The Mount Temple Holy Trinity Graveyard Group launched its second series of videos last weekend which further celebrates the heritage in the townlands of Mount Temple, Baylin and Moydrum areas.
The video which is titled ‘In the Footsteps of History’ focuses on the Holy Trinity Church and graveyard which can be found in the core of Mount Temple village. This is the location of the former medieval parish church of Ballyloughloe, an upright portion of which still survives today above ground.
At some later stage, probably in the eighteenth century a new second church was constructed some 9 meters to the west of the visible portion of the medieval church. This later Church of Ireland church was used for worship until 1955. People buried within the graveyard are of various denominations such as Church of Ireland, Roman Catholic and Quakers. The church and graveyard are owned by the Church of Ireland, the Athlone Union of Parishes.
Chairman of the group Cllr. Frankie Keena paid tribute and sincere thanks to the local community for volunteering their time and expertise to help clean up the graveyard and also for their generous financial contributions to cover ongoing maintenance. It is now accessible for the public to visit and view the headstones.
“Last year, we were very fortunate to receive a Creative Ireland grant via Westmeath County Council Arts Officer to create four videos of various heritage sites throughout the locality. On receiving this we engaged the professional services of Bailey and Blake Productions and archaeologist, Eoin Sullivan, to assist us on this project.
The expertise and knowledge from Bailey and Blake Productions and Gort Archaeology in producing and developing this video was fantastic. Also, Bernie Norris, Genealogy Officer at Dun Na Si Amenity and Heritage Park was a marvellous help and support to us.
The video has been uploaded on the Mount Temple Baylin Heritage Group’s facebook page and we are delighted to note that so far we have reached 11,500 people with 4,400 views within three days,” Cllr. Keena enthused.
