Stephen Mandal of the Irish Heritage School led a group of Laois heritage enthusiasts on a walk of discovery at the Rock of Dunamase on Sunday, as part of the Know your Locality Laois course.
The free online course was offered to Laois people by Laois Heritage Office thanks to funding from Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme 2017 – 2022.
Stephen Mandal, Irish Heritage School and Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer leading a field trip at the Rock of Dunamase looking at the geology, landscape, archaeology and history as part of Know Your Locality. Supported by Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme (2017-2022) in partnership with Laois County Council. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Delivered online due to Covid 19, the the Irish Heritage School course took participants step-by-step through available heritage sources, allowing them to paint a picture of the geological, archaeological, and historical events that happened close to where they live.
Catherine Casey, Heritage Officer with Laois County Council said “it was wonderful to meet up in person outdoors for a guided tour of the Rock of Dunamase, and it really added a special dimension to the course which had been delivered online up to this point. While the course looked at examples from throughout Ireland, it focused on the geology, archaeology and history of Laois. As such the course was aimed towards local people who are enthusiasts of natural and cultural heritage. We were delighted with how the course went and thrilled to announce that thanks to the generous support of Creative Ireland Laois, we will be able to offer the course again early next year.”
Picture: Alf Harvey.
Stephen Mandal of Irish Heritage School, based in Birr, said “The Know your Locality course has been very popular online and we’ve been delighted to meet all the Laois people who had such a strong interest in their local heritage. Our course began by looking at the very bedrock under your feet, examining the geological processes and glacial events that shaped the landscape and formed the soils. The course then focused on the impacts of humans on that landscape over time, from pre-history to the last century. We look forward to delivering the course for Laois again in the New year”.
For more information on the Know Your Locality Course, and to register your interest in future courses, visit: https://laois.ie/know-your-locality/
The effigy of Robert Hartpole, Constable of Carlow Castle was returned to Carlow Town on Wednesday October 13th, 2021 after a sojourn of approximately two hundred years in Portarlington, Co. Laois. For the last thirty years or so the effigy was on display in the People’s Park, Portarlington, Co. Laois. Over the past couple of years Carlow County Museum, operated by Carlow County Council, have coordinated the conservation of the 16th century effigy and its relocation back to Carlow Town and Hartpole now resides in Carlow County Museum.
Robert Hartpole, Constable of Carlow Castle, High Sheriff of Carlow, and Laois in the 16th century died in 1594. As was his wish, he was laid to rest in the Church of the Blessed Lady the Virgin Mary in Carlow. This was the church associated with St Mary’s Abbey, which is placed by a number of sources somewhere between the present-day St Mary’s Church of Ireland church and the Castle Hill Centre. The remains of Carlow Town’s oldest graveyard are still to be found in this area.
The effigy (a carved likeness of a person) is cut from a single block of Co. Carlow limestone, depicting a knight in full armour. The knight’s head, now missing, was resting on a helmet, his hands are folded over his chest. A dog lies at the knight’s feet, whose head is also missing. A Latin inscription carved along the side of the effigy once read “Hic jacet Robartus Hartpoole, Conestabulrius de Catherlagh, Septuagenario maoir, interiit iii die Octobris 1594”, (translated to say: ‘Here lies Robert Hartpole, Constable of Carlow, he died on the 3rd day of October 1594, being more than a septuagenarian’. Some of the inscription still remains including the date 1594. This effigy was placed on top of his tomb.
The 16th century effigy of Robert Harpole, a national monument, receiving a steam cleaning in the People’s Park, Portarlington, Co. Laois, in advance of his move to Carlow County Museum. Photograph: Carlow County Museum.
The effigy was rediscovered in 1809 and was moved from Castle Hill to Oak Park, Carlow, to protect it. Sometime later in the 19th century it was moved by descendants from Carlow to Kilnacourt House, Portarlington, Co. Laois. This move was possibly undertaken by a canal boat as the River Barrow was a thriving business thoroughfare. In the mid-20th century, the effigy ended up in the possession of Laois County Council. They, with the assistance of local people displayed the effigy in the People’s Park under a roofed steel construction. Unfortunately, despite this public display, the effigy has suffered damage from anti-social behaviour, damage from its frequent relocations, its exposure to the weather, and the splitting and localised polishing of the stone. The effigy is also a recorded National Monument, LA005-032, and therefore comes under the protection of the National Monuments Acts 1930 – 2014.
Carlow County Museum, Members of Laois County Council, the Laois Heritage Office, the National Monuments Service, and the National Museum of Ireland, began to discuss what should be done to conserve the effigy and its long-term care. After commissioning a conservation report, and the agreement of all the agencies involved, it was decided that the effigy should be conserved and relocated to Carlow County Museum, a designated museum for the display and collecting of archaeological finds associated with Co. Carlow. The Museum is also located in the same town in which Robert was buried in 1594. Both the National Monuments Service and the National Museum of Ireland issued licences to allow the works to take place.
Earlier this year the Museum applied to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under their Community Monuments Fund 2021 grant scheme and was successful in receiving a grant to cover the conservation and relocation of the effigy. Gebel and Helling Stone Conservation, Cork, and Tipperary, were the appointed contractors and works took place in both Portarlington and Carlow County Museum from Tuesday 12th to Friday 15th of October. It was appropriate that they works took place in October as he died in October 1594. In Portarlington the effigy was treated and given a series of steam cleans to remove paint, graffiti, dirt, and organic growths. Then he was delicately separated from his concrete plinth and as he is now in two large sections, weighing up to 200kgs, he was mechanically lifted onto a large trailer for transport to Carlow. In Carlow County Museum a new plinth has been constructed to accommodate him and the stonemasons worked carefully to locate him onto his new plinth. Over the next while the display area around him will be enhanced to details his history and his conservation.
Ms Julia Gebel, Gebel and Helling Stone Conservation, injecting conservation resin into some fissures in the Robert Harpole Effigy. Photograph: Carlow County Museum.
Dermot Mulligan, Museum Curator, Carlow County Museum, and project coordinator said “we are delighted to welcome back to Carlow Town, after nearly two hundred years, the effigy of Robert Hartpole. While he is a controversial character, he was the Constable of Carlow Castle, from hence he shaped and influenced our town and county during the 16th century. The effigy is a piece of our town’s heritage and a fantastic specimen of our local limestone and probably local craftsmanship. Its conservation and relocation has been a cooperative multi-agency approach with the care and conservation of the effigy remaining the priority throughout the process”.
Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer, said “We were delighted to work with our colleagues in Carlow County Council, the National Museum and the National Monuments Service to restore this enormously valuable piece of Carlow heritage to its rightful home. The decision to display the effigy in the town park in Portarlington was taken many years ago and while it certainly saved the effigy from being lost forever, it was not an appropriate place to display such a sensitive monument. Hartpole had no connection to Portarlington, and a grave monument – especially that of a 16th century Knight – should be protected and presented to the public in a sensitive and responsible manner. This project has been a testament to the strong ties of co-operation that exist between Laois and Carlow and we look forward to continuing co-operation on a range of heritage issues. We are grateful to the National Monuments Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for their funding support for the conservation and relocation project, through the Community Monuments Fund.”
John Kelly, Editor of Carloviana, who has researched Hartpole and was anxious that the effigy be conserved said “the Robert Hartpole that emerges from history is rightly viewed as a rapacious land grabber, a ruthless soldier of severe temperament and having of a single-minded ambition to climb to the top of the social ladder. However, Hartpole also had a more enigmatic side. In common with other figures of the period he had ambiguous loyalties; he retained his Catholic faith, he married a Gaelic Irish woman, an O’Byrne from Tullow, and in at least one account is said to be a ‘maintainer of rebels’.”
The effigy of Robert Hartpole can be viewed on permanent display in Carlow County Museum where admission is free.
Robert Hartpole, Constable of Carlow Castle, High Sheriff of Carlow and Laois, now on permanent display in Carlow County Museum following his relocation and conservation through a multi-agency project. Photograph: Carlow County Museum.
A new mural artwork celebrating the people and spirit of Rathdowney will be launched at this year’s Culture Night on Fri Sept 17. The launch event will take place at the Church of Ireland Parochial Hall, The Square at 4pm. The mural is designed and created by Portarlington based artist ADW who will also give a brief introduction on the processes and background to the project as part of the launch event. ADW began this mural project by getting to know and understand Rathdowney from a socio-cultural, historic and economic perspective. The mural is inspired by the people, culture, heritage, new communities and natural hinterland landscapes of Rathdowney, as well as creative imagination and artistic license.
ADW began dabbling in art & creativity while still in primary school. After five years studying animation in Ballyfermot College, Dublin, he moved to Britain to work in the computer games industry. In 2005 he returned to a booming Ireland. However, in the fallout from the economic crash of 2008, he was made redundant from his full-time job as a 3D artist. ADW took advantage of this time and returned to his creative roots and began to produce his own art full-time.
In 2019 ADW’s mural for Cruinniú na nÓg Laois garnered local and national attention and was inspired by the 1992 Irish film ‘Into the West’ where some of the film’s iconic scenes where shot at the Savoy cinema in Portarlington. The cinema had become old and drab in the hub of the town since closing over 25 years ago. His mural artwork has not just visually reanimated the old cinema but has becoming a talking point with local recollections of the shooting of the film and a new sense of pride in one of Portarlington’s landmark buildings. For more on ADW’s work, see Instagram photos and videos at www.instagram.com/adwart.
The mural artwork is commissioned by Laois Arts Office in consultation with members of Rathdowney community and in association with The Walls Project, a creative arts agency who specialise in the delivery of large-scale public and private commissioned artwork across Ireland and Europe. It is supported by Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme (2017-2022) in partnership with Laois County Council.
Special thanks to Cllr John King, Clodagh Kennedy (Art/CSPE/SPHE teacher at St Fergal’s College), Rev Richard Seymour-Whiteley, and Howard Coburn (Flynn’s Medical Hall) for their enthusiasm and contribution in realising this project.#
Culture Night takes place on Fri Sept 17 and for all information on Laois’s Culture Night programme, go to www.culturenight.ie/laois.
Culture Night is brought to you by the Arts Council in partnership with Laois County Council.
Further details from the Arts Office, Laois County Council at artsoff@laoiscoco.ie
The plane last seen in public in Portlaoise over 100 years ago, when it was one of the first planes in Ireland to take to the skies, returned home to Portlaoise on Sunday. A huge gathering of well-wishers, heritage and aviation enthusiasts gathered in the spacious grounds of Laois Music Centre to view the newly restored plane, to hear the story of its journey so far and to hear music composed in honour of Portlaoise’s other great aviation hero, Col. James Fitzmaurice.
Laois County Council Chief Executive John Mulholland; Cllr Thomasina Connell, Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Conor Bergin and Teddy Fennelly, President of Laois Heritage Society with the plane at the Portlaoise Plane official return on Sunday 12th September 2021. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Addressing the gathering, Cllr Conor Bergin Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council said “The Plane was designed and built in Aldritt’s Garage Portlaoise by Frank Aldritt and his sons with the help of master carpenter John Conroy – the first plane to be built and take to the air in what is now the Republic of Ireland –and here today we celebrate the vision, creativity, imagination and originality of those Portlaoise men of the past. But it’s also important for us to celebrate the achievement of the people who have rescued this priceless artefact from obscurity.”
Members of the Aldritt family at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.
The Cathaoirleach continued “we must remember Joe Rogers, who first highlighted the continued existence of the plane in a private collection in England; Teddy Fennelly and Alan Phelan who pursued the plane and persuaded the owner to part with it and allow it to return home; Brendan O’Donoghue and Johnny Molloy who painstakingly worked on the craft to restore it to its shining glory and Tim Costelloe who informed and inspired all those involved from the start of the project, sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for all aspects of Irish aviation and in particular in designing the replica engine we see on display here today with the plane.”
Enjoying the plane at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.
As well as being a valuable artefact on its own right, the Portlaoise Plane is linked to Portlaoise’s other major aviation story: A young James Fitzmaurice records in his memoirs that he witnessed the construction of the plane and was also present when it made its first short experimental flight. This early exposure to the excitement of flight was credited by Fitzmaurice with inspiring him in his career as a pioneering aviator. This links the Portlaoise Plane directly with the first east-west transatlantic flight – elevating the story and confirming the place of Portlaoise as the centre of Irish aviation history.
Members of the restoration team, from left: Brendan O’Donoghue, Alan Phelan, Teddy Fennelly and Tim Costello at the Portlaoise Plane official return on Sunday 12th September 2021. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Chairman of the Heritage Council Michael Parsons speaking at the event on Sunday said “The Heritage Council encourages national and local exploration and appreciation of Ireland’s rich natural, built and cultural heritage. The Portlaoise Plane tells a story of exploration, bravery and derring do, that should make the Aldritt, Conroy and Rogers families very proud of their ancestors. All of us in Laois and Ireland can join in celebrating this great story of these pioneers of Irish Aviation. The Heritage Council commends Laois County Council for its warm support of the Portlaoise Plane. I personally wish that the plane will soon be on permanent display where it belongs – here in Portlaoise”.
Members of the Irish Air Corps at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.
All speakers paid tribute to Teddy Fennelly, aviation enthusiast and author of the book “Fitz and the Famous Flight. John Mulholland, Chief Executive of Laois County Council said “Teddy has rescued both the aviation story and the plane for the people of Portlaoise. He has motivated everyone with his selfless drive and enthusiasm and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for saving and helping to restore this vital part of our heritage.”
Speaking about the Plane and its restoration, Teddy Fennelly thanked the many people who had helped along the way, mentioning in particular the staff of Laois County Council’s Portlaoise MD, who have generously assisted with the safe storage of the plane in Portlaoise for the past number of months. He also paid tribute to the Management and Elected members of Laois County Council who he said had always supported heritage projects in Laois and had been generous in their support of this project to date.
Brendan O’Donoghue, lead restorer of the plane; Teddy Fennelly, President of Laois Heritage and Brigadier General Rory O’Connor, General Officer in command, Irish Air Corps at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.
The Portlaoise Plane event was bookended by the performance of extracts from “The Impossible Dream” composed by Martin Tourish to commemorate the life and achievements of Col James Fitzmaurice. The music which was commissioned by Music Generation Laois with funding from Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme 2017 – 2022, was performed by members of the Music Generation Laois Trad Orchestra, accompanied by Martin Tourish and Siobhan Buckley.
The Music Generation Laois Trad Orchestra performing at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.
MC of the event Alan Phelan commended the young musicians and their tutors, paying special tribute to Rosa Flannery, coordinator of Music Generation Laois and the driving force behind many unique creative projects in the county. At the end of the event, Alan asked Brendan O’ Donohue who spearheaded the restoration of the plane, and Tim Costello who carried out much of the research including the design of the replica engine also on display with the plane, to stand, and those gathered showed their appreciation of the two men with hearty applause.
Chairman Alan Phelan with his family at the Portlaoise Plane Event. From left: Anita, Phyllis, Alan, Aoife and Aisling Phelan. Picture: Alf Harvey.
The event was attended by representatives of the Irish Air Corps who paraded on at the start of proceedings and by members of the Irish United Nations Veterans Association Post 27 Portlaoise Branch, who provided a special guard of honour for the plane while it was in situ. General Officer in Command of the Irish Air Corps Brigadier General Rory O’Connor was an honoured and welcome guest. A fly-past of light aircraft from the Lime Tree Airfield just outside Portlaoise lent a further special aviation flavour to the historic event.
The fly over by aircraft from the Lime Tree Flying Club at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.Members of the Conroy family at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Col Fitzmaurice Archive
In addition to restoring the Portlaoise Plane, Teddy Fennelly has been collecting original archive material relating to the flight and Fitzmaurice for many years – the first East West Transatlantic Flight was major international news both in Europe and the US, and was front page news on the New York Times for 19 days after the flight. Now, with thanks to Heritage Council funding, much of the collection has now been conserved by specialist paper conservator and digitised, and the and the Fitzmaurice Commemoration Committee has ensured that the newspapers will be made publicly available through the digital archive of the Laois County Library Service.
The archive project was brought about through the collaborative approach of the Laois County Council Culture Team – the piece of music commemorating James Fitzmaurice is another –showcasing how the culture Team members from the Heritage, Libraries, Arts, Music Generation and Archives work together through the Creative Ireland programme, to become more than the sum of their parts, and producing truly imaginative, ground breaking work.
Committee member PJ Kavanagh with his family, Niamh, Noah and Suzie at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.Members of the UN Veterans Post 27 at the Portlaoise Plane Event. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Col Fitzmaurice Commemoration Committee
The Portlaoise Plane event on Sunday was the final event of the year for the Col Fitzmaurice Commemoration Committee, which is made up of Teddy Fennelly, Alan Phelan, Michael Parsons, Louise Cahill, PJ Kavanagh, Sean Murray and Catherine Casey. The work of the group continues and more on the projects and plans of the Committee can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Fitzflight. More on the Portlaoise Plane Restoration Project is at https://portlaoiseplane.com/.
Committee members, from left: Teddy Fennelly, Sean Murray, Michael Parsons, chairman of The Heritage Council; Louise Cahill, Alan Phelan and Catherine Casey at the Portlaoise Plane official return on Sunday 12th September 2021. Picture: Alf Harvey.Brigadier General Rory O’Connor, Teddy Fennelly, President of Laois Heritage Society; Michael Parsons, Chairman of The Heritage Council and Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer with the plane at the Portlaoise Plane official return on Sunday 12th September 2021. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Portlaoise aviation history will be to the fore for this year’s Heritage Week, August 14th to 22nd 2021, with three events celebrating the huge contribution the town has made to Irish and international aviation and exploration.
The Portlaoise Plane, a monoplane designed and built in Aldritt’s Garage Portlaoise by Frank Aldritt and his sons – the first plane to be built and take to the air in what is now the Republic of Ireland – will be on display to the public for the first time at a special event in Fitzmaurice Place Portlaoise on Saturday 21st August at6pm.
The Portlaoise Plane, the plane built by Frank and Louis Aldritt in the early part of the 20th century has returned home to Portlaoise. Picture: Alf Harvey.
The event will also feature a Guard of Honour by the Irish Air Corps and a performance of a specially commissioned piece of music by Martin Tourish and the Music Generation Laois Trad Orchestra. Entitled “The Impossible Dream” and inspired by the life of Col James Fitzmaurice, the music was commissioned with the support of the Creative Ireland Laois Programme in partnership with Laois County Council and Music Generation Laois. Attendance at the public event is free but booking is required due to Covid restrictions, see www.portlaoiseplane.com for details on how to book.
The plane, which hung in the rafters at Aldritts for 60 years before being sold to a private collector in England, was located by Portlaoise native Joe Rogers. After a few visits to the collector’s museum by local enthusiasts Teddy Fennelly and Alan Phelan, the plane was purchased by Teddy and brought back to Ireland in 2018. It has now been fully restored by aviation engineers Brendan O’Donoghue and Johnny Molloy and was returned to Portlaoise in July of this year. As part of the restoration project, Alan Phelan, CEO of APTN Aero and member of the Col Fitzmaurice Commemoration Committee, commissioned a replica of the original engine. This working engine will also be on display on August 21st 2021. The plane is now in safe storage provided by Laois County Council and the Heritage Week event will mark its first public appearance in over 100 years.
History of the Portlaoise Plane
A local newspaper in Portlaoise reveals how the bamboo shoots used in the plane were salvaged from a forest on the former Coote Estate at Ballyfin, which had been hit by a storm a short time earlier. (Leinster Express, 9 July 1961). The same article states that the propeller was made by Richard P. Bannon of Market Square and that John Conroy, a master wood craftsman from the town’s Main Street, helped formulate the plans and did the carpentry work on the plane. It also mentions William Rogers, father of the afore-mentioned Joe Rogers, as one of those who helped the Aldritts in the construction.
In a link to Portlaoise’s other major aviation story, we know from his own memoirs that a young James Fitzmaurice witnessed the construction of the plane in 1909 and was also present when it made its first short experimental flight. This early exposure to the excitement of flight was credited by Fitzmaurice with inspiring him in his career as a pioneering aviator. For those who would like to hear more about the first East West transatlantic flight, a talk by Teddy Fennelly will be released on Tuesday 17th at 7pm on www.facebook.com/laoisheritageoffice.
Fitzmaurice Archives
The first East West Transatlantic Flight was major international news both in Europe and the US, and was front page news on the New York Times for 19 days after the flight, as the triumphant aviators – Col James Fitzmaurice of Portlaoise and the Irish Air Corps and his German team mates, Captain Herman Kohl and Baron Von Huenefeld – toured America , receiving the Congressional Medal of Honour from President Calvin Coolidge and being feted by large crowds in cities across the country.
Aviation enthusiast and author of the book “Fitz and the Famous Flight” Teddy Fennelly, has been collecting original archive material relating to the flight and Fitzmaurice for many years and his collection contains many fragile archives – newspapers in particular were never made to last 100 years and had become very fragile. With the help of a Heritage Council Community Grant, these documents have now been conserved by specialist paper conservator Liz D’Arcy.
Paper Conservator Liz D’Arcy shows some of the Fitzmaurice Newspaper Archive to Mary Fanning of RTÉ during recording of a clip for Nationwide
Separately, Liam Byrne from Athlone has also collected a large archive of papers and memorabilia associated with the flight. Both Liz and Liam will be giving a presentation on their work in a live online event on Wednesday 18th August at 8pm. For details of this event and how to book see https://www.facebook.com/laoisheritageoffice
Nationwide Programme
The Portlaoise Plane and the Fitzmaurice connection caught the attention of the team from RTÉ Nationwide and broadcaster Mary Fanning was in Portlaoise in early August filming for a piece that will go out on the Nationwide programme on Wednesday August 18th. The Nationwide programme will feature interesting heritage stories from all across the country for the week of Heritage Week, August 14th – 22nd.
For more information on the Portlaoise Plane and the Heritage Week events please see https://portlaoiseplane.com
Heritage Week is coordinated in Ireland by the Heritage Council supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in association with Fáilte Ireland. At county level, National Heritage Week is co-ordinated and supported by Local Authority Heritage Officers, with numerous local community based heritage groups and organisations.
For full details of all events happening in Laois for Heritage Week see www.laois.ie/heritageweek. Events and projects across the whole country for the week are at www.heritageweek.ie .
Registration for this year’s Know Your Locality Course is now open! The course will run online over 5 evenings in March, with a fieldtrip to the Rock of Dunamase at the end.
Register online with the Irish Heritage School here.
It is amazing what you can discover about your local area from the snug safety of your home.
Laois Heritage Office with the support of Creative Ireland is delighted to offer a FREE online course delivered by Irish Heritage School that will take you step-by-step through the available online sources that will allow you to paint a picture of the geological, archaeological, and historical events that happened close to where you live. While the course will look at examples from throughout Ireland, it will focus on the geology, archaeology and history of your county. As such the course is aimed toward local people who are enthusiasts of natural and cultural heritage.
Catherine Casey, Heritage Officer with Laois County Council said “We are delighted to be working with the Irish Heritage School again to bring this hugely popular course to more people with an interest in the Heritage of Laois. In recent times we have all become much more aware of the beauty and value of our own local place, and this course taps into that interest. We hope it will equip people with the tools they need to research their locality and look at their own patch with new eyes. We are really grateful for the support of Creative Ireland in Laois, which allows us to bring this course to the public for free.”
Stephen Mandal, Irish Heritage School leading a field trip at the Rock of Dunamase looking at the geology, landscape, archaeology and history as part of Know Your Locality. Supported by Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme (2017-2022) in partnership with Laois County Council. Picture: Alf Harvey.
The course will be delivered through five online tutorials every Tuesday and Thursday over two and a half weeks commencing March 7th 2022. We will begin by looking at the very bedrock under your feet, examining the geological processes and glacial events that shaped the landscape and formed the soils. The course then focuses on the impacts of humans on that landscape over time, from pre-history to the last century.
The first workshop includes a summary of the course content and format. A list of resources and links will be sent to the participants so that they can study their own locality. Workshops will focus on a different aspect of geology, the landscape and archaeology of Laois each week, from the formation of Ireland to the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in Ireland, with a focus on each workshop on teaching a set of online research skills. The course will also outline how these skills can be used to make your own submission to the ‘KnowYour5k’ initiative of the Heritage Council and National Museum of Ireland. Through this and other citizen scientist programmes, course participants can make a real contribution to the conservation of our heritage by recording what is in their local area, what the local community values and raising awareness of its importance.
Supported by Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme 2017-2022 in partnership with Laois County Council.
The Laois Short Film Inaugural Bursary aims to foster talent and activity in film making in County Laois and is funded by Creative Ireland in partnership with Laois County Council. The Bursary is for a short drama or documentary film of 10 to 12 minutes duration to be shot in the county.
The 2021 Bursary is now open for submissions with a deadline of 4pm on Friday 6th August
This year both short documentary (10-12mins) & drama (10-12mins) are being accepted.
Also, a core member of each team applying for the bursary, ie Writer/ Director/ Producer, must be from or living in Laois.
COMPETITIVE APPLICATIONS
This Bursary is highly competitive and we are asking for the widest range of stories possible. We are interested in screenplays that reflect aspects of Irish experience across different generations/gender/ethnicities, class and landscapes. It is important that Laois features on screen and so we would like to hear about locations you are thinking of using.
The successful team are encouraged to hire local crew to work on the shoot.
You can access the guidelines & application form here:
Laois County Council | Creative Ireland are awarding a total of five Equipment grants to creative and cultural individuals & groups. The grant can be only used for the purchase of equipment that contributes to creative and cultural activities within Laois.
The closing date for receipt of applications for the Equipment Grant Scheme is 4pm Monday 19th July 2021.
‘Made in Laois’ (co-create) Grant Scheme
Laois County Council | Creative Ireland are awarding a total of five ‘Made in Laois’ co-create grants. The aim of the grant scheme is to bring together a creative practitioner / organisation and co-create with a local community / communities of place and interest. A maximum grant of €2000 only to successful applicants. The closing date for receipt of applications is 4pm on Monday, July 19, 2021.
Laois County Council has become the latest Council to sign up as a partner in the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. The Plan is a cross-sector initiative, led by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, with local authorities, farmers, businesses, schools and local communities, to support pollinators including our 98 bee species, one-third of which are threatened with extinction. Partner organisations are those that have committed to delivering some of the 186 actions in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-2025.
Welcoming the partnership, Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council said “I am delighted to welcome the new partnership between Laois County Council and the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. We will work to support the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan through our work with communities and local authority projects and I look forward to seeing the positive results of this partnership”
Joe Delaney, Director of Services LCC; Juanita Browne, National Biodiversity Data Centre; Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer; Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Catherine Fitzgerald MCC; Simon Walton, Director of Services LCC; Angela McEvoy, Senior Planner LCC and John Mulholland, Chief Executive Laois County Council at Fitzmaurice Place, Portlaoise to mark the partnership between Laois County Council and the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Chief Executive of Laois County Council John Mulholland said “We know that Ireland’s pollinating insects are under threat, with one-third of our 98 wild bee species at risk of extinction. Laois County Council will work to address this in partnership with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, using their evidence-based actions to make public land more pollinator friendly. Actions range from reducing grass-cutting – to allow wildflowers to grow on public lands, to protecting nesting sites and reducing pesticide use. We know that the biodiversity crisis and climate change in Ireland are closely linked, and this new partnership ties in well with our current actions for Climate Change across Laois”.
Juanita Browne, All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Project Officer with the National Biodiversity Data Centre said “We’re delighted Laois County Council has signed up as a formal partner to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. The Heritage Office at Laois County Council has been running pollinator projects for many years as well as being instrumental in establishing the Local Authority Tidy Towns Pollinator Award, encouraging both local authority staff and Tidy Towns groups to manage their public spaces in a pollinator-friendly way. Laois County Council has proven that many small actions can have big impacts for biodiversity, and we look forward to working with them in the coming years”.
Laois now joins a growing list of local authorities, non-Governmental organisations, semi State companies, academic institutions and businesses which have agreed to take action to help Ireland’s pollinators. Action for pollinators is already underway across many sections of Laois County Council. Listed below are just some of the recent initiatives being led by various sections in the Council including Roads, Environment, Heritage, Sports & Recreation and Community.
Management for pollinators at graveyard sites through Conservation and Pollination Just Transition Project
Series of newspaper articles on gardening for biodiversity
Commissioned music piece on pollinators, Thresholds by Ian Wilson, supported by Creative Ireland
The 10,000 Tree project in conjunction with Portlaoise Tidy Towns , and Laois Offaly branch Irish Wildlife Trust, has seen planting of native trees and hedgerow plants along the Portlaoise Southern Circular route and at Clonminam link road
Pollinator planting on other routes (planned)
Pilot study on reduction in pesticide use in public areas (planned)
Management for Pollinators Portlaoise Town Park and Peoples Park Portarlington
Biodiversity enhancement of playgrounds at Coolrain, Stradbally, Mountrath (Amenity Area & Playground)
Biodiversity enhancement of Portlaoise Leisure Centre campus (In Progress)
Biodiversity Awareness Training for CE participants maintaining playgrounds & amenity areas
Laois Federation of Tidy TownsWebinar on Pollinator Friendly Planting by Dr Fiona MacGowan, Botanist and Tidy Towns Adjudicator
Many of our important pollinators are solitary bees like this one (Andrena haemorrhoa) . Photo courtesy NBDC/Stephen Falk
Local Authority Pollinator Award
The Local Authority Pollinator Award aims to encourage Tidy Towns groups to implement pollinator-friendly actions in their towns and villages as part of the Tidy Towns competition It supports the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and is coordinated and sponsored by the Heritage Offices and Biodiversity Offices of Local Authorities across Ireland, in partnership with the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
If you would like to find out more about actions for pollinators in Laois or how to become a “pollinator-friendly community” please contact the Laois Heritage Office.
The Heritage Office of Laois County Council with funding from the the National Biodiversity Action Plan, plans to undertake a survey of wetlands in Laois.
Wetlands includes rivers, lakes, bogs, fens, wet woodlands, wet grassland and a range of other wet habitat types. All are hugely important for Irish biodoversity and have become increasingly rare with changes in agriculture and loss of habitat to development.
Proposals are now being sought from suitably qualified professionals to carry out the two phase survey. Phase I (to be completed in 2021) will comprise desktop research and phase II (to be completed in 2022) will involve field survey of a selection of the most important or threatened sites identified in Phase I.
Both phases of the project will involve communication, collaboration and engagement with local people – community groups, landowners, NGOs, agencies, local authority staff and others in relation to the value and importance of wetlands.
The Project is funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the National Biodiversity Action Plan.
Details of the project and how to tender are at the etenders website.
€748,000 Just Transition Funding for conservation of medieval churches and pollinators.
A major new project linking conservation of medieval heritage and biodiversity has been launched by Laois and Offaly County Councils. The three year project has been awarded €748,000 under the Governments Just Transition Fund which aims to support innovative projects that contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Midlands and which have employment and enterprise potential. The total budget for the project is €880,000.
Cllr Padraig Fleming, Eilish O’Neill, Paddy O’Neill and Raymond Lacey at Clopook Church
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD said,
“I’m delighted that funding of €748,000 has been finalised through the Just Transition Fund for this project, which will bring significant benefits to the Laois and Offaly region. Every funded project will play a key role in the Midlands successfully adapting to a Just Transition while also benefiting communities and individuals most affected by the move away from peat-harvesting. This project alone will create up to thirteen roles, both directly and indirectly. The conservation of these six medieval churches and their graveyards in Laois and Offaly is a terrific development for the communities around them. I am also delighted to see that action will be taken to promote biodiversity and pollinators at each site in partnership with the community.
My Department to date has issued grant agreements with 26 projects through both Strand 1 & 2 of the Fund, and I expect the remaining projects grant agreements to be finalised shortly. These innovative projects include establishment of supporting local business development and green enterprises, tourism and greenway infrastructure, heritage, regional business hubs, , re-skilling and training initiatives.
These projects have the ability to transform the Midlands region and its communities in the transition to a low-carbon economy. They will bring new, innovative, green energy enterprises with the potential to boost the economy in communities and create viable employment options for the region.”
At the launch of the Just Transition project “Conservation and Pollination: Medieval Churches in Laois and Offaly” at Dysart Gallen Church in Spink. Included in picture is Cathaoirleach of LCC Catherine Fitzgerald MCC with 100 year old Anna Mae Treacy (nee Berry); committee members, Sean Murray, chairman Laois Heritage; Angela McEvoy, senior planner LCC and Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Catherine Fitzgerald, Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council said “We are delighted to be taking a lead on the Just Transition Fund project to work with communities at these important sites in Laois and Offaly. Churches and graveyards are such important places for heritage and also for the sense of place and identity of the local community. It is great news that there will be positive interaction with communities at a church site in each of the Municipal Districts, I look forward to seeing works progress over the next three years”
At the launch of the Just Transition project “Conservation and Pollination: Medieval Churches in Laois and Offaly” at Dysart Gallen Church in Spink. Included in picture is Cathaoirleach of LCC Catherine Fitzgerald MCC with committee members Paddy Peppard and chairman Michael McEvoy. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Over the years Laois and Offaly County Council heritage officers have been working with a range of communities to care for their medieval churches and the surrounding graveyards. These sites are a direct link to our medieval past and often on sites of importance dating right back to the early Christian period. They are very special places for local communities, of interest to visitors, as well as being the burial grounds for so many families. With increased extreme weather events and the impact of climate change there is an acknowledgement that the work to conserve these sites is more important than ever.
This conservation programme has received a huge boost with the allocation of Just Transition funding which will be used to conserve three churches in each county over the next three years. There are several strands to Just Transition funding and this programme has received funding through the Community Resilience Strand. This uses the deep connection people have to their local heritage as a tool to build community capacity, working with local community organisations to develop their capacity to respond to changes in the environment, and raise awareness of greener, cleaner, healthier communities.
One church and graveyard has been selected in each municipal district in both counties. The work at all sites will commence with a comprehensive conservation plan which will be drawn up by a team including a conservation architect, conservation engineer, archaeologist and ecologist. They will work with the community groups locally to plan works for each site to be delivered. This will include examining options from the All Ireland Pollinator Plan guidelines to see how best the sites can support pollinators. The proposals will then be submitted to the National Monuments Service for approval before conservation work will commence. This programme runs for three years so it is anticipated the work in 2021 will focus on research and preparing the programme of works to commence in 2022 and 2023.
In Laois the sites to be included are Kilmanman, near Clonaslee (in the Mountmellick – Borris in Ossory Municipal District), Dysart Gallen in Spink (Portlaoise Municipal District) and Clopook (Portarlington – Graiguecullen Municipal District).
Kilmanman
The medieval church of Kilmanman is on an early Christian site founded by St Manman. Urgent conservation work started at the Church in 2019 with support from Creative Ireland Laois, and work will continue under the Just Transition Project.
Fred Mathews and Chris Horan, committee members; Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer; Tommy Kelly, committee member; Jethro Sheen, Sheen Stoneworks and Colm Flynn, Archaeologist at Kilmanman Church, Clonaslee.
Dysart Gallen
The community at Dysart Galllen commissioned a Conservation Plan in 2020 with funding from the Community Monuments Fund of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This plan has set the priority area for action on the fragile chancel arch and West window of the Church.
Eoin Cahill of the Dysart Gallen graveyard committee said “I for one am very excited to know that this important historical site will now be preserved for future generations to enjoy, and explore, just like I have. The community are very proud of Dysart Gallen and are delighted it is getting the love and attention it deserves. The site itself is such a peaceful place to visit, which is something visitors from far and wide will experience for many, many years to come”..
Dysart Gallen Church in Spink. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Clopook
Clopook graveyard with its medieval abbey dedicated to the Blessed Virgin is located beside the Dun of Clopook, an impressive hillfort situated on top of high rock outcrop similar to the Rock of Dunamase with commanding views of the surrounding countryside in all directions. The place name ‘Cloghpooke’ is annotated on the 1563 map of Laois-Offaly and this hilltop fortress or hillfort is traditionally associated with the O’Moore/O’More clan.
The Offaly sites to be included are Kilmurry in Shinrone, Kilbride near Tullamore and Monasteroris near Edenderry.
For more information on any of the sites and progress with the Conservation and Pollination project over the coming years please see www.laois.ie/heritage and www.offaly.ie/heritage. If you are interested in being kept up to date or involved in any of the above sites please email ccasey@Laoiscoco.ie for the Laois sites or heritage@offalycoco.ie for the Offaly sites.
A ground-breaking new Climate Action Walk for Abbeyleix has been launched by Abbeyleix Tidy Towns, working in partnership with Laois County Council, Creative Ireland Laois and Midlands Science. The walk is an end of residency project by science communicator in residence for the Abbeyleix Climate Action Project, Dr Niamh Shaw.
The walk is an interactive walking tour through the town of Abbeyleix to engage the general public about climate change, focusing on the cyclical nature of our planet, how climate change has impacted our lives, how it affects us emotionally and what we can do on a local level to positively contribute to this global issue.
Robbie Quinn, chairman of Abbeyleix Tidy Towns and Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Catherine Fitzgerald MCC with one of the tiles at the launch of the Abbeyleix Climate Action Walk. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Speaking at the launch, Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Catherine Fitzgerald said “Successful climate action will require deep changes in our society, and this cannot happen without citizen engagement at the heart of public policy change. I’d like to congratulate the members of Abbeyleix Tidy Towns for their enthusiastic participation in this ground breaking project to engage the people of the town with the breadth of change needed to address climate action and biodiversity loss.
“I’d like to thank Creative Ireland and the Laois County Council Culture and Creativity Team for giving this project the space to develop over the past year, and allowing the team to react in such an agile way to the new challenges of the Covid restrictions on public gatherings. The online elements of this project and in particular the Abbeyleix Almanac online programme really demonstrated how much engagement can be created when a creative approach is taken to communicating these topics”.
The Abbeyleix Climate Action Walk is designed for the public to discover ceramic tiles dotted along Main Street Abbeyleix, and guide them along a walk which starts at Heritage House and ends at Abbeyleix Bog. A unique QR code is printed on each ceramic tile, which will trigger a mobile device to open an animation or video hosted on youtube. An online Story Map has also been published so anyone in the world can “virtually” follow the path of the walk. The Storymap is on the Climate Action section of the Laois County Council website at www.laois.ie/climate.
Dr Shaw said “It was an absolute pleasure to work with the Abbeyleix Tidy Towns and local community for the past six months on raising awareness about the topic of climate change. This end of residency walking project was a most enjoyable part of that shared experience and would not have been possible without the people on the ground who worked with me in creating the walk. From the local businesses and council buildings who allowed us to install the tiles, to the Abbeyleix Tidy Towns committee who have helped with the installation, I have had terrific support throughout.
“I have to thank local graphic designer Paulina Nickstrom for making my words come to life in her gorgeous animations. Thanks also to Sally Weintrobe who permitted us to incorporate the talk she gave back in March as one of the audio pieces along the walk. But most importantly I want to acknowledge the guidance and support throughout my residency from Laois Heritage Officer Catherine Casey, Ann Lawlor from Creative Laois, Jackie Gorman from Midlands Science and the amazing Abbeyleix Tidy Towns committee. We can do some good things on our own, but together we can make the impossible possible”
The new Abbeyleix Climate Action Walk is a project under the Healthy Ireland Keep Well Campaign, aimed at showing people of all ages how we can mind our own physical and mental health and wellbeing by adding healthy and helpful habits to our daily and weekly routines.
Julie Scully, Healthy Ireland Co-ordinator for Laois County Council said we are delighted to collaborate with Abbeyleix Tidy Towns, The Heritage Office and Creative Ireland on this initiative that brings together so many elements of the Keep Well Campaign. This project links the past to the future with the use of the most up to date technology. The links between personal wellness and environmental wellness are well documented and this project, with the beautiful and informative videos by Dr. Niamh Shaw, encourages people to enjoy a leisurely walk in Abbeyleix Heritage Town while also engaging with climate action.”
Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Catherine Fitzgerald MCC performing the launch with members of Abbeyleix Tidy Towns, Dr Fiona MacGowan, Jackie Walsh, Cllr John Joe Fennelly, Mary White, Mark Clancy and Robbie Quinn, chairman along with Laois Heritage Officer Catherine Casey, Suzanne Dempsey, LCC-Community and Julie Scully, LCC Healthy Ireland co-ordinator at the launch of the Abbeyleix Climate Action Walk. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Abbeyleix Tidy Towns have been partners in the Abbeyleix Climate Action Projects since last year. Chair of the Tidy Towns group Robbie Quinn said “The current committee is charged with creating a community that continues to be an attractive place to live, to work and to visit. In doing this our focus is now on placemaking and on reimagining our beautiful heritage town as a smart and sustainable community that is fit for the 21st Century. We have an inclusive ethos and work very hard to engage the wider community in our work. It is through a positive working relationship with a range of public bodies and agencies, not least Laois County Council, that we are beginning to deliver a number of significant flagship biodiversity and climate actions projects that will move us forward on our journey to become a truly sustainable community. We hope our community and visitors engage and enjoy this experience “
An important aspect of the Climate Action Project in Abbeyleix was the attention given to the importance of having good scientific data to back up policy, and in creating public engagement with science. Jackie Gorman, CEO of Midlands Science said “we were delighted to be part of this innovative and exciting project with Laois County Council. It was a great example of engaging a community with science and evidence and using these experiences to drive changes locally. Climate change and climate action are defining issues of our time and are informed by science and how we engage with science. Our support for various elements of the project such as the sensors, the Fast Facts series and other outreach elements allowed us to explore how science can localised and brought into a community in a real way. We learnt a lot from working with the team involved and the community of Abbeyleix.”
Abbeyleix used the momentum generated by the Climate Action project to engage with UCD on the international We Count project. This citizen science project involved placing traffic sensors in locations around the town to enhance local understanding of traffic and travel patterns and related impacts on air quality, climate action and quality of life. This in turn led to a complementary project, supported by Midlands Science, whereby the community received training in how to build and install air quality sensors –using cost effective Internet of Things technologies and a citizen science approach.
“This exciting project ties in well with our vision to become a smart, sustainable community”, said Mark Clancy of Abbeyleix Tidy Towns “It is a very cost-effective way of generating scientifically valid data which we intend to use to better understand local traffic and air quality patterns and also to make compelling arguments to implement measures to promote active travel. We are grateful to Midland Science for providing us with the training and assistance to develop these IoT based applications. This STEM based learning alone has been fantastic and we can already see numerous spin off projects in making.”
The Abbeyleix Climate Action Project is supported by Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme (2017-2022) in partnership with Laois County Council Heritage Office, Abbeyleix Tidy Towns and Midlands Science.
The Abbeyleix Climate Action Walk Project was created in 2021 with thanks to Healthy Ireland, an initiative of the Government of Ireland with funding from the Healthy Ireland Fund and the Sláintecare Fund delivered by Pobal, administrated by Laois County Council.
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