2024:193 - KIlbride Church and Graveyard, Baytown, Meath

Following local representations, Meath County Council proposed repairing two tilting entrance piers to Kilbride Graveyard, Baytown. The works comprised two roughly 1 sq. m areas and the iron gate was reused on the reconstructed piers. No excavations were necessary. A new wooden handrail had been placed here by the local graveyard committee. This was fixed to the ground with small, driven, wooden posts sometime in early 2024 and is considered a temporary structure.
Consent was given as C1355; E5683 and the works were completed in summer 2024 by Greg Smith Conservation. In order to re-hang the gate so that it opened and closed correctly, it was necessary to dismantle and rebuild both gate piers. The gates had a complete 3-D survey before the works began. The monolithic capstones were then removed and the rubble build of the piers dismantled. The base was then consolidated with a stone and lime mortar pad and a central core of concrete blocks bonded with lime mortar was built up for each pier. This provided the necessary hanging points for the gate – and the original pivot stone was reused. In plan, the circular, rubble stonework was then rebuilt, using the original stone as far as possible, around the concrete core to recreate the circular piers. The projecting ‘gate stop’ stones in the southern pier were rebuilt in the same place. The monolithic capstones were replaced and the piers tied into the graveyard boundary wall. No reused church stones or any archaeological objects or samples were recovered.
It was decided not to recoat the piers with a whitewashed nap render that would probably have been their original form.

C/o Meath County Council