Kilmanman
Community-led conservation works started at the medieval Church at Kilmanman near Clonaslee in 2019. Fears for the survival of the medieval church ruins had been raised by members of the local graveyard committee, and help was sought from the Culture Team at Laois County Council.
Following two years of successful conservation work with the support of Creative Ireland Laois, the site is now part of the Just Transition-funded Conservation and Pollination project.
Committee members, members of Clonaslee High Nelly Club, Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer, Colm Flynn, Archaeologist and Jethro Sheen, Sheen Stoneworks at Kilmanman Church, Clonaslee.
In 2019 and 20202 conservation was supported with funding from the Creative Ireland Laois Programme, and supported by Clonaslee Community Development Association and local residents. Technical advice was provided by Mountmellick based archaeologist Colm Flynn, and experienced conservation engineer, Aoife Murphy, working for David Kelly Partnership. As the site is so sensitive, permission for the works was sought from the National Monuments Service of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and conservation work was carried out by stonemason Jethro Sheen. Our thanks to Creative Ireland Laois for support of this project.
Kilmanman Church and Graveyard after two stages of conservation works March 2021, photo by Alf Harvey (c)