Six Heritage projects receive funding under Community Monuments Fund; Earlier this week the Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, announced the award of grants for a wide range of archaeological heritage projects under the department’s 2022 Community Monuments Fund. Building on the impact of last year’s scheme, this year 128 projects are being supported with an overall investment of €6 million, with Waterford City and County Council awarded an allocation of over €220,000 for six projects.
Waterford City and County Council Heritage Officer Bernadette Guest welcomed the funding, an increase of over 100% on the 2021 allocation, which will support conservation repairs at Molana Abbey, Stradbally Church, St. Nicholas Church in Ring, St. Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, repair of historic stonework at Kilgobnet Graveyard and Geophysical Survey at Woodstown Viking Site.
“Allocation of funding will enable continuation of conservation works at these six unique heritage sites across County Waterford. By safeguarding these monuments into the future, local communities can take pride in their history, while visitors will be able to visit these sites and experience the rich heritage of the areas.
A total of eleven applications were submitted from Waterford and while only six of the projects were successful in the allocation of funding, Waterford City and County Council will work with the other five projects towards a resubmission in 2023. The funding scheme is very competitive, however all the project proposals demonstrated strong merit reflecting the great diversity of heritage and work of local heritage groups across the city and county.”
Mayor of Waterford City and County, Cllr Joe Kelly also welcomed the allocation of funding, citing the importance of the conservation of Waterford’s heritage. “This funding is crucial to allow us to retain and protect our heritage. Waterford’s history is embedded in its buildings and by preserving these structures we are preserving our history and fortifying our bonds with the past.”
He added, “This funding is essential in enabling stabilisation of our historic sites, along with important research on nationally significant sites such Woodstown Viking Site.”
The projects to receive funding under 2022 Community Monuments Fund are: St. Carthages, Lismore €30,000; Woodstown Viking Site €18,000; Stradbally Church €39,805; St. Nicholas Church, Ring €61,567; Molana Abbey €66,656 and Kilgobnet Graveyard €6,000.
The core objective of the Community Monuments Fund is to support the conservation, maintenance, protection and promotion of local monuments and historic sites. It contains a number of different measures aimed at enabling conservation works to be carried out on archaeological monuments which are deemed to be significant and in need of urgent support, encouraging access to archaeological monuments and improving their presentation and also building resilience in archaeological monuments to enable them to withstand the effects of climate change.
