Kilskeagh Heritage Committee will host two events during this year’s Heritage Week highlighting the work carried out at this important archaeological and historical site over the past three years.
The clearance of the site in recent times has uncovered an important landscape from the past- with visible remains of a medieval church, structures which may date to the medieval period and to the old market town which once thrived in the area, as well as a graveyard that was in use by the community for hundreds of years. The Heritage Council Community Heritage Grant has provided support for the work on the site in 2023 and 2025.
In 2025 Kilskeagh Heritage Committee commissioned a full aerial LiDAR and photogrammetric survey of the archaeological remains at Kilskeagh. At 7pm on Thursday, August 21 in the Lackagh Parish Centre, Paul Naessens of Western Aerial Survey will deliver a presentation which reveal the results of that survey and the archaeological richness of the overall landscape at Kilskeagh.
The surveys show that Kilskeagh was, in the high medieval period, an unusually busy and concentrated landscape comprising Gaelic Irish high-status, Anglo-Norman and Ecclesiastical settlements, the remains of which were not until now fully explored or understood.
A blessing of the graves in the Old Kilskeagh Graveyard will take place at 7pm on Friday, August 22. This will be the first blessing of this abandoned graveyard for more than 100 years, which up until two years ago was completely hidden by overgrowth and inaccessible to the public. There will also be two short talks on the evening – one by the project archaeologist Donna Gilligan regarding the amazing history of this ancient site, as well as a talk by the project ecologist John Lusby on the site’s rich biodiversity.
Those attending on the evening will need to give themselves ample time to enter the route into the graveyard. Those wishing to access the site should be aware that the cleared pathway to the graveyard through the overgrowth is on very rough, uneven ground which may be slippy – older visitors will need close assistance and time to walk the path safely. Chairs/stools should be brought along by people who may need them for the duration of the event.
There will be a steward on the road at the access point in Kilskeagh at H65 X290. From here, visitors can walk or drive through Spellman’s fields to the boundary wall of the graveyard site, and walk the 150 yards into the graveyard. Kilskeagh Heritage Committee chairman John Tarpey can be contacted at 087 4175388 for any enquiries about the event.
Both events are free, no booking is required and everyone is welcome to attend to learn about their local history.
