Saving a link with pre-famine days

THERE’S an old saying in farming that from one generation to the next: “You should leave the place in a better state than when you got it,” and it’s a principle that a New-Inn farmer has adopted with a fair dash of enthusiasm.

Conor Deely, with the help of grant aid from the National Heritage Council, is in the process of conserving and repairing two stone buildings on his farm that he can date back to pre-famine times.

His grandfather, Patrick Deely, purchased the farm at New Inn around the time of the foundation of the State back in 1922, and always ensured that the farm and its outhouses were kept in spick and span shape.

“I suppose like everything else, with the passing of time the buildings gradually fell into a state of disrepair, but I remember them as a child being  well kept.

“I always had it in my head to try and bring them back as close as possible to the way they were, but knew that there would be a lot of work involved and a fair bit of money too,” said Conor.

This is where the Heritage Council special grants clicked in – available to farmers in the GLAS environmental scheme who have old buildings or sheds on their farm with strong links to the past.

The grants – up to 75% of the overall cost and with a ceiling of €25,000 – have enabled many farmers to ‘face into’ the prospect of ‘doing up’ an old shed or outhouse that in the past might have been wiped out with the belt of a machine bucket.

Back the years, the Deelys’ old buildings – located on the R348 New Inn to Kilconnell Road – had served many purposes such as animal housing, grain and wool storage, as well as a place to keep small pieces of farm machinery and tools. There was a place for a fire too, possibly for boiling spuds and grain for the pigs.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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