IT conference to celebrate WoodMartin centenary
THE centenary of one of Sligo and Ireland’s most prominent
19 th century figures will be celebrated at a special conference during Science Week at IT Sligo.
The life work of William Gregory Wood-Martin, who died on November 16 th 1917, will be honoured at the conference this Saturday with speakers from the disciplines of archaeology, folklore and history talking about his contributions.
Born in Sligo, on July 16, 1847 as the only child of James Wood and Anne Martin, he was heir to both the Woodville and Cleveragh estates in Sligo. Wood-Martin received his early education at home, and completed his academic training first in Switzerland, and then in Belgium. By 1866 he had joined the army and served as a lieutenant Colonel in the 8th Brigade, North Irish Division between 1883 and 1902, spending the remainder of his military career attached to the Sligo Artillery and the Sligo Rifles.
He received medals for his service as an Aide-de- Camp from three successive British Monarchs; Victoria (1897), Edward VII (1902), and George V (1911). By 1877 Wood-Martin had returned to Cleveragh House, his mothers’ family home in the east of Sligo town, to care for his ailing father. He was active in his community and served as a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of the County.
William G. Wood-Martin’s importance rests primarily on his valuable contributions to Irish archaeological, folkloric and historical research. He carried out a range of excavations in Ireland including a number of the megalithic monuments at Carrowmore and the court tomb at Deerpark in Co. Sligo.
His ‘Sligo and the Enniskilleners’, 1688-1691, published in 1880, was followed by his 3-volume History of Sligo, County and Town, published between 1882 and 1892, and is widely regarded as a work of national as well as local importance.
For more see https://cromlechscrannogscures. wordpress.com/