Storm Éowyn’s lasting impact on Castletown Geoghegan landscape

The hammering Storm Éowyn delivered to Castletown Geoghegan has left a permanent mark on the local landscape: it felled 11 trees and damaged a dozen more that had formed a dramatic walkway leading from St Michael’s Church to the adjoining cemetery,

“Eleven of them fell across the road; a further 13 of them were damaged or leaning. And we were advised to basically cut down the remainder, so there were 40 trees in total that had to be cut down,” Fr Barry Condron, Parish Priest of Castletown Geoghegan and Tyrrellspass, told the Westmeath Examiner this week.

“Our main concern, is that, thank God, no one was injured and no one was damaged by the trees falling out on the road.”

No one is sure how long the poplars had stood – but at an estimated 40 feet in height, they were a landmark feature: “It looks very bare and desolate at the moment, especially with bits of roots still being taken out of the way and timber still to be removed,” said Fr Condron, adding that there may be yet more trees to go, including, potentially, the tree inside the church gate.

While saddened at the loss of the trees, he is at the same time relieved that no one was injured as the trees fell – especially given that so many of them actually fell on the road, some so tall that the tips actually extended right into the properties across the road, causing damage in several places to the boundary walls of the church grounds.

“The road was blocked for a while,” he confirms, “but we were very grateful, because in dangerous conditions, workers from the council came out, and shortly after the warning ended, they spent a number of hours clearing the road. It was, it was cleared by nightfall.”

The reaction among parishioners has been a mix of regret over the altered landscape, but an acceptance that given what’s happened, it is probably better from a safety point of view that the trees are no more: “In one sense, it’s better safe than sorry,” he says.

“We’re looking into what the alternatives are at the moment,” Fr Condron continued.

“Obviously, we don’t want to repeat the process again, but we were looking at putting in some native trees along the avenue perhaps.

“We’d be confident that over the coming months and coming up to springtime, there’s new growth in there and that over time, hopefully we will have some feature leading up to the cemetery. I’d be hopeful that we can have something there.”As they fell, the roots of the trees dislodged portions of the tarmac from the walkway to the cemetery, meaning that too will have to be repaired.

The damage to the trees isn’t the only legacy of Storm Éowyn: it also removed the roof off the hayshed that stood on the parish farm.

“It was quite exceptional weather,” he remarks.

“You might expect in a worst case scenario, that you would lose one or two trees but having to take down 40 was unprecedented; unbelievable. It really was unbelievable: it definitely has changed the landscape.”