Friar's Bush Donations

Support the transformation of Friar's Bush graveyard and other similar projects as well as our campaign to provide cross-community education and cultural programmes inspired by graveyards like this. Send an email to mail@cairdenacille.org to get a direct link to donate without any middlemen.

Cairde na Cille CIC at the time of writing has worked tirelessly for 2 years without any funding from council or government departments charged with community and cultural development. Our only small source of funding towards our Irish language activities has been provided by Foras Na Gaeilge and we are very grateful of this contribution. We have relied heavily on volunteers and the trojan work of our founder Dr Deirdre Nic an tSionnaigh. Your contribution, however small, will help projects like our Friar's Bush transformation from dereliction to dramatic touring and events space. We face competition from mainstream without any contribution to our restoration programme. help us continue to maintain this cemetery or other ancient places as a pleasant places to visit, tour, and attend events. Cairde na Cille CIC is a non-profit organization founded in Belfast dedicated to preserving historic sites and promoting heritage and cultural education in Belfast.

Revitalising History

Transforming Friar's Bush neglected graveyard into a vibrant community-run space in Belfast.

Our Mission Statement

We are dedicated to preserving heritage, culture and historic places and creating a welcoming environment for all to enjoy.

Cairde na Cille CIC’s vision, mission and purpose:

Vision: Ancient heritage sites transformed for community enjoyment

Mission: Re-imagining ancient cultural sites by and for communities

Purpose: To improve community wellbeing and sustainability through cultural heritage, preservation, tourism and education.

Cairde na Cille seeks to find, restore and maintain neglected heritage sites e.g. ancient graveyards and linked buildings, particularly those in public ownership. We work with local communities in Belfast to promote awareness of neglected history and heritage to leave a rich shared legacy for communities to enjoy. We offer restoration and management services as well as providing authentic experiential learning opportunities for sustainable tourism, wellbeing and free intercultural programmes. Our flagship project at Friar’s Bush in Belfast demonstrates a sustainable, scalable model, involving a partnership approach through a sister-charity to acquire and secure neglected public assets, restore and repurpose for community-driven cultural tourism managed through our social enterprise.

Our community volunteers help us facilitate Friar's Bush Tours and events at our first flagship project, the ancient, neglected Friar’s Bush Cemetery in Belfast and our recent collaboration with well-established arts groups like Arts Ekta is ramping up our creative re-imagining of this space. Our latest proposal just released to Belfast City Council provides a solution to the neglected heritage issue of maintaining a 2-acre heritage Open Space and the restoration of the linked heritage building. We plan to run a community cultural tourism enterprise in the repurposed and restored Gatehouse and Graveyard, securing future income.

Since trading in August 2023 we’ve built successful tours bookable at www.cairdenacille.org and Visit Belfast for tourists and locals. Our monthly events (increasing to fortnightly once we have secured the Gatehouse) where music and drama animate our tours are popular e.g. sold-out Celtic festival tours e.g. at Samhain (Halloween), St Patrick’s festival etc. We reinvest in cross-community experiential education programmes making additional educational, social and cultural impact beyond our volunteering impact in a post-conflict society in Belfast.with the successful awarding of a significant cultural heritage project from Arts Ekta over the period March 25-December 26, our sustainable income is on the upward trajectory. This exciting cultural heritage project, involving eight ancient burial grounds, will help us realise future scaling once we embed our sustainable enterprise model at Friar’s Bush.

Our potential for future success is very promising with a Business Case/proposal building momentum to acquire a lease on a Gatehouse and management contract on linked graveyard onsite with conservation restoration plans to re-purpose the building into a café, digital cinematic museum, research hub for community collaborative research and unique cultural events in an “indoor/outdoor” courtyard area and graveyard tours. The whole project will be managed as a social enterprise for sustainable long-term income re-invested in the graveyard restoration programme, accelerating wellbeing impact and linked cross-cultural educational programmes. Our business model is scalable to other ancient places we are currently researching for best prospects.

Visit Us Today

Explore the rich heritage of Friar's Bush cemetery by taking a tour with us. Book directly on this site a range of weekend, some weekday and special corporate and community tours online today!

Join Our Events

Attend exciting tours and cultural events at our restored cemetery all bookable through Visit Belfast or directly online here. Our Whistlestop Tours are most Sundays 12:00, Graves and Gardens Tours at least once monthly currently towards end month at 12:00, all bookable through Visit Belfast or directly via bank transfer using our virtual "shop" here that gives all forward dates.

Get Involved Now

Support our non-profit organisation in preserving this important historical site. You can donate by contacting us on mail@cairdenacille.org for bank transfer details. If you would like to organise a large group tour for a community group, we offer very generous rates from only £8 per person. Mail@cairdenacille.org

Cairde na Cille is a non-profit and cross-community organisation so we are reaching out to organisations for joint projects, promotions etc. Our heritage belongs to us all!Cairde na Cille's creative approach to address neglected heritage, overgrowth and dereliction has involved the creation of a community-driven social enterprise, building civic pride through a volunteer programme that engages locals in restoring this heritage. Leading by example, we have been advocating loudly, proactively and visually for re-imagined forgotten heritage spaces, energetically transforming Friar's Bush Graveyard into a more attractive community tourism hub.

Contact Us Today for More Information

Feel free to reach out to us with any questions or enquiries about our organisation, our tours, events, or the Friar's Bush graveyard restoration project and our future plans. We would love to hear from you!

Email

mail@cairdenacille.org