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Offaly Naturalists' Field Club Programme 2013
Download the Offaly Naturalists' field club programme for 2013.
Booked out. The Biodiversity Summer School focusing of the Slieve Bloom Mountains with John Feehan will be from Monday 1st July to Friday 5th July.It will be based in Kinnitty Community Centre.
Medieval Castles of Offaly Study Week – Monday 13th to Friday 17th May 2013
For the first year a medieval castle study week will be held in Offaly. Archaeologist Caimin O’Brien has been researching the castles of county Offaly for the past number of years and this is an opportunity to submerge yourself in this new information and be guided to the sites over the 5 days.
Daily Programme - meet at OHAS lecture room, Bury Quay, Tullamore.
9.30am – 10.45 am There will be talk each morning on one of the following themes; Building a castle, Life in the castle, Defending the castle, From castle to home, The castle in the landscape.
10.45am – 11.00am Tea / Coffee
11.00am to 12.00 noon Introduction and information about the castles being visited that day.
12.00 noon to 4.00pm Bus to guided site visits
Places will be limited. The fee is €175.00 per person. Place to be secured with a €75.00 deposit made payable to Offaly County Council. Each participant will bring their own pack lunch and appropriate clothing. Book with heritage@offalycoco.ie or phone 057 9346839. Course Leader: Caimin O’Brien, Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service, Dept of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht.
Run by Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts Heritage and Gaeltacht and Offaly County Council Heritage office with support from the Heritage Council.
NEW! John Feehan's book The Geology of Laois and Offaly just launched
The last thirty years have seen much new research on the geology of Laois and Offaly, shedding new light on – and providing fascinating new insights into – the landscape heritage of the two counties. John Feehan has remained in close touch with this research since his own work on Slieve Bloom as a post-graduate student in the Department of Geology at Trinity College in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In this magnificent volume John now brings all of this research together for a general readership, and relates it to the broader cultural heritage of Laois and Offaly in a chapter that looks at Geology in our Lives. Separate chapters review the story of the two counties through the successive geological epochs that have a bearing on their evolution. A special chapter written in collaboration with Donal Daly of the Environmental Protection Agency (and like John himself a native of Offaly) looks at the Geology of Water. A special feature of the book is the six specially commissioned paintings illustrating different periods in the geological evolution of Laois and Offaly, by Offaly-based artist Jock Nicol, reproduced here as two-page full-colour plates. The paintings themselves will be exhibited during the launch of the book.
The Geology of Laois and Offaly is published in hard cover format, some 400 pages long, 21cm x 31cm (Portrait) size, profusely illustrated throughout, in full colour. The price is €40.00 and one can be ordered in any book shop and it is currently in stock in Midland books, High Street and Balcony Books in the Bridge Centre and Offaly History on Bury Quay, all in Tullamore.
Geashill, the Evolution of its Architecture - by Rachel McKenna, County Architect, published by Offaly County Council
This publication was launched on Friday 23rd November 2012 by Colm Murray of the Heritage Council, in Geashill. It is a landscape A2, hard back, full colour and details the architecture of Geashill through mapping, key buildings and use of different materials. The book is highly illustrated with current and historic photographs, paintings and sketches. It is available for €14.99 from shops in Geashill, Midland books in High Street, Tullamore and from the Offaly Archaeological and Historical Society, Bury Quay, Tullamore. Alternatively post a cheque for €14.99 made out to Offaly County Council and post to Heritage Office, Offaly County Council, Charleville Road, Tullamore, Co. Offaly for delivery within Ireland.
Birds in Central Ireland - Fifth Mid Shannon Bird Report - 2008 - 2011
For copies email sheery@eircom.net . The cost is €10.00 incl. post and package.
Offaly Naturalists' Field Club Programme 2012
Download the 2012 Offaly Naturalist's Field Club programme. Many thanks to all of the leaders who have put on events
Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society 2012 Programme
All talks are hosted in the OHAS premises in Bury Quay, Tullamore unless stated. For more details email info@offalyhistory.com
- Monday 21 January Una Agnew on Paddy Kavanagh and the Tullamore connection
- Monday 18 February Pat Given on distilling in the east midlands
- Monday 25 March, Mairtin D’Alton on ‘The Buildings and landscape of the Plantation of Laois and Offaly, c. 1548-1600’
- Monday 22 April Jim Madden on Fr Fahey
- May, June and July to be advised
- August Heritage Week
- Monday 16 September Dr David Doyle, ‘The contradictions of Irish Capital Punishment, 1923-2001’.
- Monday 21 October Maeve Sikora of the National Museum on Archaeological Finds from Offaly
- Monday 18 November Darrell Hooper on Francis Johnston, architect
- Friday 6 December John Feehan on Reflections on 50 years working in natural history
Edenderry Historical Society 2013 Programme
22 February: Mary Delaney, The Digby Estate, Geashill under the management of William Steuart Trench, 1857-1871
22 March: John Feehan, The geology of the Edenderry area
26 April: Maeve Skirosa, Recent archaeological finds in County Offaly
24 May: Michael Byrne, The newspaper industry in Offaly from 19th to 20th century
August Heritage Week Talk: Paula Lalor, The Royal visits of Queen Victoria to Ireland & Irish country houses
27 September: Ciarán McCabe, The poor and the provision of relief in pre-Famine Carbury
25 October: Elizabeth O'Brien, Re-discovering Columba's Monastery at Durrow, Co. Offaly
22 November: Liam Kenny, Ballots and bullets: The 1920 Kildare County Council elections
Slieve Bloom Walks
For a full programme of walks in the Slieve Blooms see www.slievebloom.ie
Clara Bog Visitor Centre
Clara Bog is well known for its raised bog. Clara Bog Visitor Centre opening times from April 2012 are 10am -5 pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings 10am – 1pm. Admission is free. It shares the site with Clara library and is opposite the swimming pool on the Ferbane road. More information is available from Claraguides@environ.ie or on the Clara Bog facebook page
Offaly Heritage Plan 2012-2016
The third Offaly Heritage Plan (2012-2016)was adopted at the October Council Council meeting on Monday 17th October 2011. It was launched by Michael Starrett CEO of the Heritage Council at the Annual seminar on the weekend of 18th/19th November 2011.
Offaly Annual Heritage Seminar 2012 - Report
The 2012 Annual Heritage Seminar was held on Friday 23rd November and Saturday 24th November. Download the Offaly Annual Heritage Seminar brochure 2012 .
On the Friday night Geashill, the Evolution of its Architecture by County Architect, Rachel McKenna was published by Offaly County Council in partnership with Geashill Tidy Towns. The book is available for €14.99 from the shops in Geashill, from Midland books High Stree Tullamore and from the Offaly Historical Society on Bury Quay, Tullamore.
The Saturday programme offered the choice of two visits, one to the newly opened Tullamore DEW visitor centre under the management of William Grant and sons and the other to a natural heritage site on the Little Brosna Callows near Lusmagh. This site is owned and managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and they have just put in a car park and a bird hide. Ranger Noel Bugler led the tour of the site. Access for birdwatching on the callows is greatly facilitated by this new double decker bird hide and spectacular flocks of blacktailed godwits were seen on Saturday along with many other species.
Both groups then reconvened at Bury Quay in the Historical Society for an afternoon of talks on 2012 projects, with the themes covering natural, built heritage and heritage objects. Alex Copland from BirdWatch Ireland gave an update of the high levels of usage of the dipper bird nest box project while the chick numbers were slightly below average. Alex then launched the 5th Mid Shannon Bird Report which covers the period 2008 – 2011. This report has been compiled by Stephen Heery and was published by BirdWatch Ireland. It has a whole range of interesting bird sightings over the past four years. One aspect Alex highlighted was the increase in buzzards – from 1992 – 1995 there were 2 records whereas from 2008 – 2011 there were 85. Another bird that is increasingly seen is the Little Egret described as uncommon but widespread and increasing. 7 were seen on the Saturday morning trip.
The conference then focused on heritage objects. Maeve Sikora is the assistant keeper in the Antiquities division of the National Museum and she provided an update of recent finds from County Offaly. This included a donation of a decorated quern stone from Patrick and Mary Dunne from Ballymacmurrough townland. As Offaly does not have a county museum all the archaeological artefacts found in Offaly are looked after by the National Museum. Maeve commented on the strong numbers of finds in the county related to the preservation provided by the bogs – where so many of the new finds come from.
Placename recording is an area of ongoing interest. Over the past two seminars there have been reports from Paddy Heaney and Melissa Goodwin on placename recording in the Slieve Bloom area and last year the school children from Broughal presented their placenames project. This year Gertie Keane undertook a placename recording project in the Killeigh area and she discussed both the methodology and the results.
The final talk was from Shem Caulfield, a photographer from Kilkenny who is championing the art and workmanship that went into the making of wrought iron gates. He makes the case that if more people stopped and appreciated what craft went into the making of the gates they might be valued as individual art pieces and also for their role in contributing to the character of our landscape. Shem recorded a number of gates and their details in the Geashill and Killeigh area this summer.