Lecture on Kilmainham Jail by Freida Kelly

On Thursday 14th April at 8.15p.m. Freida Kelly,one of our members, will give a lecture on Kilmainham Jail and its history.

We had a tour of this Jail some years ago and it was fascinating for its cover of important events in Irish history. Freida will be recalling these events in an illustrated talk on the 14th of April. You are very welcome to attend admission is free.

How to record Field Monuments by Caimin O'Brien

Caimin O'Brien is very kindly coming back to us on Thursday the 28th of April to present an illustrated talk on "How to record field monuments". This is a subject which is important in the context of the work that has been done on the archaeological survey of the county from O'Donovan's time in the 1830s to the SMR survey of the 1970s and 1980s. Mr. O'Brien is co-author of the Archaeological survey of County Offaly and Offaly's Medieval Churches and is well qualified to give this presentation.

This is an important topic and coming as it is into the summer months it will give an opportunity to people to look intelligently at the landscape around them and see what they can add to our knowledge of the history of the county.

Durrow Abbey Auction Posters 1958

The Society wishes to acknowledge with thanks from Charlie Flanagan 1958 farm clearance sale posters for Durrow Abbey. The sale was conducted by his father Oliver J. Flanagan.


DNA Project

For any of our members interested in their family history in the wider sense and having the name Byrne, Burns etc you may wish to contact o.beirne@fhre.de who is co-ordinating a DNA project on this surname. The result is to be used to prove/disapprove ancestry and surname group origin. The majority of the people with the surname Byrne are believed to originate from the O' Beirne Clan of Wicklow yet very little is known if this is truly the case. Alternatively, people with the surname Byrne or Burns could just a well be descendents of the O'Beirne from Roscommon or any other alternative Clan origin of which there are plenty to be found in Ireland. The DNA project can also be found at www.familytreedna.com/faq.html.

Carved Stone of Clonfinlough

This stone has lately being the subject of an article in the RSAI Journal volume 132 (2002 pp 1999 - 113) by Elizabeth Shee Twohig. It is an interesting contribution and should be particularly of interest to one of our members Eva Perez (living in Spain) as the author saw some similarities in the markings on the Clonfinlough stone and those to be found to Iberian Peninsula, particularly in Galicia. She thinks that the Clonfinlough carvings may belong to the historic period. She also notes the proximity of the Clonfinlough stone to one of the old routes to Clonmacnois and suggested that the carvings might relate to the activities of pilgrimages or other users of the road to Clonmacnois. She notes that McDermot and others made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella in Spain in 1445.

Church Hill near Tullamore

The find of a flat disc rotary quern fragment from Church Hill is also the subject of an note in the 20002 issue of the RSAI Journal. This stone was found near the church and graveyard at Church Hill. The note was contributed by Charles Mount. Copies of the article can be seen in the Society's Library.

Library Evenings

Please note that our Library Evenings continue from approx 7.30p.m. to approx 10.30p.m. each Thursday and members are very welcome to attend for research purposes.

Volunteering

There was a good response to our recent request for Volunteers in that we now have several members who are indexing the Local Newspapers. If you would be interested in this or other projects why not come along on the Thursday night to see what you can do or in the alternative contact Steve McNeill or Michael Byrne about other opportunities.

Attached is a list of names of bridges of uncertain origin which form part of the Industrial Archaeological Survey of the County being undertaken for the County Council by Fred Hammond. If you have suggestions on the names of these bridges perhaps you would write to us at Bury Quay or email at ohas@iol.ie. Attached also for members who receive email is the Heritage Council Newsletter for February 28th 2005. This included all the grants including one to the Society for €2,500 in respect of preparatory works for preservation of the glass works at Shinrone.

The Site is well worth looking at and can be found at the heritagecouncil.com.

Additions to the Library

Attached are recent purchases for the Library and we are now acquiring further C.D.'s from Eneclann of Digital copies of some rare items of Irish Historical interest.