Mitchelstown Heritage Society online lecture series - Lost Ireland
Mitchelstown Heritage Society is continuing its series of free, online public talks on subjects of local and national heritage, in keeping with Covid-19 restrictions. The next in this series is organised for next Tuesday, 22nd February at 8pm, this is being organised using the Zoom app.
Orla Fitzpatrick is a librarian and photographic historian, she will present her study of Lost Ireland from her book by the same title (Pavilion, 2020) which looks at our lost architectural heritage through archival photographs. Losses from all 32 counties are included from County Cork in the south to County Antrim in the north.
Since the dawn of photography in the mid-19th century, the economy of Ireland has changed dramatically, from a rural farming community to an thriving industrial and tech-savvy ‘Celtic Tiger’. Those familiar with the destruction of Mitchelstown Castle, the old Catholic Church and the Presentation Convent in recent years, will be well versed in the impact ‘missing’ architecture can have on an area.
It isn’t just the grand houses or buildings being focused on, cotton mills and country markets have all disappeared along with branch railways. Gone too are the vestiges of British rule, such as statues to Queen Victoria and the monument to the Battle of the Boyne, when William of Orange crushed James II’s ambition for a Catholic throne.
On a smaller scale, the beloved theatres and cinemas from Dublin and Cork are included, along with emigration agencies, the familiar green double-deckers, the odd racecourse (a rarity in Ireland) and the ornate exterior of O’Meara’s Public House in Dublin.
CORK FOCUS
Her talk to Mitchelstown Heritage Society will give an overview of photo history and her research process referencing the collections relating to Cork sites. Locations featured in the book include the Dunscombe Fountain in Cork City; 1903 Cork International Exhibition; Mitchelstown Castle; St Ann’s Hydropathic Spa, Blarney and St Kevin’s Hospital, Cork. Many of these photographs are from the collections of the National Library of Ireland, but the book also includes images from the Cork Examiner, Cork City Library and many others.
Orla Fitzpatrick studied History of Design and Material Culture at the National College of Art and Design Dublin (N.C.A.D.) and has a PhD in photographic history from Belfast School of Art, Ulster University. She was born and lives in Dublin and has worked as a librarian in various cultural institutions, including the National Library of Ireland’s photographic archive. Her recent publications include a journal article on fashion and fanzines in 1980s Dublin (Vox, Dublin: Hi Tone Books, 2019) and a book chapter on the decline of two nineteenth-century landed estates (Roscommon History & Society, Dublin: Geography Publications, 2018).
For those wishing to join us for this talk, first go to the Zoom website, click on join meeting. You will be asked for a meeting id and passcode, these are as follows - Meeting ID: 843 7811 2396, Passcode: 476525.
The meeting will open 15 minutes before the talk, everyone is asked to mute their microphones during the talk to prevent background noise interrupting the speaker. Questions and answers will be dealt with at the end of the talk. If anyone has any other questions or has issues connecting to this meeting, please e-mail andrewdineen1@gmail. com