Service in refurbished Kilmessan cemetery

The first ecumenical Service in many years will be held this week in St Mary's Church of Ireland Cemetery in Kilmessan. The cemetery has undergone a clean-up and the repair of gravestones, which had been vandalised in recent years. The impetus for the clean-up and the ceremony came from the vandalism of seven headstones in the cemetery, some dating back to the 1700s. A local committee got together following the vandalism incidents, and formed a restoration group. The cemetery is interdenominational, which served the parish of Kilmessan and Dunsany, and many ancestors of families still living in the area are buried in it. The earliest headstone recorded which is legible is inscribed 'Here lyeth the body of John Dungan who departed this life February 8th 1739'. Members of this family still reside in both Dunsany and Kilmessan. Other burial plots include that of the Delany family, later prominent in Dunshaughlin and Drumree and counting Olympic athlete Ronnie Delany amongst them. A deconsecrated church building also stands on the grounds, now owned by Meath County Council and used by the local bowls club. The church was built in 1731 and was capable of holding 150 people. A record in the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette on 12th November 1807, says that the Church "has been in the hands of contractor Mr McDonald of Drogheda who has carried out extensive alterations on the plans of Mr JF Fuller in the most praiseworthy manner. The ceiling of the old building has been removed and the roof lined with a pitch pine and supported with beams and rafters of the same material. A chancel has been built, beautifully tiled throughout and entered by white marble steps. New windows of cathedral glass, fitted in stone mullions of gothic style, have replaced the non-descript ones. The central aisles have been laid with tiles in an ecclesiastical pattern. A beautiful pitch-pine pulpit has been presented to the Church." The last service held in the church was on Trinity Sunday 1966, and it was deconsecrated in February 1975. For a period, it was used as a branch library. The stained glass windows in the church, imported from Germany by the Preston family, were also damaged in the vandalism, and were boarded up by the bowls club. A grant was received from the Meath County Council's Community Grants Scheme to restore the damaged monuments, and the work was carried out by Kells-based Professional Conservation Solutions. The ecumenical Service, followed by refreshments in the church, will take place tomorrow (Thursday) evening, 12th August, at 7.30pm, and will be conducted by Dean Robert Jones of Trim and Kilmessan parish priest, Fr Terry Toner. Anybody who has family connections with the cemetery is welcome to attend.