Arran Henderson of Dublin Decoded will lead a walk around parts of the Dublin Liberties.
The starting time is 11.00 am, SATURDAY 27 MAY at the fountain in the centre of the park beside Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The walk will last approximately 2 hours.
Remember to dress appropriately for the weather!
Walk Details Visit Blackpitts, Newmarket, Mill Street, the former St Luke’s Church and its old Almshouse, Cork Street and the Coombe, we will discuss industry from the medieval period though the 1600s and beyond, underground rivers, neglect and regeneration, including the history of weavers, tanning, brewing and distilling in this area; trade, fire, poverty and rebellion. Later on our walk we will visit philanthropic housing from the late 1800s, the site of an historic hospital, and much more, in this extraordinary quarter of Dublin’s Liberties.
Audio kits will be provided and are included in the cost.
If you arrive for the walk without a booking, you MUST have the fee in CASH with you and you will not have an audio kit provided as these must be booked in advance.
Please note that the talk scheduled for Wed 1st March by Finola Finlay on Stained Glass has been swapped with the talk by Thérèse Hicks on the Kennedys of Newtown Mount Kennedy.
The revised programme:
Wed 1st March 2023 8pm Thérèse Hicks “No Mere Irish – The Kennedys of Mount Kennedy”
Wed 5th April 2023 8pm Finola Finlay “The Story of Stained Glass in Ireland: Beyond Harry Clarke”
This year the Rathmichael Historical Society celebrates its first half century and during the summer members repeated the outings of that first season of 1972, to the ancient church of Rathmichael, the
Rathmichael Hill Fort and the Ballycorus lead mines and chimney.
The main focus of
the celebrations took place in Rathmichael School on Wednesday 5th
October when a large number of past and present members gathered,
along with representatives of families of early committee members.
The focus of the evening was a talk by Rob Goodbody on the history of
the historical society, reflecting on how wonderful it is when a
historical society becomes historical itself.
Rob Goodbody
The Rathmichael
Historical Society was founded at a meeting of like-minded people in
the conservatory of Llanmawr, Corbawn Lane, the home of Mrs Kathleen
Turner, in April 1972. Besides Mrs Turner the group included Joan
Delany, Joanna Bonar Law, Ian Booth and Rev Ernan Perdue. The name
Rathmichael was chosen as it is the site of one of the most important
ancient churches in the area and also the name of the medieval parish
in which Shankill is located. The name is also distinctive.
The society
quickly attracted members from around the Shankill area and began
running outings during the summer and evening lectures in the winter.
In 1975 the
society added a new attraction to its activities, when it began the
Rathmichael Summer School, organised by Joan Delany and designed to
teach archaeology to anyone interested in the topic, including
surveying archaeological monuments. Joan managed to attract
enthusiastic support from many of the brightest stars in professional
archaeology to teach on the courses and to deliver lectures.
The Rathmichael
Summer School became all the more involved with archaeology from
1979, when the society began an archaeological excavation at Ballyman
on the Dublin-Wicklow border. The excavation was fully licensed and
one of the society’s members, Betty O’Brien, was the
archaeologist. This site was near the ancient church of Ballyman, and
the dig uncovered evidence for metal working as well as a corn-drying
kiln dating from the fifth century.
After eight
summers excavating at Ballyman the society’s excavation moved to
Dundrum Castle, again with Betty O’Brien as the licensed
archaeologist. This excavation at a fifteenth-century castle quickly
discovered that there were extensive remains of a thirteenth-century
castle below ground. This included a deep moat that had been
backfilled with medieval rubbish. The moat had been spanned by a
drawbridge and the excavation also discovered the very first
drawbridge structure ever identified at an Irish castle.
In the mid-1990s,
after the excavation at Dundrum was complete, the society moved its
excavation to Drimnagh Castle, where the licensed archaeologist was
Clare Mullins. This excavation kept going through two seasons within
the area surrounded by the castle’s moat.
Alongside these
archaeological excavations the Rathmichael Summer School continued to
run courses in archaeology, with two courses a year run and about
thirty participants on each course. In addition, the society began
another course, entitled Art and Archaeology, again organised
by Joan Delany. After the Drimnagh Castle excavation was completed,
the society decided that the complexities of running archaeological
excavations by a local historical society became too much and the
courses ran for a while without the excavation. Two new courses were
added to the Rathmichael Summer School in the late 1990s, run by Rob
Goodbody and Seamas Ó Maitiu, one entitled How and Where to
Source your Local History, and the other called Visual Courses
for Local History. Both courses were located in Dublin city
centre and brought the participants to local libraries and other
sources of information.
Throughout almost
a quarter century of the daytime courses run as the Rathmichael
Summer School there was also a week-long series of evening lectures
in archaeology and this part of the Summer School is still running,
after forty-eight years. Over that time the lectures have been
delivered by a veritable who’s who of Irish professional
archaeologists and historians.
While
participants on the Rathmichael Summer School courses paid a fee for
attendance, this was not sufficient to cover the significant costs of
archaeological excavations. From the mid-1980s into the 1990s the
Rathmichael Historical Society ran a number of fund-raising events of
high calibre. Aravon School relocated from Novara Road in Bray to a
Victorian mansion at Old Conna Hill at that time and offered the
historical society the use of its fine hall as the venue for social
evenings that were held on five occasions between 1985 and 1990.
These included performances by choirs and chamber ensembles,
recitals, exhibitions, displays of finds from the archaeological
excavations and various other attractions.
Researching
history is an important activity, but its results are lost if they
are not passed on. Some of the work carried out by members of the
society formed the subject matter for lectures delivered, while other
members published their work in books or magazines. The Rathmichael
Historical Society itself published a journal between 1973 and 2003
but is probably better known for the small volume called If You
Seek Monuments, that was written by founder-member Kathleen
Turner and published by the Society in 1983. This is a guide to the
historic monuments in the area and still very useful after all these
years.
In that same year
the society was responsible for rescuing the twelfth-century Kiltuck
Cross and having it erected in the grounds of St Anne’s Church,
Shankill.
50th Anniversary Cake
That the
Rathmichael Historical Society is still lively and active after all
these years was evident at the event on 5th October. The
highlight of the evening, after the lecture, was the cutting of the
birthday cake. This cake was specially made for the occasion by
Bakelicious in Shankill and featured the society’s logo. In a
wonderful climax to the evening the cake was cut by Ian Booth who,
fifty years before, had been one of the first committee members of
the society.
On Saturday, 23rd April 2022, Rob Goodbody was leading a walk for members of Rathmichael Historical Society to the ‘Rath’ in Rathmichael and even though our membership had lapsed, we were tempted back by this intriguing prospect.
We had only ever gone to talks at the school house, just a turn off the long and syncopatedly red-lighted N11 so that the hidden countryside beyond was a new and total wonder to us.
Here we were, in glorious blue-sky sunshine, on a shady little boreen full of flowers and birdsong which, Rob told us, was a still-surviving part of an ancient roadway – now truncated by Rathmichael Road – that used to link the Rathmichael Monastic Site with the other early Christian-era monasteries of the area.
Rathmichael Monastic Site, with its remains of a round tower and beautifully decorated grave slabs had evidently been a very important monastery. It was founded by St Comgall of Bangor in the 6th century but its later history and even its name has been obscured under layers of Viking and Anglo-Norman occupation. Part of the old cashel wall still survives.
Our boreen stopped at the locked gate of a farm and, despite the ‘beware of the bull’ sign, we followed Rob and climbed over. Luckily we were wearing hiking boots as it was about to get even more adventurous when we had to go through a short but very wet and swampy area. However, nobody got stuck in the mud and needed a piggy-back and we continued onward and upward to the Rath itself.
This is a really big Rath with a marvellous panoramic view over a vast area – out to sea over Dalkey Island and Killiney Hill to the north and Bray Head and the Little Sugar Loaf and sweeping around to the Dublin Mountains to the south and west. To our surprise, Tony and I found ourselves just below the Ballycorus Lead Mines with which we are very familiar, but we get to it from the other side.
We came down by a different pathway and came to the 12th century granite cross which has a crucified Christ figure on both sides. This is the Fassore Cross which used to be the Tarmon Cross at the entrance to the Rathmichael Monastic Site.
From start to finish, this was a delightful and very pleasurably sociable tour – so very welcome as we emerge from Covid isolation. Rob, as ever, enriched us all by generously sharing his extensive knowledge and lore. And, we discovered (shhh, don’t tell) that we can get home to Rathgar by a shorter and much more pleasant route via Kilternan.
On Sat. 14th May, our outdoor programme of events planned for this Summer continued, in glorious sunshine, and once again in the company of a really lovely group of approx. 20 members. Another wonderful day for Rathmichael, this time in the hands of the fascinating Anthony Murphy – spinner of myth and recounter of ancient lore, with his retelling of ancient tales related to the world famous Neolithic sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth.
We had the most magical day with Anthony. Our members were spellbound by the extent of his knowledge, and by the manner in which he could seamlessly interweave his solid archaeological knowledge with the ancient stories related to the sites.
Members also enjoyed a lovely picnic beneath the towering mound of Dowth – sustenance for both body and soul, and time to digest the many fascinating insights shared with us by Anthony concerning the connections between the known history and the mythology.
Having said goodbye to Anthony, and purchased many of his books; it was hard to leave this landscape, so members spent time visiting the peaceful adjacent ruined Dowth Abbey and burial ground containing the impressive memorial to John Boyle O’Reilly.
Check out Anthony’s very popular blog Megalithic Ireland, and see the additional photographs of our lovely visit, on his Facebook page. Thank you Anthony for such a wonderful day hugely enjoyed by all.
Written by Adrienne Hume
Photographer: Robert Nicholson
One of the highlights of the visit to Newgrange and Dowth, described above, was the reading of the following very appropriate poem by poet, Moya Cannon, as we stood on top of the tumulus at Dowth:
Flowers at Loughcrew
We have no key with which to enter this chamber of the dead so must peer through an iron gate along the stone passage to where a rising sun at equinox will flash its torch on flowers and suns – a seeding and reaping calendar – like suns and flowers in a child’s copybook.
A friend tells me that fossil pollen is found in the earliest burials. He says this is what makes us humans as much as stone tools – our ceremony of grief, attended by what is most beautiful, most fragrant on this earth.
Today is the last day of our winter. Ice lingers under the stone lintel but a brilliant sun reaches far into the passage, lights a corner of the backstone faintly, gives us one carved flower, picked out in white.
A family plays among the ruined cairns. The father photographs them, then gathers them to go calling on the youngest, to come along – “Bríd, Bríd.”
Tomorrow is St. Bridget’s Day. We drive home through soft pastureland. In a low corner of a field grow patches of greening rushes and, near an old farmhouse, on a slope, strong clumps of snowdrops.
This year marks 50 years since the foundation of the Society in 1972. To celebrate this significant year we have organized a number of special events.
The first of these was a walk on Saturday, April 23rd, led by Rob Goodbody to visit the old Rathmicheal Church and Graveyard and the nearby Fort (Rathmichael itself!). Rob has been a member of the Society since the beginning and has served it in so many ways, including as President.
Two lectures in the Autumn will commemorate the founding; one, also by Rob Goodbody, will tell the history of the Society while the second is a repeat of an early lecture by Pól Ó Duibhir with the title “The French are on the Sea”. These talks will take place in the Rathmichael Parish Hall on Oct 5th and Nov 2nd.
Rathmichael Historical Society is delighted to announce that this year’s Summer Lecture Series will take place between 15th -19th August 2022.
The theme this year will be: The Monasteries of St. Colmcille.
Guest speakers will include Dr. Cormac Bourke, Dr. Brian Lacey, Dr. Dan McCarthy, Dr. Elizabeth O’Brien and Dr. Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel.
All lectures will take place at 8pm in Rathmichael School Hall, Stonebridge Road, Shankill, Co. Dublin. Doors open at 7pm. Lectures will also be available online via Zoom.
On Sat. 23rd April 2022, Rathmichael Historical Society celebrated not only its 50th Anniversary, but also its return to ‘in person’ outings, with a truly significant walk to its spiritual home in the (as always) expert hands of the legend that is Rob Goodbody.
Rob is a longstanding stalwart of our society, an ex-President and a regular contributor to both our lecture programme and our outings, and we are very lucky that he is always willing to share with us his vast knowledge of all things local.
The Society felt that it was appropriate in the circumstances, to re-visit what the historian Ball considered “the most attractive site of a Celtic religious foundation in the Southern portion of Co – Dublin” (Kathleen Turner – If you Seek Monuments) – the evocative ruins of Rathmichael church situated “on a height in the middle of the graveyard, the whole enclosed by a rath of earth and stone”, the existing ruins dating to between the 9th and 12th Centuries.
Our group, of approx. 20 most interested and interesting individuals, who happily traipsed through mud and over stiles and gates in the wake of Rob, stood transfixed as he elucidated for us, what is known of the mysterious Rathdown Slabs, attached to the walls of the church for security.
In a tiny laneway close to the church, we marvelled at the survival into present times, of a “crude little cross of granite with a solid circular head… the Crucifixion carved on both faces – on one side in high relief, on the other in low relief”. The recent addition of small ‘covid stones’ a poignant reminder of the trials of the last 2 years.
We also visited what remains of the once monumental Rathmichael hill-fort “with two or perhaps three rings, on the hill behind the old Rathmichael graveyard”. In the past, students of the Rathmichael Historical Society’s Field Archaeology Course had made a survey of this fort.
Time passed surprisingly quickly for our little group of pilgrims, beguiled by this ancient landscape through which we traipsed, and the hints of life in the Iron age and early Christian period which Rob brought so vividly to life for us all.
Our group comprised both new and established members, and it was wonderful to be amongst such like-minded individuals for our first of many returns to face-to-face explorations. We returned to ‘the present’, our spirits raised, our imaginations stirred and our hearts filled with wonder, though our feet were a little muddied, looking forward to our next adventures into the past.
As always, huge thanks to Rob for his ongoing kindness in sharing his vast knowledge with all of us.
Written by Adrienne Hume
1st May 2022
Photographers: Robert Nicholson and Tony Fitzmaurice.
From Wednesday, 2nd March, the Society will be returning to live lectures in the school hall for the first time in two years. Attendees should wear face masks and should not participate if they are not vaccinated. The windows will be open to allow for adequate ventilation, so wrap up well!
The lectures from now on will also be available via Zoom and can be booked online. While we have done tests in the hall to ensure that a hybrid approach will work, please bear with us if there are technical or procedural hitches in the initial stages.
The fee for non-members is €5 either live in the hall or via Zoom. This may be paid in advance online or on entry to the hall.
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