The restoration of Leigue Cemetery in Ballina is one of the greatest community projects to be undertaken in the town in recent year. Orla Hearns reports.

Ballina’s Leigue Cemetery is amongst the oldest graveyards in Ireland.
Readers may not have been aware of that but if you are lucky enough not to have a loved one’s grave to visit then the graveyard is a place that would rarely cross your mind.
Leigue Cemetery, like so many others, fell into a serious state of neglect over the centuries. But the care and dedication of a local voluntary group has ensured that the ancient cemetery is now been lovingly restored.
In the last five years the Friends of Leigue Committee have transformed Leigue from a wild and overgrown place to a well maintained facility which offers those in mourning a calm and pleasant environment in which to remember their loved ones.
And in addition to this vital maintenance work they have highlighted the very ancient history of the graveyard and are working hard to ensure that it is properly conserved for future generations.
Committee members, Cllr Johnny O’Malley (Chairperson) and Louise Jordan(Secretary) spoke to the Western People about the committee’s work.
Louise Jordan, was one of the core founders of the group. She used to live in London but frequently travelled home to Ballina where she would visit her parents’ grave in Leigue.
“I used to get very annoyed about the state of the graveyard. I wrote to Johnny O’Malley when he was Cathaoirleach of Ballina Town Council and hetook up the challenge,” she explained.
A group came together in February 2001 and the Friends of Leigue Committee was formed. Many of the original committee had been members of previous groups who had undertaken and initiated work in Leigue under the guidance and direction of Mona Curry and Sr. Finbarr Martin.
Their initiative was welcomed warmly in Ballina. There had been an outcry from locals in relation to the state of the burial ground. It was felt that the rampant overgrowth of the cemetery suggested a great lack of respect for the people that had been laid to rest there, many of whom had done great service to Ballina during their lives.
“People who are burying a loved one should feel that they are leaving them in a proper and fitting place. Before any of this work was undertaken Leigue was in a wilderness. Not only did people have to clear their own family graves but they would often have to clear many around them too.
“Since we started this work a lot of graves have been done up and that is great. People would not have had the opportunity to do that before because they simply could not get access to their graves,” the committee members remarked.
At first the Friends of Leigue undertook restoration work themselves, clearing briars and cleaning the grounds once a month in the cemetery but soon realised that a more intensive effort would be required.
The Committee then approached Ballina Town Council and after a number of meetings with the then Town Clerk Mr Paul Benson formed a partnership.
They hired Seamus Neary and Joe Dineen to work in the cemetery and launched a fund raising campaign called “Beat the Briar”. Members of the public, local clubs and organisations frequently participated in clean-ups.
The cemetery was cleared of all of the briars and undergrowth. Extensive areas were reseeded. The Committee then, commenced on a path programme and to date in the region of 1500metres of concrete has been laid.
During 2004 the committee, in association with Ballina Town Council, prepared and re-kerbed the majority of the wider avenues for resurfacing with tarmacadam. These avenues are now completed and tarmacadamed.
Work on the outstanding avenues including drainage work will be completed in 2005. Ensuring that each and everyone has access to the graves of their loved ones.
The entrance/exit road has always been a problem particularly when there are two funerals on the one morning. The committee has approached the Sisters of Mercy with a view to getting the necessary land to create a new roadway into the cemetery while retaining the existing narrow road as an exit. The Town Council is now negotiating to acquire this property to bring this to fruition.
The Committee hopes to ultimately create a garden of remembrance where visitors to the cemetery can reflect in peace. It is also planned to install seating and toilet facilities.
In the course of the restoration works, the Committee has identified a non-Catholic burial plot in Leigue. This has been attended to and restored with new kerbing. The Friends of Leigue hope to commission and erect a headstone on the plot and arrange an ecumenical service at the grave.
The committee are eager to highlight the historical significance of the local cemetery and to ensure that its more ancient features are properly preserved. The burial ground is comprised of three sections. Part of stones ruins in the section known as Kilmoremoy can be dated back to the 6th century. Old Leigue can be dated back to the 4th century and St Patrick’s rock is located here.
In 2004 the committee, funded partly by the Heritage Council commissioned a conservation report carried out by Shirley Markley of Northwest Archaeological Services.
“We hope the conservation report will stress how historically important the graveyard is,” Cllr O’Malley said. “We would like to see it preserved especially the old church. The conservation report, which will map the way forward for the maintenance of the cemetery and the best ways to make it as accessible and safe and to preserve the historical monuments in a proper fashion.”
Prior to the founding of the Friends of Leigue, the original group compiled a record of details from all of the headstones in the cemetery. It is planned to eventually put this information on an accessible database and to draft a map of the cemetery to accompany it.
“The history of the town is buried down there. You could spend days just reading the headstones,” Louise remarked.
The committee’s achievements to date are undoubtedly impressive, especially when one considers that the Friends of Leigue are a voluntary organisation.
This is something that they wish to stress particularly in relation to how their activities are funded.
“In 2000 contractors were quoting £10,000 to clear just one area of the older part of the new cemetery. We feel we have given great value for money,” the Cllr O’Malley remarked.
“The Council are now giving us €20,000 funding in the year but we more than match that with our own fundraising,” Cllr O’Malley explained.
“The annual Cemetery gate collection in June and the door to door fundraising is the Committee’s primary source of funding. We conduct the door to door collection from the second week in September to the last week in November.”
Every year The Friends of Leigue agree on a Programme of work and consult with Ballina Town Council officials for technical advice.
They are grateful for the help they have received from Town Engineer Michael O’Grady, Manager Mr Seamus Granaghan, Town Clerk Ms Carmel Murphy, Supervisors Mr Sean McNulty, Mr Padraig McBain, former Town Engineer Mr Eddie Munnelly and Cemetery Caretaker Mr Gerry Ginty in this respect.
The Committee has also received invaluable support from Fr Michael Flynn, PP, Bishop Emeritus Tom Finnegan and Bishop John Fleming.
The public always responds generously to the Friends of Leigue’s collections. The Committee have made it clear that they could not succeed in their work without that support.
“We keep four people employed in the cemetery for 6-7 months of the year,” Cllr O’Malley said.
The committee would like to thank all the following staff for their hard and diligent work over the last four years: Paddy and Michael Lacken, Keith and Derek Egan, Seamus and Desmond Neary, Martin and Lester Lackey and Joe Dineen.
Committee members have travelled Ballina and the surrounding countryside on many a long winter night to fundraise. The support of the public is what keeps the group going:
“The community have been marvellous. People have been generous in their praises at almost every door we knock on when fundraising and they thank us for what we are doing,” Louise said.
“We have people up on 80 years of age who come out and collect with us. They are truly inspirational.”
But the Friends of Leigue is merely laying foundations for future generations to build on” “Whatever is done now has to be sustained into the future or else it will be a poor investment,” Cllr O’Malley remarked.
As Chairperson of the Committee he thanks the public for their generosity and assistance to date and appeals to them for their on going support.
The Committee would also like to hear from anyone interested in joining them. For more information please contact Johnny O’Malley at (096) 76786.