Clonakilty local history video launched for Heritage Week
National Heritage Week continues until this Saturday 21st August.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID restrictions, Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage was unable to organise its traditional heritage week events this year.
However, an hour-long professional video featuring three topics of local interest has been produced and is now available to view on YouTube.
The first section deals with the history of Lisselane Estate and in particular two of its owners – the infamous landlord William Bence Jones and from more modern times, C. O. Stanley.
The second section concentrates on Kilgarriffe old cemetery and some of the many important individuals and families interred there over the last three hundred years or so.
The final section of the video highlights Ring Village and the nearby Ballintemple Graveyard, detailing the importance of Ring as a port and the 800-year history of the cemetery wherein lay the remains of local 1798 leader Tadhg an Asna among other notable names.
The video is sure to be of great interest to Clonakilty people near and far as well as historians from wider afield.
The professional production took a number of weeks to complete and the work was undertaken by a small sub-group of Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage supported by a grant from Cork County Council under the ‘County Cork Heritage Grant Scheme 2021’ and the Heritage Council as well as support from the Bank of Ireland.
There are some great photos throughout of all three locations including some spectacular drone footage and the hour-long film was produced by Donal O’ Driscoll of “Pitchside Media”.
The video was launched during the week by Clonakilty Community Mayor Anthony McDermott and is available to view on the Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage website and Facebook page.
Click here to watch
Clon historical lecture on West Cork people in US Civil War
The Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage zoom May lecture on "Recovering the Voices of West Cork in the American Civil War" by historian, archaeologist and a former curator in the National Museum of Ireland Dr. Damian Shiels was another great success and enjoyed by the large crowd who “tuned in”.
In his wide-ranging talk, Damian said that it is estimated that around 250,000 Irish Americans fought for the Union during the American Civil War and the records left behind offer some of the most detailed insights into the ordinary lives of Irish emigrants in 19th century America.
Utilising new research, he explored what these records tell about emigrants and emigration from West Cork to the United States, and what they reveal about how those from the area were impacted by the war. The words of the men and women themselves, left behind in their letters and statements from more than 150 years ago were quoted throughout the talk.
Dr. Damian Shiels runs the www.irishamericancivilwar.com website and has written a number of books on this topic. The lecture was recorded and the recording is available to look at for members of Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage who have been emailed out the log in details.
Membership of Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage is free for 2021 and all details are on our Facebook page and website.
Dúchas AGM 2021
The AGM of Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage was held on zoom recently with 20 members attending. Cathaoirleach Tim Feen extended a welcome to all and reviewed the strange year gone by. The group’s last physical lecture was in February 2020 and as the COVID pandemic took hold, all activities were postponed.
As the weeks dragged in to long months, Dúchas decided in December 2020 to try out its first online lecture.
It was for many a trip into the unknown as Colum Cronin delivered a fascinating and faultless lecture on “The Kilmichael Ambush”. In January, “The Castles of West Cork” lecture by Finola Finlay was attended by over 300 people with huge positive reaction. Tim thanked and congratulated everyone in the organisation who organised these successful events, in particular, Marian O’ Leary and predicted that this is how the group will work for most of 2021 at least.
He also reported on a few other activities and plans for the coming year. Fachtna McCarthy, Cisteoir reported that despite not having physical lectures with paying attendees, the finances were relatively healthy for the coming year. It was also said that membership is free until December 2021. Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, PRO thanked all the local media for advertising the Dúchas activities and mentioned recently retired Editor of “The Southern Star”, Con Downing, for his support over the years. He also reported that there has been a growing interest in the Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage Facebook page and website, the latter which will be upgraded in the coming weeks.
Clíodhna O’ Leary and Michael O’ Mahony reported on the progress being made on the upcoming third journal and History of the Clonakilty Council respectively. Both publications will hopefully be completed and on the bookshelves by the end of the year. Representatives of other sub-committees also delivered reports, which were all positive. The outgoing officers as follows were all re-elected to their positions for the coming year.
Cathaoirleach: Tim Feen; Leas Cathaoirleach: Carmel Flahavan; Cisteoir: Fachtna McCarthy; PRO: Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin; Asst. PRO: Marian O’ Leary.
With membership expanding weekly, there was an open invitation to all members not attending the AGM to consider joining the committee or one of the sub-committees. Contact can be made by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage Facebook page or website.
Duchas Clonakilty Heritage Journals
In the current environment many individuals, clubs and organisations locally are currently putting measures in place to keep the morale up and keep people occupied (in the safety of their own homes), and so Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage have decided to make available for free the two volumes of the Duchas Clonakilty Heritage journal as PDFs on our website here
It is possible to read / download the entire journals or just individual articles.
Feel free to share link http://www.duchasclonakiltyheritage.com/index.php/journals to family, friends or anyone who you think might enjoy these articles!