Visit to Mullingar on 29th June 2002

This tour will take place on Saturday the 29th of June departing from The Exhibition and Research Centre at 1 p.m. for Mullingar. The two places to visit are the Diocesan Museum at Mullingar for 2p.m followed by Belvedere House and Park at 3.30p.m. The visit is by car and it is expected that seats will be available for those who do not have transport and wish to travel by sharing with others. The entry fees are only whatever is charged at Belvedere and at the Diocesan Museum. The visit to the Museum is a follow up on Fr. Paul Connell's lecture on Bishop Cantwell sometime ago. That to Belvedere is a long over due. As many members will know this house was owned by Colonel Howard Bury of Charleville for many years until his death in the early 1960s. The County Council in Westmeath spent about five million pounds on Belvedere - substantially more than was spent on any similar heritage project in County Offaly. The gardens are well worth seeing and it should be a pleasant afternoon. Please bring a picnic tea if you wish.

The Slievebloom walking club

The Slievebloom walking club walks continue again this year and there were walks each Sunday in July.

For details you should contact info@slievebloom.ie or ring Gerry during the day time 0509/37299.

OHAS Journal

Rory Masterson is receiving copy for the Journal up to end of June and you should send it to him c/o OHAS Bury Quay or to his home address at Screggan, Tullamore. Ideally it can be handed in hard copy together with a disc or it can be sent by email. We would like to have as many contributions as possible to make this first issue as interesting and
as useful as possible.

Visit of Meath Archaeological Society Irish Family History and Irish Genealogical Research Society 22 June

About seventy persons in all visited the Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre and the OHAS on Saturday the 22nd of June. Our sincere thanks to Steve McNeill who notwithstanding his Saturday morning arrival home from Rome was able to meet all groups. Our thanks to Peter Burke, Anne Horan and Margaret White and Noel Guerin who met the groups in the afternoon and presented an outline of our Family History services.

Durrow High Cross and Holy Well

Our thanks to the Tullamore Tribune and in particular to Tadgh Carey for highlighting our concerns about Durrow in the Tullamore Tribune for the weeks ending the 15th and 22nd June. A further piece on the site is expected for the week ending 29 June. As soon as it is clearly established who is the minister responsible for Duchas - The Heritage Service we should make strong representations to try and have the legal action recommenced to establish state ownership conclusively of the cemetery together with a public right of way and restoration works for the site.

Recent Publications

Congratulations to Sr. Bonaventure Brennan on the launching of her book on the foundress of the Mercy Convent Tullamore, Mother Mary Anne Doyle. The book is available from the Research Centre and was launched by the Bishop of Meath the Most Revd. Dr. Michael Smith on the 29th of May last.

Secondly our congratulations to the Tullamore Active Retirement Group (TARA) on their publication entitled Jipcat, Pigs Head, Petticoats and Combinations which is available for the very reasonable sum of €10 from the Centre.

Also still available at the Society's office are copies of Paddy Heaney's book on Cadamstown (now out of print elsewhere) together with Sergeant Dalton's illustrated History of Tullamore and District Gardai. The stock of this book is also reducing and if you want a copy you should buy it immediately at €15. Mr. P.J. Goode has sent us copies of his History of Cloneygowan which is a very attractive and substantial book and is available at €26 from the Centre.

For holiday reading why not buy a copy of Offaly History and Society this is available at the sum of €57 (£45)

www.offalyhistory.com

Our website has been further up graded over the last month and new articles have been included of great interest. Please have a look at it and let us have your comments and suggestions for further improvements.

Place names of County Offaly

Three articles have now appeared on Offaly Place names in the Offaly Independent and you should watch our for this series which will pull together the material collected by John O'Donovan many years ago for the Ordnance Survey.

O'Donovan Ordnance Survey Letters for County Offaly

We have made contact with a publisher of four or five of these volumes for other counties and we are hopeful that the County Offaly volume will be published next year. We have offered to make available our type script which can then be edited and corrected by reference to the original letters in the Royal Irish Academy. Dr. Michael Herity has edited the other volumes and we are hopeful that he will be involved in the County Offaly volume. We have also agreed to pre-purchase a number of copies by way of supporting the publication.

Visit to Clonmacnois 6th July 2002

Please note that our next tour will be to Clonmacnois and hopefully will be a pleasant afternoon to take place on Saturday afternoon on the 6th of July leaving the centre at about 2 p.m. to visit the site. 3.30 pm is the only time available into the Heritage Centre and the entrance fee there is €3.10c

We will return via Killeen's of Shannonbridge for refreshments. Again the trip is by car and seats will be available courtesy of other members.

Additions to our Library

Calendar of State Ireland Tudor Period 1571-1575

This is a new edition of the State papers for a short period but a turbulent one in the history of Laois and Offaly and will be of interest to students of the Leix Offaly Plantation.

Irish Innovators in Science and Technology

This brings together short biographies on people across the country who contributed to this subject including Mary Ward, the Third and Fourth Earls of Rosse, Daniel Chenevix and the Joly family - all with Offaly conncections.

Other books purchased include:

Ireland in the Crimean War
Pre census sources for Irish Demography
Medieval Records Sources
Songs of Irish Rebellion
The Irish Hedge School and its book
The Irish Sword numbers, 87 and 88
Statute Rolls of the Irish Parliament
History and Memory in Modern Ireland
A History of Irish Theatre 1601- 2000
Ordnance Survey Letters Dublin
Ordnance Survey Letters Down
A Paper Landscape
Diocese of Meath in the eighteenth century.