Co. Mayo farmer Pat Chambers has participated in a video to highlight the value of the Traditional Farm Buildings Scheme (TFBS) which didn’t just salvage his old farm building, but uncovered documents that gave him a glimpse into historic happenings on his farm.
Just a few short years ago, the old stone byre near Burrishoole, Co. Mayo, which had been in Pat’s family for over 100 years, was facing demolition.
The farm building, and historic items of great importance which had been hidden in the walls of the house beside it, were preserved, thanks to Pat’s decision to avail of TBES, which is managed by the Heritage Council, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Pat said the project was important because otherwise he would have knocked the building and replaced it with a modern structure which wouldn’t have looked good.
“The building is there for over 100 years. It belonged to my granduncle and grandaunt, Mary and Tom Mulchrone and it’s in the family for three or four generations,” he explained in a Heritage Council video.
“The expertise of the Heritage Council for us was unbelievable. Without the 75% grant aid, there is no way we would have been able to carry through with the project.”
Hidden treasure
The highlight of the project, Pat said, was the day the contractors started work on the building.
“I got a phone call about 12:30p.m on the day, to say ‘come over here. We have something to show you’,” he said.
“I went over to the glass jar hidden in the wall, full of letters and documents and receipts from 100 years ago from the time of the Troubles relating to a local lad, Jim Moran, who was shot here in Newport on March 7, 1923.
“There was a letter from Sean Lemass who later became Taoiseach and there were songs and poems about local heroes who fought in the Troubles.”
“My granduncle and grandaunt would have been very involved in the Troubles in Newport and I suppose the house that is beside the old shed there now would have been a safe house at the time of the Troubles,” Pat said
“A lot of lads that were on the run would come in early in the morning or late at night for food and hot drinks.
“There is one letter that is that jar that is from America telling him that his nephew had been shot in the troubles, so there is a lot of very interesting documents in the jar.”
TFBS
The project kicked off when Pat’s wife Liz downloaded the application form.
“The application process was very thorough,” Pat said.
“There are 20 marks for the five criteria and I think the one that got us over the line would have been the landscape. Burrishoole Loop Walk and now Great Western Greenway have run side by side.
“I would be telling any farmer that has an old traditional building on his farm definitely, go for the grant aid.
“If I was driving along the road now, before I got the grant myself, I wouldn’t take much notice. Now every old building I see, I say ‘I hope they will some day avail of the grant aid and do up those old buildings’,” Pat said.
Following confirmation of funding from the DAFM, the 2023 traditional farm buildings grant scheme is open for applications.