Taken in the years 1656-1658, the Down Survey of Ireland is the first ever detailed land survey on a national scale anywhere in the world. The survey sought to measure all the land to be forfeited by the Catholic Irish in order to facilitate its redistribution to Merchant Adventurers and English soldiers. Copies of these maps have survived in dozens of libraries and archives throughout Ireland and Britain, as well as in the National Library of France. This Project has brought together for the first time in over 300 years all the surviving maps, digitised them and made them available as a public online resource. These maps are now available at http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/

Adults Events:

Newbridge Library Adults Book Club meet the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7pm and new members are welcome. The library supplies the books. The next meeting will be May 21st.

On Tuesday 11th June at 7pm there will be an Author visit by Catherine Dunne to talk about her latest novel ‘The things we know now’ and writing in general. There are limited copies available in the library for borrowing in advance of the visit. The Irish Times says of the novel ‘Dunne manages to combine emotional intelligence with an absorbing, cleverly woven plot…An elegantly written page-turner’ and ‘A real touch of Jodi Picoult’ says the Arena Arts Review, Radio One. No booking required, all are welcome.

The ‘Stress Control’ classes continue next Thursday 16th on the topic of the manifestation of stress in Panic and Sleep Difficulties etc and on Thurs 23rd May with an over-view of the course, the theme of happiness and well-being and planning for the future including supports available. The course runs from 10.15 to 11.45am. Attendance is free, no booking is required and all are welcome.

On Wednesday 22nd, 29th May and 5th June from 2 – 4 we will have a 3 week Multimedia Computer Course.  These will be not for novices but will cover the following topics – Safety Online, Basic Video Editing skills, Graphic Design, Social Media, Youtube and Creating an Online Presence.

More details in the document attached to this email. Places are limited and booking is required – please email or phone with your library barcode and a contact number to book your place.

To mark the festival of Bealtaine (celebrating creativity as we age) we will have an Art Exhibition of paintings from members of the local Active Retirement Group, launching Tuesday 28th May at 6.30pm.

On Thursday 30th May at 2.30pm as part of the Newbridge JuneFest celebrations there will be a special screening of ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’. This could be followed by a saunter down to Newbridge Silver where you can see the memorabilia from the making of this classic film in their Hollywood Icons Museum!

Knit n’ Stitch – every Thursday we have a knitting group that meet from

10.30 to 12.30pm. The group have undertaken many projects. Recently they knit little white flower brooches for St Conleths Day and also fundraised for the SVP, selling little knitted chicks for Easter. The group is open for new members, just come along anytime!

‘The Magdalene Laundries’ – An informative light shines on one of the States most infamous institutions with a talk by Librarian and Historian Mario Corrigan, Friday 31st May 7pm at Newbridge Library. No booking required, all welcome.

New Books!

Also we have lots of lovely new Adult Stock just arrived into the library so come take a look (Childrens to follow shortly!)

Kind Rgds,

Suzanne Brosnan

A conference celebrating the 650th Anniversary of the Unification of the Dioceses of Waterford and Lismore.

Waterford Museum of Treasures is organising a major conference in Waterford to mark the 650th anniversary of the unification of the Dioceses of Waterford and Lismore.

The conference will be held on the weekend of the 14^th – 16^th June the date when in 1363 the unification was formally announced.

Entitled Piety, politics and prelates: a conference celebrating the 650^th anniversary of the unification of the dioceses of Waterford and Lismore, the keynote address, The Lismore Crosier: art and politics in medieval Waterford will be delivered by Raghnall Ó Floinn, Head of Collections, National Museum of Ireland.

There will be a Traditional Day in Millmount as part of the Drogheda Arts Festival on Sunday May 5th from 1pm -5pm with a feast of Irish music, song and dance in this ancient hill-fortress overlooking the river Boyne and best of all it’s  free. .

There will be continuous performances and workshops in 5 venues on the site, including a non-stop concert in the Marquee on Millmount Square with Cork folk legend, Jimmy Crowley, famous for songs such as “The Boys of Fairhill” and “Johnny Jump Up”, and with the Tall Ship’s visiting the Boyne this weekend, Jimmy will be singing his song about the sailing ship Asgard, “My Love is a Tall Ship”, which was adopted as an anthem for sailors everywhere and was used in the documentary film on the Tall Ships’ Race made by  R.T.É .

Also appearing are traditional band Eitlean, whose new album ” The Devil Set” is getting great reviews There will be lots of other music with the Band of Uilleann Pipers, local super-group KERN , The Finland Expedition, and Drogheda Comhaltas,.

This is a great family day and you can have a go at set-dancing, sean-nós dancing, traditional singing, bodhrán and bones, or whistle-playing (whistle supplied for €2!) or try your hand out at a range of traditional crafts. Workshops in Uilleann Pipes, Louth Songs, Celtic guitar, Concertina and the mysterious Hammer Dulcimer.There will be Street theatre, Celtic Warriors, craft tents and food, with the famous Millmount Cannons Bailey and Fulham being fired at 2pm, 3.30pm and 5pm,

There will be free admission into Millmount Museum and Martello Tower and the Millmount Craft shops will be open as will the Tower Restaurant  with it’s stunning views of the town,

Other daytime events taking place in town on Sunday include,

11.30am – The Battle of the Boyne Raft Race – View point St Dominics Park,

12.00noon DroghedaPort opens for the Drogheda Fringe and Maritime Festival, visitors can board the ships from 5pm – 9pm full details see  http://www.drogheda.ie/whats-on/festivals/tall-ships-at-drogheda-fringe-maritme-festival.html,

12noon – 5pm Visual Arts- Things in Transition: The Legs Foundation in the Highlanes Gallery See http://www.highlanes.ie/Activity.aspx?ActivityID=195

3.pmBoyne 10k Run .Please note streets in the centre of town will be closed for the duration of the run.

On Sunday the 2^nd of June the Valentia Island Lighthouse will be officially open to the public for the first time. The project will put this incredible heritage site in the hands of the community with a long term lease to manage the project as a tourist attraction. Initially the public will be offered guided tours into the lighthouse tower and balcony.

A marketing and fundraising plan is being put in place to develop the site over the next couple of years to make this a high quality tourist attraction and it is expected that this will attract 40-50,000 visitors a year to Valentia. Future plans include the conversion of the Lighthouse Keeper’s house as a visitor centre and the development of the archaeological potential at Cromwell Fort.

Brian Morgan from the Valentia Island Development Committee said “The site on Valentia has huge tourism potential and will provide a much needed boost to the local economy”.

“As well as local land owners the Kerry County Council has provided terrific help from the beginning and are strongly supporting this project as a key tourism project for the county” he added.

Cromwell Point Lighthouse is maintained by the Commissioners of Irish Lights and is a harbour light to guide vessels from the sea and lead them through the northern entrance of Valentia Harbour past Harbour Rock.

The site of the Cromwell Point Lighthouse was originally home to a Cromwell Feetwood Fort believed to have been built in the 16th century which was one of two built on Valentia Island around this time. The outline of the Cromwell Point fort with its bastions and barrack inside its wall can still be easily traced from the air, lying just inside the lighthouse enclosure wall. The fort was maintained after the Restoration and there are various State Paper entries about its repair over the period 1663-1665. It was disestablished in 1669. The first light for Cromwell Point was originally applied for on 30 March 1828 by the Right Honorary Maurice Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry. Work commenced on the lighthouse ten years later in 1838, the light was first exhibited on 1 February 1841. Since November 1947 the light has been automated.

An official opening of the lighthouse will take place during the June weekend to coincide with the Transatlantic Communications and Light Gathering. One of the other highlights of the weekend will be the attendance of Professor Alexander Gillespie who will discuss the importance of Valentia’s link to the Transatlantic Cable and the opportunity to explore the International heritage significance of the Cable Station. Professor Gillespie is the first New Zealander to be named Rapporteur for the World Heritage Convention. This is an event that will celebrate the island’s rich heritage with the Transatlantic Cable and communications will be a major theme over the weekend.  All three communications elements on the Island; the cable station, the radio station, and the lighthouse will be explored through a series of insightful and interesting lectures. There will also be the opportunity to take various tours of these significant sites. As well as soaking up the traditional island welcome and some great live music this weekend will afford you the opportunity to mingle in the company of friends old and new.  ‘We aim to celebrate with the wider community, to reunite the family descendants’ who were part of that glorious age, and also tell the world that Valentia is ready to once again take its rightful place as a centre for heritage preservation and communications innovation’ said Anthony O’Connell Chairman of the Valentia Island Development Committee.

For more information on this exciting event visit valentiawelcomestheworld.com or call Valentia Island Tourist Office on +353 (66) 9476985 or email valentiaislandtouristoffice@gmail.com

This volume is now available on this site. Among the places and subjects covered in the volume are: The Curragh, Furness, Moone High Cross, Clane, Donadea, Clongowes Wood, Original Anglo-Norman Settlers in Co. Kildare, New Abbey Kilcullen, Castlemartin, The Wolfe Family of Co. Kildare and many others.

You can access the volume by clicking on this link: JKAS Vol III, 1899 – 1902

Friends of Medieval Dublin

15^th Medieval Dublin Symposium

Saturday 25 May 2013

Robert Emmet Theatre (Room 2037)

Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

09.30                                 Registration and opening remarks

Seán Duffy

09.40                The importance of women in measuring the Irishness of Viking Dublin

Patrick F. Wallace

10.30                Dublin and the Late Roman comb

Ian Riddler

11.10                 Tea & coffee

11.30                The rocky road(s) to Dublin?

Matthew Stout

12.10                What the Vikings really thought of Clontarf, and why we never heard it: a speculation

Lenore Fischer

12.50                Lunch

14.00                Farm fresh: St Mary’s abbey medieval food suppliers

Geraldine Stout

14.40                A rising tide does not lift all boats: medieval settlement in Temple Bar, Dublin

Alan Hayden

15.20                Tea & coffee

15. 40               The church lands of the medieval diocese of Dublin

Paul McCotter

16.20                Life in the big city: being at home in Viking Dublin

Rebecca Boyd

Admission Free – All Welcome

No advance booking or registration needed

For further information contact Prof. Seán Duffy sduffy@tcd.ie

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‘Secrets of the Irish Landscape’ is a three part series presented by popular televisions presenter Derek Mooney, which tells the history on how the Irish landscape came to be, using the very latest scientific research. It features some of Ireland’s leading minds to present in an engaging way the story of Ireland’s natural history as we now understand it.

The series starts at the end of the last Ice Age and covers the key turning points of our natural history right up until the present day.

The series also celebrates the life of botanist Robert Lloyd Praeger, as Derek follows in the footsteps of Ireland’s greatest naturalist and author of the iconic book ‘The Way That I Went’

This lavish and epic new series is supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Click this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzPRjy_bAwU   for a preview of the show.

We are also releasing a book to coincide with the documentary which is published by Cork University Press. (see book cover below.)

Transmission details;             

Show One – 6.30pm RTÉ One May 5^th

Show Two – 6.30pm RTÉ One May 12th

Show Three – 6.30pm RTÉ One May 19^th

We are exploring ways of putting the Journal of the Co. Kildare Archaeological Society on-line. As part of this process, Vol 111 of the Journal is now available on-line JKAS Vol 111. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection this volume may be slow/very slow to load.

Full report and photos