Summer outings and tours

Ballycumber and District - James Kenny
Saturday 24th May depart from OHAS at 1.3Op.m. to meet at Ballycumber Village at 2p.m. for a tour which is being organised by Jim Kenny one of our committee members, which will include the old coach road, Ballycumber House, Liss Church Twickenham, the remains of Birdville, Prospect, Moorock Lodge, Bellair House etc. It is not intended that we visit the interior of any of these houses and Mr. Kenny's job will be to take us on a tour of the district and visit the grounds of some of the houses above. We have to finish with refreshments in one of the local pubs at about 5p.m. on Saturday the 24th of May. All are welcome.

Saturday 21st June
1.30p.m. from OHAS Centre and at 2p.m. from Daingean to visit Daingan and District under the care of John Kearney. Further details in June Newsletter.

July 27th
To visit the Portlaoise area under the auspices of the old Laois Heritage Society.

Saturday 23rd August
To visit new centres in Dublin including the Council Chamber in Dublin City Hall Museum and the print museum in Beggers Bush. A bus will leave from the centre at about 8.45p.m. for Dublin.

History of Meath and Westmeath
Paul Walsh's Irish leaders and learning through the ages - 640 pp (inc. maps) of essays collected edited and introduced by Nollaig Ó Muraile. Avail of the special pre-publication price of €50. Retail price €95. Orders must be with the editor by 16th May. Can be left c/o the Research Centre.

Tullamore Gaol Exhibition
Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre and in particular Alison Dillon has organised an exhibition on Tullamore Gaol to run until mid August.

An attractive poster has also been produced which is available for purchase at the exhibition and at the OHAS Centre. You are strongly recommended to visit and in doing so support the development of awareness of Tullamore History and Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre.

The Journal 2004
Please note our 30th of June closing date for articles and if you would like to contribute please get in touch with Mr. Rory Masterson at Screggan Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

Shinrone photographic publication
Our sincere sympathy to Noel MacMahon on the death of his son in London. At the time of writing we note that his publication on Shinrone is ready but the launch was deferred.

Know your Tullamore
Congratulations to Junior Chamber Tullamore on their publication of the new 2003 edition of Know Your Tullamore which is an extremely useful publication and which will in time become of great historical value.

Offaly Heritage Forum
Mr. Steve McNeill our chairman, continues to represent historical interests on Offaly Heritage Forum. The Heritage Forum is doing important work including the following:-

  1. Audit of 19 monastic sites in Offaly conducted by Camin O'Brien which emphasises the need for regular low maintenance work rather than a blitz approach every decade.
  2. Thatched houses. The interesting lecture we had on thatched houses in
    Offaly is to be the subject of a book which is to published perhaps in 2003 under the authorship of Barry O'Reilly. The Society will be supporting this publication financially.
  3. Industrial archaeology sites audit, we understand that it is agreed that a paper Audit of industrial archaeology will be carried out together with a physical survey of the Offaly Mills (up to 150).

Graveyards
We understand that mapping of the several graveyards is continuing and these include six, mainly Daingean, Lynally, Leamonaghan, Seir Kieran, Eglish and Geashill. It is hoped that Local Groups will read the tombstones in the graveyard and record all the details in accordance with a standard format.

History Awareness Programme
Eash primary school in Offaly has been given a monument of Offaly Poster.

FAS Training Programme
Our chairman Steve McNeill has now visited 22 schools to give talks on Local History.

Our current scheme with FAS finishes on the 27th of May and the Society wants to express sincere thanks to all who worked on the project over the past year from our manager John Kearney to all who participated.

Family History Queries
We continue to get a steady stream of enquiries about Offaly ancestors and these are ably dealt with by Margaret White with Anne Horan and Helen Flanagan. Margaret is getting married on the 22nd May to Liam Mulligan and we want to express our congratulations to her and thank her for her assistance over the past number of years with the family history queries.

Offaly 100 years ago
This series continues in the Tullamore Tribune each week contributed by the Society.

Offaly Place names articles
This series continues in the Offaly Independent each week contributed by the Society.

Tullabeg College
Articles on Tullabeg College have appeared in the Tribune over the past few weeks and it is hoped to have the completed text produced in the Journal for 2004.

Website offalyhistory.com
Our publication in the last newsletter of the details of articles of local interest on the website has caused a stir and we hope that it will mean that more people will now access the site as a starting point for local history.

Inland Waterways Association of Ireland
The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland lately held its annual general meeting at the Society's centre in Tullamore and we were glad to be able to facilitate them and to organise a visit to Charleville Demesne and Castle on the Saturday morning following.

Heather Thomas RIP
Our sincere sympathy to the family of the late Heather Thomas RIP who has been for sometime a member of the Society and was a great supporter of all things on the heritage front in Co. Offaly. Herself and her late husband were instrumental in establishing Celtic Canal Cruisers in the early 1970s.

2004 Celebrations - Rail and Water
Next year will see the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the linking of the Grand Canal to the Shannon with the opening of Shannon Harbour and further details of this anon.

It will also see the 150th anniversary of the connection of the Dublin to Tullamore rail link at Clonminch on the Great Southern and Western Line. You may be aware that a recently published Rail Review proposes to downgrade the Tullamore Railway Station and to up grade the line to Mullingar and Athlone so that from here on the Galway train would be via Athlone and Mullingar. This would be a major change in the historical status of the Rail link since 1858.

The New County Council Offices - Sculpture
The new County Council offices are now well established and have lately been applauded in the Irish Times as a major contribution to architecture in the Midlands and deserving of national awards. In recognition of the opening of this major new building and of its importance in County Administration the Society contributed a piece of glass made by the Egyptian glass maker Kwala Sawala and this can be seen on the third floor of the building. The piece of glass is contemporary in line with the building itself but also reflects the efforts to establish high quality craft business in Co. Offaly ( it was made at the old mill at Belmont) .

Reminder
Those who have not paid their 2003 membership renewal of €25 could they do so as soon as possible.