Corpo agree to take over Bully’s Acre for a new public park

April 1989

A proposal that the Corporation take over Bully’s Acre (left) near Calvary Cemetery in Drogheda and turn it into a public park met with opposition at a meeting of the local authority last week because the area concerned is sacred ground.

Ald. Con O’Brien said the property should be respected as a burial ground and not turned into a public park where people would play football.

However, Ald. Fergus O’Dowd’s motion found majority support and over the next few years the Corporation is to work on turning Bully’s Acre into a public park, “not where people will play football but where they can go for quiet walks.”

Ald. O’Dowd told the meeting that he was preparing a detailed history of Bully’s Acre which he hoped would be published.

He outlined a brief history on the site over the past 150 years, where, he said, during pre-famine and famine times people who had lost their respect in the community went to die.

Ald O’Dowd said the Corporation should put a little bit of happiness into the place, turn it into a public park, not necessarily for football or even with a playground, but a place with public seating and quiet walks.

The Mayor, Senator Jimmy Mulroy complimented Ald. O’Dowd for his research and referred to the motion as very worthwhile. Coir. Peter Moore seconded the motion, saying it was a very proper way to pay tribute to the people who died in “The Spike” all those years ago.

Coir. Frank Godfrey said the park, if the Corporation could legally obtain it from the health board, should be renamed Whitworth Park. Ald. O’Brien said he remembered one of the last people to be buried at Bully’s Acre. It was sacred ground and should be respected as such. To have it turned into a public football park and be used and abused by certain individuals wouldn’t be right, he said.

Ald. O’Dowd said he had spoken with Fr. O’Reilly and was told there were no objections from a religious point of view. Ald. Tommy Murphy said he accepted what Ald. O’Brien said, but he felt the nettle should be grasped and something should be done.

Ald. Con O’Brien said he would take the matter up with the North Eastern Health Board and ask them for a transfer of property.

Colr. Ray Dempsey said Bully’s Acre estate was a disgrace in its present condition. Ald. O’Brien agreed with Colr. Betty Bell when she said some general tidying up should be done and Mass said there every summer.

The Corporation agreed in principal to develop the property into a public park.