To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Connemara West undertook a graveyard mapping project of the seven local cemeteries and graveyards in the Parish of Ballinakill – Salruck, Tooreena, Renvyle, Letterfrack Boys Cemetery, Banogues, St Thomas and Ballinakill. The project was funded through Forum Connemara Leader programme and the work was carried out on the ground by local volunteers whose dedication to the project was limitless. The support and guidance from Marie Mannion, Heritage Officer, Galway County Council and the staff in the GIS Section of Galway County Council proved vital to the success of the project.
On the 14th August 2023, The Galway County Digital Mapping of Graveyards was launched in Ellis Hall in the Connemara West Centre in Letterfrack as part of National Heritage week. There was a huge turnout in Ellis Hall with heritage groups travelling from all over the County to the launch.
The Digital Mapping of Graveyards project was officially launched by Cllr Evelyn Parsons, Leas Cathaoirleach, Galway County Council. Marie Mannion, Heritage Officer, Galway County Council introduced the project and the speakers. Barry Doyle and Bridin Feeney, GIS Section of Galway County Council who were instrumental in getting this project off the ground gave a demonstration on how to use the updated digital mapping. Liam Hanrahan, Acting Chief Executive, Galway County Council, Frank Keane, Galway Rural Development and Karen Mannion, Forum Connemara all spoke about their support for the project. Antoinette Lydon from Oughterard Heritage spoke about mapping Kilcummin Graveyard and Jacina O’Flaherty spoke about the Ceantar na nOilean Digital Mapping project. Michael Gibbons who was involved in Connemara West graveyard mapping project spoke about the importance of the project and in preserving our heritage.
It was an honour for Connemara West to host the launch and we thank all our volunteers most sincerely for all their work on this important legacy project. We are also grateful to the Connemara West CE scheme for giving Ellis Hall a facelift and setting up Hall for the launch; we thank Grainne O’Malley and our colleagues from Connemara Community Radio for setting up the sound and WIFI systems; and we thank Tony Conneely and Jessica Thorp in the Wild Goat Cafe for the excellent catering.
Link to the Galway County Council Digital Mapping project galwaycoco.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html