Pre-Christian Offaly

Creating Emotions since 6,500 B.C.

Monday 18 February 2008 at 8.15pm at OHAS Bury Quay, Tullamore

Darrell Hooper will give an illustrated talk on “Pre-Christian Offaly - Creating Emotions since 6,500 B.C.” in Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society, Bury Quay on Monday 18^th February at 8. 15pm.  Non-members welcome. Subjects covered will include Lough Boora site - one of the earliest evidence of humans in Ireland (6.500B.C.), Dowris hoard near Fivevally (200 bronze objects), Confinlough stone with rock art and lake edge dwelling site (1,000 B.C.), Tobar prehistoric settlement site, Balleek ringforts and hut site, Ballinderry lakeside site, Forelacka mound in Slieve Blooms, Banagher bronze hoard. Also discussed will be an awl made from antler and a gold button cover (possibly 1,000 B.C.) which is potentially of international importance, both excavated recently in Screggan together with the cremated remains of a woman and child. This talk on Offaly’s Pre-Christian history should complement the county’s well-known Monastic heritage, much of which has been collated by Darrell and is available as a free download at www.monasticway.com.

Enclosed photographs are to be attributed to Headland Archaeology Ltd.

The Land Agent in King’s County 1830-60: Targets of Agrarian Crime

Monday 3  March 2008  Ciaran Reilly.

This lecture will commence at the OHAS centre at Bury Quay at 8.15pm and is open to the public  with free admission.

The Irish land agent has been a much maligned and vilified figure in Irish history and social memory. In the wake of the Great Famine when culpability was needed, the agents amongst others were liable for much of the blame. In recent years much has been written about the ‘Big House’ and indeed individual landed estates. However a study of the Land Agent, his social background, mindset and psyche has yet to appear. 

Ciarán Reilly, a PhD student and Department of Modern History scholar at NUI Maynooth is currently carrying out research on the role of the land agent and the management policies of the landed estates in King’s County (Offaly) 1830-60. He is the author of two recent studies of the Downshire Estate at Edenderry. In this lecture Ciarán will identify who the land agents were in King’s County at this time; what their social backgrounds were and discuss how many became targets of agrarian secret societies in the county. As many as nine land agents were assassinated in a fifteen year period by elements of a disconcerted tenantry. This statistic appears to have been unprecedented or rivalled in other parts of the country. Indeed in 1852 one land agent was refused life assurance because of the nature of his employment, highlighting the dangers that many faced. This lecture will deal with local figures such as George Heenan, George Garvey, Francis Berry, Thomas Murray, the Manifold brothers and many more.  

Woodfield House, home to George Heenan agent for the earls of Rosse at Birr Castle

February European History introduction through the film medium.

This will consist of 4 evenings – each Thursday at 8.15pm from the 7^th of February to the 28^th of February. European history especially the two world wars have impacted on Irish history. The four films have been selected to look at the wars and how they were viewed by the German soldier, a family in the interwar years in the town of Danzig now Gdansk in Poland. The third film is on the propaganda machine of the Nazi party and the fourth on the fall of Stalingrad marking the decisive turning point in the Second World War.

7 February at 8.15pm

• Gunter Grass’ epic novel “The Tin Drum” (1979) 142 minutes. The narrator of this film is little Oscar, as a precocious child of a permissive petty bourgeois couple. He decides to stop growing on his third birthday, as if refusing to enter the sordid sexuality of his surroundings and the unstoppable growth of Nazism, the same year that Hitler came to power. With his noisy tin drum always at his side, and a piercing scream that can shatter glass, Oscar makes his disturbing but often darkly comic way through Hitler’s Germany. The film’s setting is the free port of Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland.

14 February at 8.15pm

• “Triumph of the Will” (1934) 107 minutes. The banned masterpiece of Nazi cinema. “Technically brilliant” – Time Out Film Guide. “A devastatingly brilliant piece of film-making” – Halliwell’s Film Guide. “Brilliant…” – The Movie. Leni Riefenstahl’s breathtaking film record of the 1934 Nazi Nuremburg rally is universally regarded as one of the most outstanding documentaries ever made, as well as a true milestone in World Cinema. Employing radically new ideas about montage and light, it is the ultimate fusion of film craftsmanship bordering on genius and propaganda bordering on sheer nightmare. Spectacular, awesome, powerful and chilling, “Triumph of the Will” captures all the sinister and illusory attractiveness of Nazism at the height of its power. This special DVD edition has been transferred from a new digital master for superior picture quality and features the original authentic soundtrack with English subtitles.    
• Thursday 28February at 8.15 pm “Fall of Stalingrad” a documentary in the World at War series, original footage with commentary from leading historians to conclude this introductory series to European history.

 
NEWS FROM THE Royal Historical Society Bibliography, Irish History Online AND London's Past Online

New thematic lists

We have introduced new thematic lists that enable you to see, with a single click, what has been written about each of the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh counties ( http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl/counties.asp ), and about twentieth-century British prime ministers ( http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl/prime_mins_c20.asp ). All of these searches can also be carried out from the Bibliography's Full Search form (see http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl/help/help.htm#_Hlt13030165 for help on using this); however, we hope that the lists will be a useful short-cut, especially for users who are new to the Bibliography, and we plan to introduce more in the future if the response is positive.

Next data update

We plan to carry out the next data update later this month, when, as well as adding the usual new titles on British and Irish history, we will be adding about 400 new records relating to the Irish abroad from Irish History Online ( http://www.irishhistoryonline.ie ), many of them collected in North American libraries.

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Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History - http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl
Irish History Online - http://www.irishhistoryonline.ie/
London's Past Online - http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/lpol/

We welcome comments, suggestions and feedback at http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl/docs/feedback.html , or by e-mail to simon.baker@sas.ac.uk

Please use the following link if you wish to be removed from our mailing list:
http://www.rhs.ac.uk/subscribe.html

Research Projects on hand

The FAS Community Employment project recommenced a few weeks ago.  We have had to replace five of the people who had to leave the project.

We are currently working on the following projects:

• Computerised indexing of Laois civil births pre 1900.  There are almost 50,000 records indexed in this category currently.
• Taking relevant cuttings from the 1908 Tribune which are now being typed in the current Tullamore Tribune.
• Scanning the old Harris photo negatives from Clara which now amount to circa 17,000 out of a possible 20,000.
• Compiling a large computer database of old Offaly newspaper articles which now amounts to 15,000.
• Transferring to computer database some of the old parish register indexes.
• Digitally recording and cataloguing all of our photo stock.

Library Acquisitions November 07-Jan 08