Heritage: A future in our past

A development proposal for Clones by Brian MacDonald

Our heritage: a fragile resource

Son recent vents in Clones, when unforeseen circumstances threatened the future of St Tiernach’s Church of Ireland and posed an immediate danger to the historic Diamond of the town, brought home the sensitive and fragile nature of our heritage. For most of us, heritage is something that we have taken for granted, scarcely noticing the intrinsic value of the historic or archaeological sites that surround us until a visitor expresses an interest in them or when it is too late and we realise that another part of our past has been swept away by the deliberate or inadvertent actions of private individuals

or public bodies. In a community that has been traumatised to the extent that Clones has suffered, there is a natural wish to look forward rather than back. Thus ‘development’ proposals may be welcomed without sufficient reference to their impact on heritage, this despite the fact that Clones has more national monuments than most other towns.

In truth, the sterling work carried out by groups and individual enthusiasts in promoting heritage appreciation rarely impacts on the wider community and seldom results in follow-up action on the part of the local authority. Notwithstanding the wealth of heritage sites within Clones town and its immediate neighbourhood, there has been very little sense that this is a resource, both in terms of its intrinsic cultural value and also in terms of the wider economic benefits it can bring to the community. There has been silence as several old ‘slip’ streets, dating from the eighteenth century have been destroyed and as the process of dilapidation heralds the demise of many more. Even when prominent buildings of architectural and cultural merit — such as the railway station (closed in the late 1950's), the workhouse and the old convent — have been demolished, there was virtually no public outcry. Compare this with the widespread anger at changes to the town centre, not because the drab raised brickwork may be out of keeping with the historic open space of Ulster’s first Diamond, but on the basis that the changes restrict parking in the area!

For the most part, the destruction of heritage is born out of a lack of knowledge and is not a deliberate attempt to obliterate our past. A process of education and informed planning is essential, therefore, if we are to stop the rot. Such a process will involve a co-ordinated approach between the statutory authority and those voluntary agencies which have a specific interest in heritage issues. As it transcends party politics, heritage awareness and protection has the potential to provide a platform around which people of various political and religious persuasions can unite for the good of their community. Certainly, councillors in Clones of all political groupings have demonstrated undoubted goodwill towards heritage issues in recent years through support for the Famine commemoration project.

Enormous potential exists for the development of heritage-tourism in this area and it would be short-sighted to ignore the additional advantage of building meaningful cross-border and cross-community links around such a product. As the continued degradation of this heritage is the greatest enemy of such development, structures must be put in place whereby the statutory authorities and local development groups are linked into local, regional and national heritage agencies who will provide advice on proposed changes and can help to formulate long-term development plans. Within this context, I provide two specific proposals that might be considered.

Clones 1500     Specific events to commemorate 1,500 years since the foundation of the monastic settlement of Clones
Heritage Tours     The formation of a a series of heritage and landscape tours centred on Clones and it's hinterlands.

Conclusion:

While the main focus of development will continue to be in attracting industry and business to our town and in providing the infrastructure needed by our citizens, we have a responsibility to our heritage also. By protecting that heritage, by helping create public awareness of its riches, we will discover that the past offers an economic future through ‘heritage tourism’, a growth area within the overall tourist industry. Above all, however, by focussing attention on our shared heritage, we can forge a sense of pride in our community, a pride which can be harnessed in relation to other areas of development.