Lecture on Irish Monasticism

Dr Thérèse Cullen will speak on ‘Monastic Ireland’ on Tuesday, 6 May at 8pm in Teallach Íosa (The Family Centre), St Mel’s Road, Longford. Dr Cullen completed a PhD thesis in Queen’s University Belfast on the commemoration of St Patrick. She is project manager with Politics in Action, an organisation that works with young people to develop their interest in politics in Northern Ireland. She is also a well-known lecturer and media contributor on early Irish Christianity.

The launch of the Pakenham Papers Digitisation Project takes place on Wednesday, 19 March at 7.30 pm in Longford Library. This project was undertaken by County Longford Historical Society and involved the digitisation of many documents relating to Longford town, in the Pakenham Family Archive, Tullynally Castle, Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath. They are now being made available to researchers in Longford County Library and Archives Services. The event will include a short introduction to the material that has been digitised.

Our first lecture of the year will be entitled ‘Signs of the Times: Shop Fronts and Lettering in Longford’ by Dr Edward McParland. It takes place at 8 pm on Wednesday, 12 February in Teallach Íosa, St Mel’s Road, Longford. The lecture promises to be a very informative examination of parts of our towns that we often take for granted.

Dr Edward McParland is one of Ireland’s best known architectural historians. He studied in UCD and Cambridge University, and lectured in Trinity College Dublin from 1973 until his retirement in 2008. He has written numerous books and articles, and is an expert on the life of James Gandon.

The new edition of our journal, Teathbha, will be launched on Thursday, 28 November at 7.30pm in Longford Library. The launch will be performed by Ardagh native, Dr Mel Farrell, who is a well-known historian and author.

Teathbha is edited by Martin Morris and this is the twenty-third edition of it. As always, the journal contains articles about a broad variety of topics relating to Longford’s history. You can read about the Annals of the Four Masters; the saints associated with Longford; the Enlightenment in the county; the Ordnance Survey; an intriguing piper’s tune; and stories from Dromard. There are three articles on Longford’s diaspora: locals who went to South Africa in 1820; Kenagh people in the Falkland Islands; and Private Luke Baxter, who fought in the American Civil War, on both sides. There are also contributions about the county’s population in 1901, the early development of hurling and the Scór Sinsir competition. If your name is Quinn, you might like to learn about the family’s fortunes in the medieval period. There is something for everyone. There are also reflections on our townland names and an account of the County Longford Field Names Project.

Dr Mel Farrell, who will launch the journal, is an expert in the politics of the Irish Free State and has published widely on that and on the Irish Revolution. He has also contributed to Teathbha.

Copies of the journal cost €15 each and will be available at outlets throughout the county after the launch. There are special launch prices of €25 for two copies and €40 for three copies. Copies may also be purchased via this website.

The society will host a lecture entitled ‘County Longford’s Orangemen’ by Quentin Dougan, on Thursday, 14 November at 8pm. The venue is Teallach Íosa (The Family Centre), St Mel’s Road, Longford. All are welcome.

Quentin Dougan works as a historical consultant, specialising in the history of the Orange Order in Ireland. He has given talks and contributed to conferences all over the island, including at a Federation of Local History Societies conference in Dundalk.

The first lecture of County Longford Historical Society’s new season will take place on Wednesday, 9 October, when Fr Tom Murray PP will speak about the Dominican Order in County Longford. The lecture takes place in Teallach Íosa (The Family Centre), St Mel’s Road, Longford, at 8pm and all are welcome.

The Dominicans arrived in Ireland 800 years ago and gradually established themselves all around the island. They founded a priory in Longford town around 1400 and, after the Reformation, had a house near Kenagh. The lecture will explore these points and also the lives of some distinguished Dominicans from the county.

Fr Tom Murray is Parish Priest of Clonbroney and the diocesan archivist. He is a well-known local historian, a vice-chairman of the historical society and its newsletter editor.  He has lectured to the society on several previous occasions.

The society’s tour to Mayo is on Saturday, 27 July. We will depart the car park in front of St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, at 9.00am, and go first to the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide. Here we will have a guided tour of the museum, plus a visit to Davitt’s grave and the abbey adjacent to the museum. The next stop will be for refreshments in the Synge and Byrne Café, in the Museum of Country Life, Turlough, Castlebar. We then tour the museum, with public guided tours available at 2.00pm and 3.00pm. We will follow this with a meal at the Gateway Hotel, Swinford. We will be arriving back in Longford at 6.30pm approx. The total cost is €70 per person. Please book with John McGagh, 087 6684791, as soon as possible and no later than 20 July.

County Longford Historical Society will host a lecture on children’s burial grounds known as cillíní, by Prof. Eileen Murphy in Teallach Íosa (The Family Centre), St Mel’s Road, Longford, on Thursday, 6 June at 7.30pm. The placename ‘Killeen’ usually signifies a children’s burial ground and generally it was reserved for those who were unbaptised.

Prof. Eileen Murphy lectures in archaeology in the School of Natural and Built Environment in Queen’s University Belfast. Her areas of expertise include burial practices; childhood in the past; children’s burial grounds; the archaeology of the Irish diaspora; and community archaeology. The lecture is open to all and admission is free.

County Longford Historical Society’s next lecture will be given by Dr Tom Hunt, who will speak about Peadar Cowan, Republican politician. The lecture takes place on Wednesday, 10 April, at 8 pm in Teallach Íosa, St Mel’s Road, Longford.

Peadar Cowan was born near Arva and served in the War of Independence. He was a founding member of Clann na Polachta in 1946, but left the party in 1948 and was an indpendent TD until he lost his seat in 1954. Waterford native, Dr Tom Hunt lives in Mullingar. He is a distinguished sports historian, who has written a major study of sport in Victorian Westmeath. He has also written about sport in 19th century Longford in Longford History and Society. His most recent book is a biography of Peadar Cowan, published in 2021.