THE old Church of Ireland church and graveyard, on Church Road, in
the centre of Bantry town was, until recently, completely overgrown and
inaccessible to the public.However, following a year of restoration work, the site is now open during the day, and it is hoped both Bantry people and tourists alike will take some time to walk around this impressive old walled graveyard.
The church may have been built as early as the 1720s, but it was certainly built by 1749, when it is mentioned in a traveller’s report. This makes Garryvurcha Church one of the oldest buildings in the town.
It was abandoned around 1820 when St Brendan’s Church, on the Square, was built. After this date the inside of the church became part of the graveyard.
Burials continued up until the mid-1980s, with some locals remembering seeing a hearse reversing in through the narrow gates (a list of the people buried in the graveyard was made in 1955 and a copy is in Bantry Library).
It is believed that the site was also used as a Roman Catholic burial ground, and it is likely many Catholics were buried there during the famine (particularly at the north-east corner of the graveyard).
During the restoration work, much of the overhanging ivy was trimmed back, some tombs which had fallen apart were put back together, all the headstones and graves were made visible, and the entire site was cleaned up to allow people to walk around freely.
It was discovered during this work that both the long south wall, and the west gable and bell-cot, have some structural problems and as such both are cordoned off with fencing at the moment, pending future fundraising and professional conservation work.
However, the majority of the site is now accessible to the public. A path has also been constructed around the graveyard, and all the ironwork on site will in time be sanded down and painted to ensure its preservation.
This work would not have been possible without the help of many people.
Most importantly, John Regan and Gary Dearle of West Cork Training and Development Scheme, for all their hard work over many months.
Thanks were also extended to Cllr Mary Hegarty, Gearoid O’Leary and Tommy Murray; to Ruth O’Brien, Jim Collins and Mary Sleeman (Cork County Council); to Mike O’Shea, Anthony Power, Ian and Andrew Hurley, Martin Donaldson, Ted Daly, Liam Young, Jimmy Abbot and John McCarthy.
Finally, thanks were extended to those who gave donations, in particular the American-Ireland Fund.