Sli Mór (Great Road) Lecture

A Lecture will be given on Thursday the 21st of February at 8.30p.m. by Herman Geissel who lives in Clane Co. Kildare and is an authority on the history of the Sli Mór. He is particularly interested in the Natural History of Ireland and in Eskers and has worked with TG4 in the making of a film on the Esker Riada. His lecture will be an interesting follow up to our Christmas talk on the roads of Offaly and we hope to see a good attendance.

Ballyfin Estate for sale

Members may have noticed the article on Ballyfin house which is now for sale at e9.52 million euros. A short history on the house may be on the Irish Times website from Saturday the 19th of January 2002 issue. Copies of the article are available from the Society for €1 including postage.

Financial Help Sought

We are now seeking voluntary subscriptions which meet with Section 45 of the Finance Act 2000 which allows a minimum donation of circa €254 to be converted into a greater amount for the benefit of the work of the Society because Offaly Heritage Centre Ltd. which owns our premises has charitable status. All subscriptions donated under this heading will be used to refurbish the centre, add to the library, promote publications and purchase additional microfilm facilities.

We could buy a new microfilm reader if we can get approximately 12 people to contribute the €254 euros each.

We have also invited members to consider a contribution to the Society to facilitate the development of our activity by way of purchase of additional library equipment.

Lecture on the Monastic Midlands
14th March 8.30p.m.

Mr. Charles Doherty of the Department of Early History at NUI Dublin will be Lecturer for March and he will speak about the history of the monasteries of the Midlands. Fuller details are to follow and in the meantime you might note that the lecture will be held on the 14th of March at 8.30p.m. at the Research Centre at Bury. This will be an important lecture which was adjourned from last year because of the FMD problem.

Bishop John Cantwell 25th April

The subject of our lecture in April will be Bishop John Cantwell who is a native of Rahan Co. Offaly. The lecture will be given by the president of St. Finian's College Mulingar, The Reverend Paul Connell. The exact title of the lecture is the early life and career of the Bishop Cantwell and the date is again the 25th of April at 8.30p.m. at the Research Centre at Bury Quay.

Offaly History Journal

A reminder has been lately sent out to all likely contributors to have their material in not later than the 30th of June so as to give an opportunity over the summer months to our editor Dr. Rory Masterson, to complete the editing of the journal and to have it available for the autumn. The contents are likely to include the following:-

  1. Annual review of events relatedto Offaly History and Heritage
  2. An article on the early Christian period by Rory Masterson.
  3. Articles of Offaly interest on the medieval period and on the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
  4. An up to date bibliography of material on the county published since 1999.
  5. Book reviews
  6. Report on Society activities
  7. List of members
  8. List of books for sale at the Research Centre.
  9. Any other suggestions you may have in relation to the content would be greatly appreciated.

Books received/purchased

We have lately received the Meath Journal for 2001 which includes an article by our editor Rory Masterson. It also includes a programme for the Society for the year 2002.

We have received the most recent issue of the Antiquaries Journal (RSAI) together with a list of lectures which includes one on William Stuart Trench who was the land agent in Geashill and this lecture is to be given by Gerard Lyne on the 25th of April. The list of the lectures is available at the Society's Office.

Land ownership in England and Ireland

We have lately completed the index from the blue book of circa 1874 on the land ownership in Laois and Offaly and would hope to have it available for family history research shortly. Kevin Cahill who hails from County Laois has lately published a book Who owns Britain; hidden facts behind land ownership in the UK and Ireland. This book relates mainly to the return of owners of land compiled for England and Ireland in the 1870s and a copy has been acquired for the Society's library and will not doubt be of interest to members.

Development at Durrow

We have to report that there have been few developments at Durrow in recent times save as follows:-

1. The statement of cultural significance has now been completed by the committee involved and we believe will shortly be in the public domain. This in turn will probably lead to the Council proceeding with the
proposed application to vary the development plan in respect of Durrow.

In the meantime a letter was sent to Mr. Dave Fadden Director of Duchas on the 17th January impressing on him the importance of doing something about Durrow given that:-

(a) The High Cross is in danger and needs immediate attention

(b) That Duchas as the owners of the Monastic site have done little of nothing as far as we know to provide for active state ownership of the site and unfettered right of access.

(c) The monies made available in the sum of one million pounds have not been used and as far as the public is concerned little or no action has taken place in Durrow notwithstanding the promises of a plethora of ministers over the past ten years.

Duchas itself has accepted that the High Cross is in danger and needs attention. We fail to see why it can take so long for Duchas to act on its responsibilities in relation to this important site. We are aware that the sentiments expressed in our correspondence have been supported by both the officials and elected members of Offaly County Council.

The response of Mr. Fadden to date has been an email only to say that he hopes to be able to report on matters in the near future. Correspondence on Durrow stated in 1982 "It really is a scandal that the most hallowed site in Tullamore area and agreed to be of international significance is allowed to deteriorate so much and access denied as of right. "

Offaly Place names

We made an enquiry of the place names branch of Duchas now based at 17/19 Lower Hatch Street Dublin 2 in connection with the Offaly material complied by Liam Price and given to the place names branch by the School of Celtic Studies Dublin Institute for Advance Studies in the 1960s. This is an important archive and we have been advised that the Offaly material was used as evidence in compiling the list of place names for Chontae Uibh Fhaili. We will be ordering further copies of this useful slim publication. We were hoping that in the longer term a more detailed study would be made of Offaly Place Names similar to what the late Liam Price did for Co. Wicklow.

The ESB Exhibition of nature Photography

The ESB Photography Exhibition is intended to open at the Research Centre shortly and will run for the month of March - see publicity in local papers.

Master Index for Family History Research

Mr. Noel Guerin continues to make progress with the development of a master index for Family History and there are now in the region of 1.5 million records in the computerised index. Our works in family history continues a pace and we have one person employed by the Society in connection with this work.

Draft Architectural Heritage Protection Guidelines for Planning Authorities: Public Consultation

A copy of this booklet has been received by the Society and the deadline for a receipt of submissions is 28th February 2002.

Trip to Inis Cealtra Lough Derg 5th of April

The Birr Historical Society intend to travel to Lough Derg on the 5th of April and if you would be interested you should contact members of the Birr Society including Margaret Hogan or the Reverend Irene Morrow.

Digby Papers

We refer those interested to www.hmc.gov.uk for reports on historical manuscripts including the Digby Papers. These include deeds and documents relating to County Offaly from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and in particular relating to the estate of Lord Digby at Geashill.

New Publications

We currently have a stock of a new book on Birr by Oisin Deery, A compact history of Birr at €11.75 euro. This is an attractive publication of circa 100 pages giving a summary of the history of Birr and is a useful introduction of the history of the town.

Reverend Sr. Bonaventura Brennan

Reverend Sr. Bonoventura Brennan has lately published The story of Mary Anne Doyle; First Companion of Catherine McAuley. It commenced with two. There is a chapter on Tullamore from pages 54 to 128 which Offaly readers will find interesting together with further detail of the founding of the Tullamore Convent in an appendix. The book is also attractively illustrated.

The Irish Review (autumn winter 2001) contains articles on the writings of Sheila Wingfield and that of Marina Carr. Marina Carr is no stranger to Tullamore and also her plays would be well known here and the article by Clare Walsh will be of interest. In relation to the article on Sheila Wingfield it may be recalled that she published two volumes of memoirs and she was the daughter of Ethel Homan Mulock with whom she did not get on. In her early life she spent many winters in the Mulock family home at Bellair in County Offaly.

The current issue of the Kildare Journal (volume 19, part 1) has an interesting piece by the Reverend Brian McCuarta on the inventory of Sir John Moore of Croghan Co. Offaly. John Moore died in 1633 and at the time of his death held almost twelve hundred acres in the North West of County Offaly and as well as lands acquired in the plantation of the County in 1619 - 1620. In his will he gave instructions to be buried at Croghan Church beside his father Sir Thomas and he died on the 26th of April 1633 and his wife on the 8th of July in the same year.

The inventory bears witness to a comfortable interior at Croghan Castle (now a ruin) with a large household, fourteen separate rooms or outhouses were listed

Offaly Heritage Plan

The Offaly Heritage Plan is progressing and our Chairman, Stephen McNeill, is representing the Society on the Heritage Forum. With a view to helping the work of the Forum, he is appealing to members to contact him if they know of the location of thatched houses in the county and also the location of old graveyards and monuments as it is hoped to start work on these projects.