Concern over access to Limerick walking trail

CONCERN has been raised about access to Knockfierna Hill, the site of the Famine Memorial Village  and now a very popular walking trail for locals and for visitors.

According to reports received by the Limerick Leader, a turnstile at the base of the track to the pinnacle has been blocked, making it difficult or impossible for walkers to continue  to the top of Knockfierna Hill and its landmark Holy Year Cross.

The turnstile has now been filled  with rocks so it cannot be opened and there is barbwire wrapped around the top of a locked gate, according to Trevor Montgomery a member of a walking group who was on the hill last week and who walks regularly on Knockfierna.

“Most Saturdays and Sundays, and now the evenings are longer, there are people walking there,” he said.  “It’s a lovely walk which now is difficult to get to the cross.”

“The right of way should be kept clear,” he continued. Limerick City and County Council, he pointed out, were promoting Knockfierna as a walk on their website and he believes the council has it responsibility in enforcing the right of way.

“The situation that has developed is very disappointing,” Pat O’Donovan, chairman of the Knockfierna Heritage Society said this week. “This is a right of way established for generations.”

“A huge amount of work and voluntary effort has gone into restoring and opening all the Famine paths on the hill,” Mr O’Donovan continued.

This work has spanned a quarter of a century and has involved reconstructing  cottages abandoned during the Famine and fencing in the potato-ridges that provided the mainstay for the hundreds of people who lived there, until the potato blight failed. . The Heritage Society has also erected memorial stones and historical information stones at different locations on the Hill as well as improving the road and providing parking for those wanting to walk the Hill.

Steeped in history and folklore and fairy lore, Knockfierna was described as a “treasure” by former Minister for Arts, Jimmy Deenihan when he launched a guide to Knockfierna, its trails, cromlechs,cairns and Famine sites  in 2014.

 In a bid to find a way forward, it is understood that a meeting, to which various parties have been invited, will take place this Thursday night.