MEDIEVAL ESSAYS IN MEMORY OF NOTED HISTORIAN BILLY COLFER
A BOOK entitled Medieval Wexford in memory of the late Dr. Billy Colfer will be launched in Wexford Arts Centre on Thursday, December 1 at 7.30 pm. The new book is a collection of essays exploring the history and archaeology of County Wexford and beyond, as seen through language, documents, monuments, settlement and landscape. The essays acknowledge the interests and writings of the late Billy Colfer as well as the esteem in which he was held by a wide number of colleagues. He left a deep mark on County Wexford history through his numerous publications and he also inspired a large number of students through his encourage and generosity with knowledge. The landscapes of Wexford are closely associated with the Anglo-Norman conquest of the 12th to 13th centuries and this rich legacy is illuminated in the forthcoming collection by papers on Dunbrody Abbey, the deserted medieval boroughs of Bannow and Old Ross as well as the history and archaeology of the towns of New Ross and Wexford and the villages of Ferns and Taghmon.
The history and architecture of the 13th-century Tower of Hook lighthouse is detailed and a new analysis is presented of the ecclesiastical buildings at Ferns. The role of the medieval frontier and the interactions between Gaelic-Irish and colonisers is set out in studies on personal names and plantation settlements, and in the identification of a Brehon Law School settlement at Ballyorley. The book also includes essays on post-medieval millstone extraction and on the chequered career of the antiquarian and genealogist Colonel Hervey de Montmorency-Morres.
The results of new research and discoveries from archaeological investigations are presented, many for the first time, so as to provide a compelling overview of why the Wexford landscape is crucial in the study of Irish medieval settlement and the interaction of native and colonial identities.
The contributors are Terry Barry, Bernard Browne, Rhiannon Carey Bates, Niall Colfer, Christiaan Corlett, Edward Culleton, Linda Doran, Ian W. Doyle, James Eogan, Elizabeth FitzPatrick, John Flynn, Nicholas Furlong, Tommy Grennan, Maurice F. Hurley, Connie Kelleher, Bernice Kelly, Seán Kirwan, James Lyttleton, Catherine McLoughlin, Tori McMorran, Ian Magahy, Conleth Manning, Sinéad Marshall, Celestine Murphy, Paul Murphy, Ben Murtagh, Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich, Cóilín Ó Drisceoil, Tadhg O’Keeffe, Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, Emmet Stafford, Geraldine Stout and Patrick F. Wallace.
It is edited by Ian W. Doyle and Bernard Browne. Ian W. Doyle is an archaeologist and Head of Conservation at the Heritage Council of Ireland. Bernard Browne works for the Environmental Protection Agency and is the author of a number of books on aspects of Co. Wexford history.