Long-awaited new Tipperary cemetery officially opens
A long-awaited new cemetery has opened in Tipperary, ensuring local residents can continue to be buried in their home area.
Calvary Cemetery in Fethard was first opened in 1931, but had run out of capacity for new burials. To address this issue, Tipperary County Council have opened a new lawn cemetery in the town.
The new graveyard was officially opened by Sinn Féin councillor and Cathaoirleach of the Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District David Dunne, who said that the local authority had remained cognisant of the fact that people would want to be buried in their own area.
The new Fethard Lawn Cemetery will have space for 1,000 burial plots, and will be developed in three phases over the coming years as demand dictates.
Tipperary County Council faced issues in securing a suitable site for the new burial ground, but eventually, a deal was done with Patricia Maher, who gave a two and a half acre plot to the council so the new cemetery could be developed.
As well as the traditional burial plots, Fethard Lawn Cemetery will also feature a columbarium wall for the interment of ashes of people who have been cremated, reflecting the rise in cremations in recent years.
The new cemetery will also have a row of urn plots, where people’s ashes can be buried after a cremation, providing an alternative option for people who don’t want their loved ones interred in a columbarium wall.
Fethard Lawn Cemetery is the first cemetery provided by Tipperary County Council to feature these urn plots. Other burial grounds across the county are being retrofitted with these types of plots.
Pedestrian access to the Fethard Lawn Cemetery will be provided from Calvary Cemetery at a number of points, affording ease of walking from one graveyard to the other.
These access points will also facilitate parking at Fethard Lawn Cemetery car park for people attending interments and other events at Calvary Cemetery where parking facilities are somewhat restricted, the council said.
At the official opening ceremony of the new cemetery, it was blessed by the Very Rev. Liam Everard, parish priest of Fethard and Killusty, assisted by Rev. Henry Mc Namara of Augustinian Abbey in Fethard, and the Very Rev. James Mulhall, Dean of Cashel, in his capacity as Priest-in-Charge of the Clonmel Union of Parishes.
The ceremony marked the official opening of a facility expected to serve the Fethard community for generations to come.