history. The facts are that, at least for a century, the right-of-way was the traditional route through which neighbour could visit neighbour, all sharing a very attractive, residential suburb. Its existence is acknowledged by the provision of access passage-ways and swing-gates on both sides.
The right-of-way was very short and could be traversed in three or four minutes. The alternative access via Glenconnor Road, Western Road, Heywood Road is, at least, over a mile in length. And this in a peaceful, well-functioning, attractive estate, of which The Hilly Field was a vital and much respected amenity.
Like so many amenities, its social function was accepted as permanent and unchanging until the time came when it was no longer available. The Hilly Field passed from the Soldiers and Sailors Trust into private ownership and became a building site. It’s claimed to facilitate development, the Planning Authority allowed for its temporary closure but as a result of an appeal by the Residents’ Association, it is claimed to have stipulated that the right-of-way should be preserved and re-opened within a specified time, allowing for the completion of construction. It is again claimed that that time was further extended to facilitate development, which now, it appears, to be complete.

However when the residents recently walked to the eastern entrance to the right-of-way, it was not possible to gain entrance or exit, because of blockage by a wall on the eastern side and piles of impassable rubbish on the western side, where the steps and short passageways are both overgrown and almost obliterated. And all of this at a time when it is prudent to preserve tracks and pathways, both recreationally and practically, because it is vital that we try to reduce carbon pollution from our cars.

A PLANNING CONDITION
It is claimed the Planning Authority acknowledged that environmentally prudent fact when a condition that the short track through the Hilly Field should be preserved. That acknowledgement is also said to have included the social integration of a neighbourhood.
The Hilly Field (essentially a rocky outcrop) has always been respected by the community. It has never been the subject of vandalism or of rowdy or anti-social activity. It was a simple facility, an amenity, used by the inhabitants of a very attractive, well-integrated community, imbued by a sense of place in a quiet green suburb of Clonmel.
In the recent demand to “Give us back our Hilly Field,” the residents were asking for no more than the restoration of a very simple, but treasured, amenity - a short grassy pathway - linking neighbours and which was enjoyed by a community for at least a hundred years.