Finn's blog

A celebration in Duhallow

By Finn | Wednesday, March 6, 2013

There was great turnout in the fabulously appointed James O’Keefe Institute in Newmarket, Co. Cork for an evening of storytelling and the celebration of a five month long partnership between the IRD Duhallow and the Historic Graves Project. The IRD Duhallow is a rural development company which covers the area of north west Cork and south east Kerry which supports initiatives directed towards the generation of enterprise for the benefit and welfare of communities. Read more »

Historic Graves and the IRD Duhallow

By | Friday, February 22, 2013

Shane Lehane reflects on the exhibition and story telling night held in the James O'Keeffe institute in Newmarket Co. Cork at the conclusion of 5 month long collaboration between the Historic Graves Project and the local Rural development Company IRD Duhallow. A series of lectures on the care and conservation of graveyards was followed by field surveys in up to 20 local historic graveyards. The exhibition includes aerial photographs, rubbings of the iconography from the recorded headstones and stories about the people and the places. Read more »

5 Most Read Posts From 2012

By Finn | Monday, December 31, 2012

The Historic Graves Project have had a very busy and exciting 2012 working with rural and urban communities to record their historic graveyards. The database of graveyards, memorials and stories is growing rapidly and new entries are being added everyday. The national map is filling up and you can explore and search the databse freely as communities add their survey records. Read more »

The Gathering rolls into Roscommon

By Finn | Thursday, June 7, 2012

There was a huge turnout in Roscommon last night for the first of the Gathering Ireland community events. These events will be taking place in every county in Ireland over the coming months and are an opportunity for the gathering team to spread the message about what the gathering is and for communities to learn how to become involved and to generate ideas for local gatherings across the country.

  Read more »

St Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny

By Finn | Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Historic Graves project recently had a meeting in the Heritage Council Offices in Kilkenny which are nestled in the fabulously restored 14th century Bishop’s Palace building just outside the boundary wall surrounding St Canice’s Cathedral. I was early for the meeting and took the opportunity to explore the graveyard surrounding St Canice’s. By the time I ventured inside the cathedral it was close to closing for lunch but the nice lady manning the desk let me in for free to have a quick look around.  Read more »

Theoretical Underpinnings to the Protection and Promotion of Historic Graveyards

By Finn | Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Introduction 

I get frustrated by talk show radio when people formulate opinions and profess them passionately without seemingly any prior thought or background knowledge. I always react positively to passion but the lack of solid underpinnings bothers me. Luckily in my work life both in archaeology with Eachtra and in historic graveyard conservation and promotion with the Historic Graves project there are solid theoretical foundations for what we do. Read more »

A Workshop in Kells Co. Meath

By Finn | Wednesday, May 2, 2012

It is easy to miss St John’s cemetery in Kells Co. Meath as it is tucked away behind a large stone wall on Headfort Place to the south of the town. It also gets somewhat overshadowed by St Columba’s graveyard located on the top of the hill which contains numerous high crosses, an early church and a round tower. St John’s cemetery however is interesting in its own right and is well worth a visit. The Historic Graves project used the graveyard as a location for one of our workshops which forms part of an historic graveyard care and conservation course which we are presently running in conjunction with Meath Partnership.  Read more »

Death and the Family Symposium

By Finn | Monday, April 23, 2012

Clodagh Tait from the History Department of Mary Immaculate College and author of among many other publications Death Burial and Commemoration in Ireland 1550-1650 organised a Symposium on ‘Death and the Family’ which took place in Mary Immaculate college in Limerick on Wednedsay the 18th April 2012. Clodagh kindly invited the Historic Graves project along to give a talk at the symposium. There were four other speakers and a great afternoon was spent exploring a diverse range of subjects under the death and family umbrella. Read more »

Historic Graves Roadshow - Dublin

By Finn | Monday, April 2, 2012

A number of local authorities in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork have combined to organise an Historic Graveyards Roadshow which will commence in March 2012. Supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, the Local Authorities and Historic Graves, this roadshow will combine training in heritage conservation, archaeology, local history and genealogy for community groups and schools in a number of communities. Read more »

Historic Graves Roadshow - Kilkenny

By Finn | Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A number of local authorities in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork have combined to organise an Historic Graveyards Roadshow which will commence in March 2012. Supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, the Local Authorities and Historic Graves, this roadshow will combine training in heritage conservation, archaeology, local history and genealogy for community groups and schools in a number of communities. Read more »

Syndicate content