Prehistoric burial site ‘was damaged by cyclists’
FORTY cyclists have damaged a prehistoric burial site in Co Tyrone, a councillor has said.
The SDLP’S Sharon Mcaleer told Mid Ulster District Council’s environment committee that up to 100 people arrived at Knockmany Forest near Augher on Sunday.
Ms Mcaleer said 40 cyclists were seen riding over Queen Anya’s burial site at the summit of Knockmany Hill.
Anya’s Tomb dates back thousands of years and features 12 huge upright stones.
“I have been made aware of an issue that happened at Knockmany on Sunday where up to 100 (cyclists) had come to the car park and taken up all the parking spaces,” she added.
“Unfortunately, 40 were counted going over the burial site, which is just not acceptable.
“They dug up all the ground and then proceeded to go down through the forest and destroy the wildlife and nature along the way.”
Ms Mcaleer stressed that while she had previously raised the matter with council officers, she was returning to it because it was an “urgent situation”.
“These (cyclists) have been coming since last year. Following some negotiations, they had eased off,” she said.
“These are not local (cyclists) — they would not dream of going up that area — and I am very concerned because the area is being slowly destroyed.”
The DUP’S Frances Burton agreed with her colleague and urged the council to take action.
“It is a disgrace and it is ridiculous that this has happened,” she said. “When you look at the amount of people out walking in forests, there is hardly a forest in the area that is not busy.
“There seems to be a lot of people using them at present, but this littering and the parking situation has resulted in distress for those who live close to these areas.
“Some are now housebound because people have parked over their entrances.
“I was at the Brantry (lough) on Sunday and there were a lot of (vehicles) parked on the banks.
“There are a number of local people very unhappy about the state of the road because of the amount of vehicles. The Roads Service does not seem interested, so we as a council have a bit of work in these areas as the traffic and litter problems caused by an increase in visitor numbers really frustrate local people.”
The council said a biodiversity officer would be tasked to assess the damage and produce a longterm plan to repair it.