John Tierney's blog

Community archaeology is all about relationships. It takes time to build a relationship and effort to maintain it. For a heritage project relationship to work, to sustain, there must be equal benefits for each participant. In graveyard surveys the Historic Graves team look to publish good quality survey data while learning about a new place. Our participating groups look to learn a new skill (graveyard survey) and to do real work.

It’s not that we haven’t been here (Covid-19 pandemic )before. It’s just that we’ve locked away the memories.

Deep knowledge and measuring time in Ballyhoura. Tracing the Peter Robinson Settler’s origins.

It would appear that there will be no Heritage Council community grants in 2019 (https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/news/news-features/working-with-communiti...).

This isn't good enough as local communities throughout Ireland now have no specific heritage funding source. Faic, mar a deirfá!

Decency has come up on this website before when discussing past and present burial practices. It seems an archaic term; reminds me of the way our teacher's used to talk in school in the 70s and 80s, and come to think of it, the word 'decent' pronounced 'daycent' was regularly used by Cork teenagers in those days, meaning good or great. 'We're playing Carrigaline in the semi-final!' 'Daycent, we beat them last time!'. But when used in the context of burial it refers to respectful treatment of the dead.

Years ago I used to teach on a post-leaving cert heritage course in Cork city. We taught that Cultural Heritage has tangible and intangible elements. And that the tangible elements consist of built heritage and natural heritage. While we separated these elements they are all interconnected and potentially susceptible to damage. The Dept of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht are asking the public to engage with a consultation process (closing date 28 February 2019) to develop a National Heritage Plan and the relevant information can be found here.

Mick Gibbons put a few photographs on facebook of a graveyard in Mayo where the whole interior of an historic graveyard has been covered in gravel. Not just gravel paths, but the whole interior. I normally don't comment on those kinds of blunders being a firm believer in 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone'. However, I did share Mick's photo on our facebook page and I'm going to use it here again. For the simple purpose of trying to explain why it was a blunder. Probably well intentioned, and probably done by decent people, but still a blunder.