As the glorious weather looks set to come to an end over the coming days and with autumn just around the corner we thought we would share some images of our multiple award winning Walled Heritage Garden. The garden beautifully maintained by our wonderful gardeners from R&R Nurseries, Foxford, provides a tranquil haven right here in the centre of Ballina. As well as an array of beautiful flowers, we grow our own organic vegetables; have a variety of heritage apple trees, a selection of herbs and even a rhubarb patch! The garden is visited by many species of native birds including, robins, blue tits and starlings to name just a few. Nestled in one corner we even have our very own bug hotel, creating a safe space for the creepy crawlies and bees that help to pollinate our plants. The beautifully maintained lawn has a seating area allowing you to take in the wonderful scenery as you take time out of your busy day, to enjoy a coffee, a spot of lunch or just some well-earned peace and quiet! So why not come and see us, entry to both the Collection and our award winning garden is free, we are open Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00am until 5.00pm, we look forward to seeing you soon! #biodiversity #openspaces #greenflagaward

Discover our wonderful towns hidden history with a walking tour! Copy and paste the link below into your browser for more details! https://ballinawalkingtours.simplybook.it/v2/

From Arlington to Glasnevin – Part Four But Glasnevin also boasts some beautiful trees, several of them standing majestically for as long as the burial grounds exist-proud Witness Trees to the many events this cemetery has experienced since its conception. One, today a huge sequoia, would have caught PH Pearse's voice uttering his challenging words at the 1915 funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa: The fools, the fools, the fools, they have left us our Fenian dead... It would also have seen a Dublin mother clutching a heart-shaped wreath making her way into the entrance hall of the museum, enquiring emotionally about the final resting place of her baby son, who lived for three hours in a Dublin hospital many years ago. The tree may have sensed the anguish of decades suffered by this poor lady, and maybe it continued to observe silently as Glasnevin staff performed their vital and wonderful task. Above all, this working museum is an essential visit for anyone lucky enough to be near Dublin, with an interest in Irish social, political, or historical life.

From Arlington to Glasnevin – Part Three On the Free State side lies the man considered by many to be the greatest loss, Michael Collins, erst- while dear friend of Harry Boland, shot by his former comrades in an ambush near his home town in Cork; and across there lies Arthur Griffith, who in life had toiled ceaselessly on behalf of his beloved Ireland. Arthur Griffith died of natural causes. No harsh violence snatched away his final breath. But I also recalled a display case in Kilmainham Jail Museum where I had reproachfully lined up four In Memoriam cards for these four men, attempting to emphasise their great loss to the country. Standing now on ground not wholly past and not wholly present, I could almost line up their bodies, so closely do they repose in eternity. The soft spring day hurts. A stone's throw away lies Erskine Childers, executed by former comrades on a cold November 1922 civil war dawn in Beggar's Bush Barracks, Dublin. Turning in yet a different direction I can locate the grave of Frank Gallagher, who wrote in his prison diary about his friend Childers: "But to kill him men must be in his presence, and are there men in Ireland who could kill such a man looking into his eyes?... They have killed him. They killed him this morning at 7 o'clock... It was not fully light then, perhaps that is why" This immense and often sorrowful necropolis forces you to consider your own mortality, and to recognise that there are so many others whose lives we will never be in a position to describe. The cemetery ground contains a Cholera Pit, dating from the cholera outbreak of the early 1830's. This is the chosen burial place of Charles Stewart Parnell, MP of the Irish Parliamentary Party, President of the Land League, and also known as the Uncrowned King of Ireland. He is said to have selected this spot in order to spend eternity in the presence of the poorest of Ireland. Glasnevin contains a Fever Pit, used as a communal burial ground for some of the countless and nameless poor of Dublin who perished during the Great Hunger of 1845-1852, their bodies wracked with fever or starvation.

From Arlington to Glasnevin – Part Two I first went on a tour of Glasnevin Cemetery nearly forty years ago with a member of the Kilmainham Jail Restoration Society, whose moving oratory had also inspired me to join in the voluntary work to save the old jail. When a friend of mine from Kilmainham started her new job in Glasnevin's new museum, opened in April, 2010, I was curious to see once again this silent city of the dead and revisit the burial places of Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, John O'Leary and the many other patriots, known and unknown, who lie there still today. Restoration work in the old cemetery was ongoing and wonderfully evident. The grounds are quite simply beautiful, and on that mild spring day among the fresh green lawns and ancient headstones, I could discern numerous old railings with their 'restored" ribbons fluttering softly in the breeze, in addition to the many aged tombstones also clearly marked as having been recently repaired. Yet despite this renewal, a gentle sense of sorrow, sacrifice and pride filtered through uninterrupted as I recognised names of various men and women, some of whom had been imprisoned in Kilmainham, and all of whose histories I had learned so well in the lengthy interval between my visits to Glasnevin, In this hallowed ground lie old friends and foes, leading figures who became victims of the cruel civil war months of July and August 1922 alone. On the Republican side is Cathal Brugha, who emerged from the Hammam Hotel in Dublin in early July, a revolver in each hand, defying his former colleagues to take action. Nearby lie the remains of Harry Boland, who died on 1 August. On his death- bed he told his sister he would never reveal to her the name of the former 1916 comrade who had shot him in a hotel in Skerries.

Today the Jackie Clarke Collection is proud to present another article by our long standing volunteer, renowned author and former archivist at Kilmainham Jail, Niamh O'Sullivan. This article about Ireland’s most famous cemetery was first published in the Irish American News, a newspaper which focuses on news and information specifically for the Irish American community in the US, we hope you enjoy it! From Arlington to Glasnevin – Part One By Niamh O'Sullivan When asked to reflect on illustrious burial places, American people might call to mind Arlington National Cemetery with its many patriotic dead. They might think perhaps of the Eternal Flame shimmering loyally over the grave of John F Kennedy. Some historically minded Americans might possibly return to Arlington's origins as a cemetery, when, towards the end of the American civil war in May and June, 1864, the then Quarter Master General of the US. Army, Montgomery Meigs, suggested that Arlington Mansion, pre-war home to General Robert E. Lee and his family, be transformed into 'a field of honour." The first Union soldiers were interred during the summer of 1864, in the Lee family's former flower garden. Irish people would envision Glasnevin Cemetery, which was founded in Dublin by Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator-celebrated Irish politician, lawyer and orator. Prospect Cemetery, the name by which it was first known, was established by O'Connell to grant people of all religions and none a dignified and safe place to bury their dead. An eleven year old boy from Francis Street, Michael Carey, became the first person to be interred in Glasnevin in 1832. Today this cemetery is the resting place of 1.5 million people from every walk of life. Although many famous graves are celebrated and frequently visited, sadly, some 800,000 further graves remain unmarked. These contain, among others, the bodies of cholera victims, some of Dublin's Famine dead, and the remains of tiny babies and children in the Angels Plots.