Kilcooley Church & Graveyard

Kilcooley Cemetery and Heritage Group were successful in their application for Community Monuments Fund 2025, awarded by National Monuments Service, Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage and administered through Galway County Council. Capital works conserved and consolidated both elevations of the west gable of the church, removing vegetation, repointing on a like for like basis and conserving decaying and dangerous stonework. Conservation works have also been successfully completed to the south wall of the vault and an area of the north wall of the vault. Areas of the internal door ope of the vault and reveal have also been conserved. Works were expertly carried out by heritage contractor Joe Costello.

Medieval Landscape

Kilcooley Church is the focal point of a nationally significant medieval landscape which includes the church itself, its surrounding graveyard both set within an ecclesiastical enclosure, medieval field system, enclosures, possible round houses and various other features together forming one of the most intact rural medieval landscapes in the country. Kilcooley Church is a recorded monument (RMP GA106-095001) in Galway County Council Ownership.

Recorded Monument

Kilcooley is a Recorded Monument in Galway County Council Ownership. Works were carried out under Section 14 Ministerial Consent, monitored by James Byrne, Archaeologist and overseen by Chris Southgate, Conservation Architect.  No Archaeological finds or deposits were identified during the project. The project ecologists Russell Chapman and Ruth Minogue of MEC Ecology were engaged to undertake a pre-works site visit, bat survey and Ecological Impact Assessment. No bats were identified during the ecological survey.

Conservation and Management Plan

The Conservation and Management Plan was prepared by Southgate and Associates & AMS through Heritage Council Community Grant Scheme and Galway Galway County Council Funding in 2022.