Stone piers reinstated at Reigh cemetery
Close to 100 steel crosses have been erected at the Reigh workhouse cemetery in Clogheen, which mark the approximate spots where people are buried at the site. Using stone markers that were lying there previously to guide the appropriate placement of the crosses, as well as the undulating ground surface, the crosses are intended to commemorate the 1,565 people who are buried there, victims of the Great Hunger and the brutal conditions in Clogheen workhouse under
British and Victorian capitalist rule.
Works are also being carried out on the perimeter of the cemetery and TheAvondhu met with John Hyland and stonemason Jim White recently, who were doing work on the exterior walls. They had already rebuilt the piers with natural stone, replacing the concrete brick ones that had stood there previously. The stone walls either side of the piers were being knocked down to be rebuilt again with the same materials.
Plans are also being made for an external perimeter fence to protect the site from deer, as well as a larger steel white cross which will be erected looking down over the cemetery from the eastern side.
The Reigh cemetery was opened in October 1849 and from then until February 1852, was the final resting place for 370 men, 365 women, 180 boys, 190 girls and 460 children. It was considered necessary as there were already 550 people buried in a mass grave in nearby Shanrahan cemetery, where an information board has been installed to mark the weekly death toll of the workhouse from April 1846 until September 1848.
The project is the brainchild of the former parish priest, Fr Bobby Power, who moved to a parish in Waterford at the beginning of the year, but is still overseeing plans from afar. It is intended to celebrate Mass at Reigh cemetery in the next month or so, with more details posted closer to the time.