Join us for a programme of lectures and
THE Heritage Weekend organised by Ballymote Heritage Group will this year, as usual, provide a comprehensive programme of lectures of a cultural and historical nature by experts acknowledged nationally, and will organise a series of history tours over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
A unique feature of the 2017 programme will be the publication of the 50 th issue or edition of the Ballymote Group’s journal, the Corran Herald.
To mark the occasion the editorial committee will allot prizes for (A): the best article, (B): the best article by a new writer and (C): the best article by a second level student. The Corran Herald was first launched in October 1985. The Herald was the brainchild of the late Una Preston. Keenan Johnson Jr. proposed its title and the late James Flanagan who was its distinguished first editor until 2012. Stephen Flanagan has filled the editorial role since 2012 and has maintained and enhanced the high standards set by his father.
The 50 th Issue of the Corran Herald will be on sale during the week prior to the Heritage Weekend at €8 per copy.
The lectures on Friday 4 th, Saturday 5 th, Sunday 6 th and Monday 7 th August will be delivered in the Teagasc Centre. This lectures venue can be located immediately on the right hand side just over the railway bridge on the Tubbercurry Road. All four lectures will commence at 8.30 p.m.
Dr. Patrick Wallace, former Director of the National Museum of Ireland, will officially open the Heritage Weekend on Friday 4 th August and he will then impart his knowledge derived from his immense experience of work in the Museum. The title of Dr. Wallace’s lecture is ‘ The Museum, Past, Present and Future’.
Dr. Wallace led the National Museum of Ireland team on the Viking Wood Quay project between 1974 and 1981. In that year he became Director of the National Museum, a position he held for 24 years. Under Dr.Wallace’s guidance the National Museum developed its new museums at Collins Barracks and Turlough Park, Co. Mayo.
On Saturday 5 th August at 9.00 a.m. our first outing of the weekend will bring our intrepid group of history tourists to Fenagh Abbey, St. Catherine’s Church of Ireland Church, Fenagh, Co. Leitrim, and to the recently reconstructed St. Mel’s Cathedral, Longford. Our guide will be Frank Tivnan, the Boyle historian.
Frank will direct our group through the ecclesiastical site that was founded by St. Caillin in the 6 th Century. The now ruined abbey that we will visit was constructed on the same site in the 15 th century. The Book of Fenagh was completed in the monastery in 1516.
After Fenagh our next port of call will be St. Mel’s Cathedral in Longford. The cathedral was built between 1840 and 1856. On Christmas Day 2009 the cathedral was destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning. The restored Cathedral reopened in December 2014. Frank Tivnan will also be our guide in Longford.
Lunch will be included in the itinerary. All inclusive coach tickets for Saturday’s tour will be on sale at €30 in Casey’s Pharmacy, Teeling St., Ballymote (07 19183370) or at the Friday night lecture in the Teagasc Centre.
Saturday evening’s lecture is entitled ‘Re-imagining the Classical House as a Gothic Castle: Francis Johnson at Markree Castle in the Early Nineteenth Century’. A distinguished member of the Irish Georgian Society, Limerick based Dr. Judith Hill, Architectural and Art Historian will be the lecturer.
Dr. Hill has provided Heritage Consultancy for a vast array of projects, including the Management Plan for Kilkenny Castle, Limerick Urban Centre Revitalisation, a Conservation Plan for King John’s Castle, Limerick, Dromoland Castle Hotel and a host of other conservation projects.
Our eminently qualified academic and consultant will evaluate the work of Francis Johnston, the 19 th century architect who designed and supervised the construction of Markree Castle.
Sunday’s tour (6 th August) will commence at 2.00 p.m. with Collooney as our destination. Peter Bowen-Walsh, the eminent railway historian, will enlighten us on site, concerning the significance of the three railway stations at Collooney and the history of the Collooney-Enniskillen Junction, the Collooney- Claremorris Junction and the Dublin-Sligo line.
The 19 th century expansion of the rail