Ballisodare new cemetery to open
BALLISODARE has decided to “go it alone” and develop its own new cemetery with one of the most picturesque views in Sligo.
The village has been without their own cemetery for over thirty years, with locals currently having to be buried in Collooney.
That’s all about to change. From the end of May, locals can bury their loved ones in a 6.5 acre panoramic site half way between St Brigid’s Church at Corhownagh and Ballisodare village.
“It’s been required because the cemetery in Ballisodare beside St Feichin’s Church has been closed for a generation,” said Chairman of Ballisodare Parish Council Jim Ganley.
“There’s a lot of people like myself who came here 35 years ago and who have no connection with Collooney cemetery whatsoever,” he told The Sligo Champion.
Work started on the ¤ 250,000 cemetery in February and is due to be complete by the end of the month. It will have 2,800 grave spaces, car parking for 115 cars, a Columbarium ( memorial wall) for the placing of cremated remains.
Areas around the car park will be planted with a variety of evergreen and flowering shrubs.
Given that the burial area will be developed incrementally over time, the unused ground at the northern end of the site will become a wild meadow of tall- stem grasses and a broad variety of wild flowering annuals to enhance bio- diversity.
The graveyard will be open to “persons of all faiths and none” according to the Parish Council.
Jim Ganley said the project was driven by the community after Sligo County Council told them that there was no money to purchase and develop a new cemetery in Ballisodare.
The Parish Finance Committee and parish priest Fr Tommy Towey seized the opportunity to buy the site when it became available in late 2015.
“It’s a genuinely community- led project. Experts and professionals from within the community gave freely of their skills and competence at zero cost,” he said.
The village is now planning to hold some fundraising events in the community to pay off the loan, as well as offering people the opportunity to pre- purchase family plots in the cemetery.