RHS

Finola Finlay, who spoke to us recently about Irish Stained Glass, has published two fasinating articles about the 4 Fassaroe Crosses which are significant monuments in our locality.  These are the links to the articles which appear in Finola’s wonderful Roaring Water Journal (roaringwaterjournal.com): The Fassaroe Crosses of South County Dublin The Fassaroe-type Crosses — How Old Are They?  

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”

Rob Goodbody’s Talk for the 50th Anniversary

Rathmichael Historical Society is delighted to announce that this year’s Winter/Spring Lecture Series 2022/2023 will start on Wednesday 5th October 2022. Guest speakers will include Rob Goodbody, Pól Ó Duibher, Colum Kenny, Catherine Scuffil, Paul Gosling, Finola Finlay (more to be announced). 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. Admission fee:RHS Members – free.Non-members – €5 per lecture. Tea, coffee and biscuits after each lecture.

Rathmichael Historical Society has organised, for it’s members, a guided tour at the National Museum of Ireland in July. The tour will cover ‘Colmcille: Sacred objects of a Saint – 1500 years of devotion‘. This exhibition celebrates of one of Ireland’s three patron saints on the 1500th anniversary of his birth, through a selection of famous artefacts associated with him. This guided tour is now fully booked.  

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. Written by Mary McCarrick       

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 enterthis chamber of the deadso must peer through an iron gatealong the stone passageto where a rising sun at equinoxwill flash its torchon flowers and suns –a seeding and reaping calendar –like suns and flowersin a child’s copybook. A friend tells methat fossil pollen is foundin 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 lintelbut a brilliant sun reaches farinto 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 gocalling 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 fieldgrow patches of greening rushesand, near an old farmhouse,on a slope,strong clumps of snowdrops. Moya Cannon

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.