Heritage Week 2022 - Old Connaught Church and Graveyard

Visitors to Old Connaught on 14 August 2022
Ed Hick

The Medieval Bray Project’s volunteers have been working along with others on a project relating to the ruined medieval church and graveyard situated on Old Connaught Avenue south of Bray.  This work has had multiple aims described below.

Improving access

The first aim has been to try to control, at least to some extent, the vegetation, largely invasive species, within the graveyard and the church itself, and to restore a path leading to the church, with the assistance of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

Following on from this work and as a part of Heritage Week 2022, the church and graveyard, which are normally closed, were opened to visitors from 10 a.m. to 12.00 noon on Sunday 14 August and Sunday 21 August.  A large number of people, estimated at between 70 and 100, attended on each day and information was provided to them through leaflets, a previous headstone survey and by the Medieval Bray Project’s volunteers.   Some visitors had a general interest while others were seeking information relating to specific burials and, in some cases, were able to locate these in the graveyard.

Plants and Biodiversity

As part of its work, the Project commissioned a survey of the plants in the graveyard by Dr. Tom Curtis, which is available in another post on this site.  The clearance work in the graveyard has not involved the use of any pesticides.

Sharing information

The Project has also produced a leaflet about various aspects of site.  This is available locally or it can be viewed and downloaded by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.   It has also produced a longer article about the history of the site and this is also available in another post on this site.

Headstone Survey

A survey is in progress by Robert Harris who works with the Roaringwater Journal that will provide a list of the surviving headstones in the cemetery and plot their location on a map.  This will available online in due course.  There are, of course, in all likelihood, a large number of other burials whose wooden or metal markers don’t survive but this survey should provide a useful resource.

Downloads

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