Kilkenny councillor calls for ancient St John’s graveyard wall to be lowered

A county councillor has called for the boundary wall at the historic St John’s graveyard to be lowered.

Councillor Eugene McGuinness had a motion before the Kilkenny City Municipal District asking Kilkenny County Council to contact the relevant authority and ask them to consider lowering the height of the stone boundary wall on St John’s Graveyard on the Dublin Road side by one metre.

Cllr McGuinness said that this would ‘open up the view of this ancient and historic cemetery’ and he also asked that ‘a year-round cleaning and maintenance programme be put in place to ensure the proper and respectful upkeep of such an important part of Kilkenny’s history.

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The independent councillor also called for ‘hideous steel railing’ erected by Kilkenny County Council to be removed.

Cllr McGuinness remarked that the graveyard is home to over 90 historic monuments dating back to the 1600s, adding that there were numerous bishops and mayors interred there. He also said that the removal of some of the wall would help ‘stop anti-social behaviour and littering’.

“I don’t want what happened to Pottersfield in Assumption Place, when they removed the headstones and did not replace them and now it is a play area with no sign of its history,” he said.

“To open up the cemetery and the view of Kilkenny would be fantastic.”

The motion was also supported by Cllr Maria Dollard but she added that she would be concerned about the lowering of the wall as it is a protected structure.

Director of Services Tim Butler said that the graveyard was not one of the 150 graveyards vested to the council but was run by St John’s Parish, adding that the council would engage with the parish.
Heritage

“We do not have funding to go and lift headstones and put them in a better position. This is a heritage site,” he said. “It is not realistic to say we have funding to assist but we can engage with St John’s Parish.

“The wall is a protected structure and we are custodians,” he added. “This is not something that we can interfere with.”