Past Monday Talks
Monday Talks are held at 19:30 in the Helen Roe Theatre, 63 Merrion Square, Dublin 2Past Monday Talks
14 September 2009
PRINTERS AS PUBLIC MEN: THE PRINTER'S CIVIC ROLE IN THE PROVINCES, LIMERICK c.1730 TO 1800
Jennifer Moore, Royal Irish Academy
mp3 podcast of lecture Part I
mp3 podcast of lecture Part II
mp3 podcast of lecture Part III
mp3 podcast of lecture Part IV
4 February 2008
A Collection of Nineteenth-Century Watercolours of Round Towers
Conleth Manning, Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government, Past President
10 March 2008
Schottenklöster: Architecture of the Irish Benedictines in Medieval Germany
Diarmuid O’Riain, U.C.D. Dublin, Member
7 April 2008
‘Chalices have Wings’: Franciscan Art and Patronage of 1600-1650
Dr Malgorzata Krasnodebska D’Aughton, Micheal O’Cleirigh Institute, U.C.D Dublin
3 November 2008
The Landscape History and Management of the Phoenix Park
Dr John Mc Cullen, O.P.W.
1 December 2008
John Windele as a Collector of Folklore in the Ninteenth Century
Kelly Fitzgerald, U.C.D. Dublin, Member
9 February 2009
THE OPW AND BUILDING CONSERVATION FROM c.1875 TO 1900
Aine Doyle Kilkenny County Council
9 March 2009
'SURVIVAL ON THE PERIPHERY': THE O'CONOR KERRY OF IRAGHTICONNOR: A CASE STUDY
Dr Mary McAuliffe, Women's Studies, University College Dublin, Member
abstract
‘The Kings of Ciarraide over the clans of Ciar,
O’Conor rules the lands by right,
Chief of the plain of fertile fields
From the sea shore to the Shannon of the clear fields.’
O’Heerin, 15th century
The territorial unit that is Oireacht Ui Choncubhair, the lands of the family of Ui Choncubahir Chiarraighe, (O’Conor Kerry), has its origins in the ninth century and lasted until the Cromwellian land forfeitures and transfers in the mid 17th century. The central question of this research is how this Gaelic family managed to hang on to their lands and tower houses for over 900 years, in particular, from the period of the Anglo-Normans incursions into Kerry in the 12th century. The territories that the O’Conor Kerry controlled were contacting from the mid 12th century and their relationship with their Geraldine neighbours, the Fitzmaurices of Lixnaw (Lords of Kerry), the Fitzgerald Knights of Glin and more importantly, their feudal over-lords, the Fitzgerald Earls of Desmond were, most often, fraught and fractious. Often these territorial and political relationships between Gaelic and Anglo-Irish in medieval Ireland are written in firmly binary and oppositional terms. The survival of a Gaelic territorial unit in the far north of Desmond controlled north Kerry, despite many Geraldine appropriations of lands and tower houses proves very fertile in researching these interrelationships between Gaelic and Anglo-Irish, and indeed questions the very concepts of these identities. Despite being surrounded by and married into the Geraldine Anglo-Irish families, the evidence suggests that the O’Conor Kerry remained a thoroughly Gaelic lordship until at least the early 1600’s. Their ‘taoiseach’ inauguration ceremonies were still in existence in 1500 and certainly the 15th century was an auspicious time for the family, as they built the great castle at Carrigafoyle and endowed the Franciscan Friary at Lislaughtin as well as commissioning the beautiful procession Lislaughtin Cross.
How did this Gaelic family survive and thrive, positioned as they were among their ‘natural’ enemies. The evidence or rather lack of documentary evidence on the O’Conor Kerry family leads the researcher to a more multi-disciplinary project - looking at the family from a perspective of history, historical geography, archaeology and gender studies. Studies of local and national politics, kinship relations, marriage arrangements, military alliances, landscape and settlement patterns in north Kerry leads to a fuller understanding of the survival of a Gaelic lordship from the ninth century into the early modern period.
6 April 2009
GEORGE DU NOYER: NO MERE TOPOGRAPHICAL DRAUGHTSMAN EXPLORING THEMES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION
Dr Michael O'Neill, Member
11 May 2009
THE EXCAVATIONS BULLETIN: A SUMMARY OF FORTY YEARS OF IRISH ARCHAEOLOGY
Isabel Bennett, Member
Abstract:
This talk will be a personal view of how the 'Excavations' bulletin has
grown and developed over the last 40 years, since first produced, for the
year 1969, by the then committee of the Association of Young Irish
Archaeologists. The major trends in Irish Archaeology over those years will
be noted. The 'brass tacks' of compiling the bulletin will be described,
with emphasis on the years, since 1987, that Isabel has been editor. The
conclusion will look at the changes and challenges facing both the bulletin
and Irish Archaeology.
Biography:
Isabel Bennett, originally from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, now lives on a
farm on Slea Head at the very west of the Dingle Peninsula, in the heart of
the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht. She studied Archaeology at UCD, and obtained
her Masters there on the subject of 'Early Christian Settlement in County
Wexford'. She spent several years working as a free-lance archaeologist,
before becoming curator of Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh
where she still works today. She recently obtained a post-graduate diploma
in Museum Practice and Management from the University of Ulster.
As well as her work in the museum, Isabel also undertakes some
archaeological consultancy work (or did, when it was available!) and also
teaches on a study abroad programme run by Sacred Heart University,
Connecticut, which is based in Dingle, being the main lecturer on the
'Archaeology' module. Isabel has been editor of the annual 'Excavations'
bulletin since the 1987 issue.
14 September 2009
PRINTERS AS PUBLIC MEN: THE PRINTER'S CIVIC ROLE IN THE PROVINCES, LIMERICK c.1730 TO 1800
Jennifer Moore, Royal Irish Academy
5 October 2009
MAPPING NEW ROSS
Dr Linda Doran, Hon. Gen. Secretary
2 November 2009
THE DROGHEDA BOAT (Excavation, recording and analysis of a 16th century clinker-built wreck)
Holger Schweitzer MA,
Underwater Archaeology Unit, Dept of Environment, Heritage & Local Government
7 December 2009
SEA LANES: SHIPPING, TRADE & THE PORTS OF THE IRISH SEA IN THE 16th CENTURY
Damian MacGarry