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The Memorial Trail and Garden
in remembrance of those lost at sea was officially opened at Kilmore Quay on
Sunday June 17, 2024 by Hugh Byrne, TD, Minister of State at the Department
of the Marine and Natural Resources.
The Garden is at Forlorn Point, an area reached by crossing a narrow
causeway, overlooking Ballyteigue Bay, known as the graveyard of a thousand
ships. The theme of the Trail and Garden is the experience of loss and the
journey to recovery. It was the idea of Fr Jim Cogley, a local curate, and
was achieved through the work of a voluntary committee chaired by John
Power.
Minister Byrne said that the Memorial Garden would be a special place where
family members could come to pay tribute and remember those lost at sea
where, in many cases, bodies were never recovered.
The garden is not just a memorial to the dead but a place to help all those
who are grieving to come to terms with their loss. A Vigil Sculpture of two
grieving figures looking out to sea and supporting each other, by local
artist Ciaran O’Brien, leads to the garden which is designed in the shape of
a ship and includes a Ship’s Wheel sculpture, a Compass Fountain, a
propeller recovered from SS Lennox—lost off the Saltee Islands in 1916, and
a tall mast, supported by a plinth on which the names of people lost at sea
are carved. |
