When I came to Blessington 40 years ago the present grotto was much further out on the road. In widening and lowering the highway the grotto had to be resited . While the excavation work was being done many sleepers, spikes and other ironwork from the old Blessington Steamtram were unearthed. The County Council had done a very good job in moving the structure, and building a stone wall around it, but over the years the railings had rusted and a general refurbishment was called for. Thanks to local sponsorship the railings were restored, paving stones laid down, the statue repainted and a profusion of flowers put in place. The cost of everything was over 10,000 euro, the main sponsors being a local businessman, Roadstone, Murphy’s and Hudson’s.
As to the motivation behind the construction of the Grotto of Our Lady, long time native Christy Sargent tells me it was erected in memory of a sandpit worker who tragically lost his life as a result of an accident, and the workers pooled their meagre resources to have the work carried out. The only clue around the site is on the plinth itself which is the following inscription :
ERECTED by MR & MRS CAULFIELD
RINGSEND
1950.
On the 15th August last, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, Fr. Lyon led a group of Mass attenders down to the grotto in celebration. The weather was damp and drizzly but that did not take from the occasion, which brought to a fitting conclusion, I suppose, the restoration and rededication of a fine monument to Our Lady.
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