Remembrance Garden for babies opens in Laois
Maura Whelan, Betty Whelan and Clare Rigney at the official opening of the Reflection and Remembrance Garden. Photo: Alf Harvey
A BEAUTIFUL artwork that will bloom permanently in Abbeyleix was unveiled at the opening of a Reflection and Remembrance Garden, in honour of unbaptised babies buried in unmarked graves and other lost or stillborn infants.
The striking installation with about 1,000 white ceramic blossoms on steel stems resembles the whitethorn, a symbol of hope and healing that is associated with centuries of folklore.
The structure in the grounds of Abbeyleix Heritage House is designed to move and sway in the wind, resembling a natural whitethorn tree when it is viewed from a distance.
The steel sculpture was designed by local artist Jen Donnery and constructed by steel engineer and artist Tom Delahunty, before it was adorned with ceramic flowers by Jen and fellow artist Edel O’Keeffe. Many of the flowers are inscribed with the names of babies lost but forever loved.
The opening ceremony at 7pm on Wednesday 25 June marked the closing phase of the Tonduff Cillín project, which saw the installation of a memorial stone at the tragic cillín or burial ground near Abbeyleix last year. For generations up to the 1960s, unbaptised babies were quietly buried in unconsecrated ground beside a country lane.
The Mothers of Angels, a group of bereaved mothers from the local community who gather every October to remember their own lost or stillborn babies, was also involved in the project.
The new Reflection and Remembrance Garden includes a reflection seat, with a QR code that visitors can scan to read about the Tonduff burial site.
The poignant opening ceremony included a mass celebrated by Fr Paddy Byrne PP and a memorable reading by Portlaoise poet Denise Dunne, who has researched the Tonduff site and written heartbreaking reflections on the fate of babies who were buried there.
The reflection area also contains a memorial stone inscribed with tragic verses written by a local man, who was forced to bury his baby in the cillín at night in the harsh winter of 1961.
The ceramic flowers in the sculpture, which was approved by Laois Heritage Office, are inlaid with traditional embroidery patterns inspired by the Abbeyleix Baby Linen Society.
Noel Burke of the Tonduff Cillín committee said: “The whitethorn symbol created by these gifted artists is a sight to behold and understanding what the symbol means is also very important.
“The whitethorn tree is deeply ingrained in Irish culture and mythology and stories have been told for centuries associating babies, fairies, cillíni and ring forts with this particular tree.
“The whitethorn or the May bush, as it is also known, is said to bring a message of hope and healing for our heart, on both the physical and emotional level. When we open our hearts and minds to what is possible, we soon discover that we are not alone on our journey.”
