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Offaly History (short for Offaly Historical & Archaeological) was first formed in 1938 and re-established in 1969 and is located at Bury Quay, Tullamore, Co. Offaly since 1993(next to the new Tullamore D.E.W Visitor Centre).

We are about collecting and sharing memories. We do this in an organised way though exhibitions, supporting the publication of local interest books, our website Offalyhistory.com , Facebook, open evenings, our library and offices at Bury Quay.

Our Mission
To promote Offaly History including community and family history

What we do:

  • Promote all aspects of history in Co. Offaly.
  • Genealogy service for counties Laois and Offaly.
  • Co. Offaly photographic records for study and sale in addition to a limited number of publications on Laois and Irish general historical interest.
  • Purchase and sale of Offaly interest books though the Society’s book store and website.
  • Publication of books under the Society’s publishing arm Esker Press.
  • The Society subscribes to almost all the premier historical journals in Ireland.

Our Society covers a diverse range of Offaly Heritage:

  • Architectural heritage, historic monuments such as monastic and castle buildings.
  • Industrial and urban development of towns and villages.
  • Archaeological objects and artifacts.
  • Flora, fauna and bogs, wildlife habitats, geology and Natural History.
  • Landscapes, heritage gardens and parks, farming and inland waterways.
  • Local literary, social, economic, military, political, scientific and sports history.

Offaly History is a non-profit community group with a growing membership of some 150 individuals.

The Society focuses on enhancing educational opportunities, understanding and knowledge of the county heritage while fostering an inclusive approach and civic pride in local identity. We promote these objectives through:

  • The holding of monthly lectures, occasional seminars, exhibitions and film screenings.
    Organising tours during the summer months to places of shared historical interest.
  • The publication of an annual journal Offaly Heritage – to date nine issues.
  • We play a unique role collecting and digitising original primary source materials especially photographs and oral history recordings
  • Offaly History is  the centre for  Family History research in Counties Laois and Offaly.
  • The Society is linked to the renowned Irish Family Foundation website and Roots Ireland where some 900,000 records of Offaly/Laois interest can be accessed on a pay-per-view basis worldwide. Currently these websites have an estimated 20 million records of all Ireland interest.
  • A burgeoning library of books, CD-ROMs, videos, DVDs, oral and folklore recordings, manuscripts, newspapers and journals, maps, photographs and various artifacts.
  • OHAS Collections
  • OHAS Centre Facilities

The financial activities of the Society are operated under the aegis of Offaly Heritage Centre Limited, a charitable company whose directors also serve on the Society’s elected committee. None of the Society’s directors receive remuneration or any kind. All the company’s assets are held in trust to promote the voluntary activities of the Society. Our facilities are largely free to the public or run purely on a costs-recovery basis.

Acting as a policy advisory body –  Offaly History endeavors to ensure all government departments, local authorities, tourism agencies and key opinion formers prioritise heritage matters.

Meet the current committee:

Our Committee represents a broad range of backgrounds and interests. All share a common interest in collecting and promoting the heritage of the county and making it available to the wider community.

2017 Committee

  • Helen Bracken (President)
  • Pat Wynne (Vice President and Joint Treasurer)
  • Niall Sweeney (Vice President)
  • Michael Byrne (Secretary)
  • Lisa Shortall (Deputy Secretary)
  • Dorothee Bibby (Record Secretary)
  • Charlie Finlay (Joint Treasurer)
  • Darrell Hooper
  • Brian Pey
  • Fred Geoghegan
  • Noel Guerin
  • Henry Edgill
  • Peter Burke
  • Angella Kelly
  • Rory Masterson
  • Shaun Wrafter
  • Ronnie Matthews
  • Oliver Dunne
  • Ciara Molloy
  • Stephen Callaghan (Heritage Items)

If you would like to help with the work of the Society by coming on a sub-committee or in some other way please email us or let an existing member know.

+353-5793-21421 [email protected] Open 9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri

Schooling in Ireland, A Clustered History 1695-1912

20.0028.00

Schooling in Ireland: a clustered history 1695-1912, by John Stocks Powell

Some locations are associated by attractions such as Blarney for its castle; or a trade and manufacture,
as Belfast was for shipbuilding, and Kinsale is now for restaurants and gourmets. Portarlington in
County Laois, has been associated with a French speaking Huguenot colony, as nearby Mountmellick
is with Quakers. These on-the-lip identities long used may diminish others. For over two hundred
years small Portarlington experienced a clustering of schools: a local industry offering income from
parents, employment and provisioning.
French speaking schools, Latin homework under floorboards, pupils becoming famous, such as
Edward Carson, Oscar Wilde’s court prosecutor, and bringing the country to civil war with his
struggle for the British union: the Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor, trying to elope with his
headmaster’s daughter. There’s the headmaster whose pupils were escorted away during the 1798
rebellion, and another headmaster who took his school away, in flight and fright during the Land
League of the 1880s.
Histories carry wider themes, such as: how long was childhood? How was the young brain filled?
Textbooks, rules and rulers. What was the value on languages, Irish? English literature? French
grammar? Could Huguenot dialects be teachable? Why did sport become so important? And the
poor children; too much education to make them think, spinning wheels for those girls; whereas Mrs
Despard’s borders not turned out to spin or cook, but to marry well.
In a small town the encompassing of education in its failures, triumphs, hierarchies and finances, the
ideas and faces of childhood are revealed.

SKU: 111343654765 Category: Tags: , , ,

Description

Schooling in Ireland: a clustered history 1695-1912, by John Stocks Powell

Some locations are associated by attractions such as Blarney for its castle; or a trade and manufacture,
as Belfast was for shipbuilding, and Kinsale is now for restaurants and gourmets. Portarlington in
County Laois, has been associated with a French speaking Huguenot colony, as nearby Mountmellick
is with Quakers. These on-the-lip identities long used may diminish others. For over two hundred
years small Portarlington experienced a clustering of schools: a local industry offering income from
parents, employment and provisioning.
French speaking schools, Latin homework under floorboards, pupils becoming famous, such as
Edward Carson, Oscar Wilde’s court prosecutor, and bringing the country to civil war with his
struggle for the British union: the Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor, trying to elope with his
headmaster’s daughter. There’s the headmaster whose pupils were escorted away during the 1798
rebellion, and another headmaster who took his school away, in flight and fright during the Land
League of the 1880s.
Histories carry wider themes, such as: how long was childhood? How was the young brain filled?
Textbooks, rules and rulers. What was the value on languages, Irish? English literature? French
grammar? Could Huguenot dialects be teachable? Why did sport become so important? And the
poor children; too much education to make them think, spinning wheels for those girls; whereas Mrs
Despard’s borders not turned out to spin or cook, but to marry well.
In a small town the encompassing of education in its failures, triumphs, hierarchies and finances, the
ideas and faces of childhood are revealed.

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