Fitting in with the Heritage week theme of past times, the traditional skills day in Monaghan highlighted the world of work when a “hands-on” approach was required.

 

Blacksmith Peter Cassidy kept his fire going all day, using an enormous hand pumped bellows.  On the request of one of the vintage enthusiasts present, he forged some brackets and pins from salvaged wrought iron.

These will be used to repair an old cart.  He demonstrated his skills including forge welding, and shaped and cut iron all day with ease.

 

Seamus Cassidy demonstrated wood carving on his lath, a very skilful craft which requires time and patience to learn.  He showed some beautiful stools and bowls.

 

Eddie McGrath, basket maker, brought plenty of willow with him to make baskets and even bird tables.

 

Benny and Mary McCabe arrived in their vintage Ford Escort and truck.  A gorgeous Ford Cortina was also on display.

 

A Carrickmacross lace demonstration – now registered on the intangible heritage inventory for Ireland, and storytelling were held inside.

Providing some horsepower for the event was Dandy the cob, there with his owner Caoimhe.

 

A group of experts demonstrated “letting out the rope” – this is when someone twists a bag of hay into a rope to tie around corn as it dries.

You have to literally let the rope out of the bag.  The rope was then used for skipping, briefly and badly by the heritage officer.

 

Traditional music from the McCagues and Irish dancing complimented all the other activities.

       

Notes:

Thanks to everyone who attended and helped out.  Thanks to the Civil Defence and to Gavin Duffy Park.

 

Benny and Mary McCabe are holding a vintage day in aid of Crocus on the 15^th September.

Two heritage walks climb two “mountains” in Monaghan.

The first of these on Thursday morning, guided people to the summit of Mullyash Mountain to visit the impressive cairn.

Organised by the Clogher Historical Society in conjunction with the Mullyash Community Group, the day commenced with a talk from Deborah Flack in the community centre.

The group listened to the Heritage at the Heart podcast which was recorded earlier in the year on the cairn before setting off.

Mullyash cairn is situated in Mullyash and Tavanaskea, in the parish of Muckno, on the border with Armagh.

Mullyash is a national monument, located at 315m above sea level, providing views over nine counties on a good day.

The cairn is likely to be over 4000- 5000 years old and it is generally agreed that it contains a passage tomb.

The second walk on Friday evening, brought the attendees up the side of Corduff Mountain, under the guidance of the Corduff/Raferagh Heritage group.

Superb views to the surrounding drumlins opened up as the climb ascended to meet the old Mass Pad, and to the now unused vernacular farmhouse of the McKeown family.

The farm house is in a traditional Ulster style, with a small porch, jamb wall inside to shield the hearth from the wind containing a little spy window so that both visitor and occupant can have a view out or in.

Inside there is also a beautiful wide hearth, with the remains of a pryramidal canopy still evident.The remains of a thatched roof can be seen under the corrugated iron roof.

It was normal to leave the old thatch in situ when a new tin roof was being fitted, as insulation to retain heat and reduce noise from the rain.

      

 

Photos:

The group in Mullyash Community Centre before ascending Mullyash Mountain.

Climbing the hill in Corduff.

The walk around Corduff pictured outside the old farm house.

On Wednesday August 21st, Rossmore Park, Monaghan was the location for Wild Child Day, a day of nature exploration activities aimed at introducing children to wildlife and scientific survey techniques.

The weather was wet but the families were undeterred. They participated in kick sampling to collect biological samples to rate the water quality of the stream with Dr. Gretta McCarron, and learned how to identify fresh water shrimp, baby crayfish, stoneflies and other creatures.  Billy Flynn led families on nature walks around the woodlands, and wetlands to learn about tree species, fungi and plants. Michaela Kirrane from Inland Fisheries conducted some electro-fishing and set up a tank in the marquee with brown trout from the stream.  Kieran Flood from the Irish Wildlife Trust ran bee monitoring workshops, describing how our 99 species of bees require different types food and shelter to survive. Children and adults learned how to swipe with a net to safely catch bees for observation and identification.  One session of outdoor yoga was held before the torrential rain closed in for the day.  Art and nature activities were ongoing in the tent.

Shirley Clerkin, Heritage Officer said “It is important that children learn that their own local places are homes for nature as well as far flung exotic locations, and understand that the assemblages of species present are indicators of the health of the environment.  They showed a heartening enthusiasm for our natural heritage.  Today they began their journeys as citizen scientists.”

Monaghan County Council wants to thank everyone who helped to organise such a wonderful day!

 

A wonderful day was had with the Golden Eagle Trust and the Collaborative Action for Natura Network project on Sliabh Beagh, Monaghan yesterday.

Dr. Marc Ruddock introduced the sounds and sights of the bog to the participants, before everyone set off up the blanket bog plateau which covers three counties – Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

The damp and misty weather failed to dampen the spirits, but it did dampen the behaviour of the birds who mostly stayed undercover.

The bog is a cross-border site with European and national designations for its protection, and the protection of bird species including the wonderful sky-dancer, the Hen Harrier.

     

Photos from left to right:

Frank Connolly helps his granddaughter focus on one of his favourite pastimes – watching birds, in this case a kestrel.

Dr. Rory Sheehan explains how sphagnum moss holds water and creates peat.

Note: The Collaborative Action for Natura Network project is funded through Interreg.

 

 

There is nothing quite like being a tourist in your own place to gain new perspectives on heritage, both cultural and natural.

The Bragan Bus Tour visited sites of interest in north Monaghan and over the border, in the area know as Errigal Truagh or Bragan.

Sites visited included the penal cross on Sliabh Beagh, Errigal Truagh medieval church and graveyard and St. Patrick’s Chair.

Photo: A snap of the participants waiting for the bus on Tuesday morning.

African explorer and medical doctor story brought to life for Heritage Week

       

A statute of Ballybay GP Dr. Thomas Parke is outside the Natural History Museum or Dead Zoo in Dublin.

Yesterday, at a special Heritage Week event, participants heard about his adventures as part of an expedition mapping the Congo River in 1887.

He is credited with the “discovery” of the Mountains of the Moon, mountains on the Equator which at high altitudes are snow covered.

He also found a new large mammal species the “Forest Zebra”, which later turned out to be actually a relation of the giraffe, called an Okapi.

Glaslough Gatherings for Heritage Week

Yesterday a number of events were held to highlight the wide heritage values of the architecturally distinctive Glaslough village.

Castle Leslie historian Dr. Jackie Crawley held a talk – Never a Dull Moment – in their beautifully appointed Billiard Room focusing on some of the Leslie family members, including Shane Leslie who was a friend of Tolstoy, Yeats and Padraig Pearse.

People were free to wander around the castle and garden afterwards and then through the private gate to St. Salvator’s Church where Rev Lorraine presented a talk from the historic vestry minute books.  She was previously an archivist, and has been carefully cleaning and conserving the volumes before they are deposited with the Representative Church Body in Dublin.  Wedding photographs on display included of course the Hello magazine issue of Paul McCartny, of the Beatles marrying Heather Mills.  Sir Jack Leslie blew the cover of the wedding at the time, by telling the journalists to keep Tuesday free. The Tidy Towns group brought visitors on a tour of the village afterwards.

       

Photos: 

Rev. Lorraine with one of the Vestry Minute Books from St. Salvators.

The Billiard Room, Castle Leslie.

   

The Black Pigs Dyke, or Worm Ditch, is one of the most enigmatic Iron Age monuments in Ireland.

A small section was excavated by Aidan Walsh in 1982, and on Saturday he relived the dig and its findings at a Heritage Week walk starting from Scotshouse, County Monaghan.

The ancient archaeological earthwork, known locally as the Black Pigs Dyke or Worm Ditch, travels over drumlins and abuts lakes for almost 10km in west County Monaghan.   Recent research through the Monaghan Heritage Office since 2015 funded through the Heritage Council and Monaghan County Council has reconfirmed the enigmatic and elusive nature of this impressive monument and thrown up new findings and earlier dates for its construction. These are currently being compiled into an Archaeological Monograph.

Appearing like a giant serpent or péist crossing the land, the central earthen bank of the monument is flanked by two deep ditches, sandwiched between a large bank of earth to one side, and a long since burnt but once imposing oak palisade (line of posts 3-4 metres in height) positioned on the other.

It was claimed that this and other similar earthworks running east-west across the island were in fact the remnants of an old territorial boundary dividing the north and the south along a similar route to the current border. This claim by W.F. De Vismes Kane (of Drumreaske House) in a 1909 article, and subsequently popularised in the media remains to be proven.

The Black Pigs Dyke is one of the largest linear earthworks in Europe. It started construction over 3,000 years ago (between 1420-1270 BC) during the Bronze Age (2500-500BC). Further additions including the palisade were added one thousand years later (340-160 BC) in the Iron Age (500BC – 500AD).  It is estimated to have taken the equivalent of 1,000 people working twelve-hour days, two and a half years to construct the Monaghan West section.

The oak palisade was deliberately set on fire and burnt into the ground, around the same time that Navan Fort or Eamhain Mhacha in Armagh was filled with stones and timbers and ceremonially set alight in the year 95BC.

Welcome to Heritage Week in County Monaghan. Coordinated by the Heritage Council, National Heritage Week is part of European Heritage Days which promote Europe’s common cultural heritage and is running from August 17th to 25th 2019.

Heritage Week, Ireland’s most popular cultural event, will see half a million people participate in over 2,200 events in 2019.

In Monaghan, the Monaghan County Council Heritage Office helps to facilitate and promote engagement in Heritage Week.

This year’s theme “Pastimes/Past Times” has shaped the type of events on offer. There are craft demonstrations and classes to partake in, as well as re-enactments of past times, nature activities and outdoor explorations to enjoy.

Event Booking is available on Eventbrite.

For more details on Heritage Week and the events being held in Monaghan please see:

What’s on in Monaghan

And

Check out this year’s Heritage Week Event Guide for Monaghan below:

Heritage Week Highlights

Heritage Week – Aidan Walsh digs up the past on the Black Pigs Dyke

Glaslough Gatherings for Heritage Week

African explorer and medical doctor story brought to life for Heritage Week

Bragan Bus Tour of Heritage Sites for Heritage Week

Heritage Week celebrates the rare birds on Sliabh Beagh Blanket Bog

Wild Child Day Wednesday August 21st

Two heritage walks climb two ‘mountains’ in Monaghan

Traditional skills day in Monaghan “let the rope out” for National Heritage Week

From Tours to Cures for Heritage Week in County Monaghan

Historic House Tours for Heritage Week

Black Pig’s Dyke

The Black Pig’s Dyke or Claí na Péiste is an enigmatic earthern monument, extending at Scotshouse to about 10km in length.  Consisting of two deep ditches and earthen banks, which are still visible and an oak palisade fence now only obvious from underground charcoal remains, this monument was constructed in the Iron Age or possible earlier and was burned around the same time that the temple at Emain Macha was set alight in Armagh. In this podcast, you will hear from a farmer who owns and looks after some of the monument, archaeologists and heritage specialists discussing its meaning, original purpose and why it is of value to society now.