Visitor plan for historic graves

The team which identified the Irish tomb of Princess Diana’s great-great grandfather plans to open the graveyard to visitors as a part of a new, historic graves project.

The ancient Corkbeg cemetery in East Cork, where Diana’s ancestor, Edmond Roche, the 1st Baron of Fermoy, is buried, is among 10 historic graveyards which have been chosen to take part in the pilot phase of the Historical Graveyards Initiative, overseen by South and East Cork Area Development and funded by The Heritage Council.

The initiative, which grew out of a digital survey of some 20,000 headstones in 127 historic graveyards earlier this year, will see SECAD advising 10 community volunteer groups on the preparation of detailed conservation and maintenance plans for earmarked pre-17th century graveyards.