Heritage Funding for West Cavan Sites

  Drumlane Abbey € 84,698.50 Moneygashel Cashel € 14,491.86 St. Mogue’s Island € 15,473.40
Significant funding has been allocated to Cavan County Council under the National Community Monuments Fund for three important sites in West Cavan.
Drumlane Abbey has been allocated €84,690.50 under Stream 1 to complete urgent conservation work in particular to the perimeter wall. In recent years community engagement at this site has greatly improved and working closely with Cavan County Council progress has been made on a number of small projects all of which will greatly enhance the visitor experience at Drumlane Abbey which is a Cuilcagh Lakeslands Geopark Site, protect the archaeology and also acknowledge that the site remains the burial ground for the local community. I met with members of Drumlane Heritage Group around this time last year and again earlier this year as well as many calls and e-mails to advance this project.
Moneygashel Cashel, located near Cavan Burren Park is regarded as one of the best preserved ring forts in Ulster. Cavan County Council has, over recent years greatly improved access to the site but it still is well below the standard which we all would like for a site of this importance. The allocation of €15,473.40 will go some of the way to carrying out further improvements.
St Mogue’s Island, near Bawnboy is a very important site closely associated with the life of St Mogue and from which the famous ‘Mogue’s Clay’ is taken. The allocation of €14,491.86 will allow Cavan County Council prepare a detailed management plan to identify future measures to improve public access and conserve the archaeology of the site.
I want to acknowledge the work of Deputy Brendan Smith in engaging with the Department of Heritage over recent months to make the case for this funding based on the very comprehensive applications prepared by Anne-Marie Ward, Heritage officer of Cavan County Council and Granny O’Connor Geopark Manager both of whom have done a massive amount of work on these applications and will lead on the implementation of the works.