Sir, – A review with the potential to delist post-1700 monuments from the protection of our record of monuments and places (Home News, September 16th) is a very disturbing and damaging prospect.
One of the main ideas which came from the Farmleigh “think-in” was the promotion of cultural heritage, particularly in relation to the Irish diaspora. The most immediate connection many people of Irish ancestry have are with the parts of our built landscape that date from after 1700. These are the places people want to visit. Lime kilns, holy wells, milestones and bridges are all part of the story of the townlands which make up local identities and are the tangible things that connect us with the paper records of census returns and Ordnance Survey maps. A penny-pinching exercise to remove the status of these sites would be very costly to our national interest in the long run. – Yours, etc,