Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore, offalyhistory.com

Change, resilience and imagination at Lough Boora: New Sculptural Works by Kevin O’Dwyer unveiled at Lough Boora Discovery Park. Blog no: 760, 29.11.2025. Two new sculptural works by artist Kevin O’Dwyer have been officially launched at Lough Boora Discovery Park, marking the first major additions to the park’s sculpture collection in over a decade. …

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/11/29/c...

Vikings on the Shannon. By John Dolan. blog no. 757, 14 Nov. 2025 There is little doubt that contact by sailors from Norway had occurred over many years in the 8th and 9th centuries between the islands of northern Scotland, the east coast of England and with Irel…

Vikings on the Shannon is today's blog from John Dolan
offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/11/14/v...

The popular Book Fair is back at Offaly History Centre Bury Quay this Saturday 8 Nov from 10 to 4 pm - for literary and historical treasures.

Church Street, Tullamore 125 years ago: the ‘families’ (including boarders, lodgers, and assistants in 1901) – at a time of solid fuel cooking, no sewerage, poor lighting and piped water a recent nov... Did you have old friends or family in Church Street 125 years ago? Probably not. It was a busier trading street 125 ago than it is today. That could be said even sixty years. As to its trade it pro…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/10/31/c...

King’s County/Offaly Infirmary 1767–1921. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. No. 11 in the 2025 Living in towns series, prepared with the support of the Heritage Council. Blog no. 754, 24.10.2025. You might wonder what was Library Hall used for before being transformed into 15 apartments in about 1995 with a new block of ten to the rear (PD 2824). Yes, some will recall when it was the county…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/10/24/2...

A hidden jewel: The Chapel of the County Hospital in Tullamore. By Fergal MacCabe. A contribution to our Anniversaries series. Blog no: 754, Anniversaries Series no. 20, 18 10 2025. The recent decision of the Health Services Executive to allocate funding for the renewal of the windows, doors and walls of the chapel of the original Offaly County Hospital, Tullamore is a welcome…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/10/18/a...

Tullamore’s Irish National Foresters building in Church Street. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. In the Offaly History series on Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families over 300... The Foresters building fronting Church Street would not be so easy to recognise today as the ground floor is part of the Chanapa Thai restaurant east of the old Shambles. In March 2024 we published…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/10/15/t...

The Bulfin Bulletin: The Path to Publication. By Timothy Moloney. Blog no. 752, 10 10 2025. No. 22 in the 2025 Offaly History anniversaries series. In February 2025 William Bulfin’s travelogue Rambles in Eirinn was reissued in a new edition by Merrion Press. I had been working on the Bulfin legacy over the previous twelve years, and this publi…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/10/10/t...

Andrew Conway (1797–1860) and Eleanor Conway (1799–1844) of Ferbane and New South Wales. By Laura Price, Blog no.751. 4 Oct 2025 A chance find led me to the story of Andrew and Eleanor (Ellen) Conway born in Offaly in the late 1790s. Looking for local records in the National Archives of Ireland I found a letter written to Mr…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/10/04/a...

Portavrolla not Portavolla Banagher. By Kieran Keenaghan/ Blog not 750 in the Offaly History Series, 1.10.2025 The place name ‘Portavrolla’ in Banagher can be traced back at least 450 years. Just very recently one ‘r’ was dropped so we now have Portavolla. ‘Port an bhrollaigh&#…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/10/01/p...

The leasing of plots or sites for building in Church Street, Tullamore from Lord Charleville to his tenants, 1786–1830s. Part 2. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. In the Offaly History series on Ch... Table 1: Buildings erected in Church Street, Tullamore from 1726 to 1924 Here we present a summary of the discussion in the last blog on the leasing of Church Street. GV 1 was up to 2000 the old Ha…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/27/t...

The leasing of plots or sites for building in Church Street, Tullamore from Lord Charleville to his tenants, 1786–c. 1835.By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. Offaly History series, Church Street, Tul... Church Street is unusual in Tullamore in that it does not have a common width throughout and its lower half, closest to the town centre, is clearly earlier than the upper half from the Methodist ch…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/24/t...

Monday 22 September An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Offaly by Damian Murphy at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay 7 30 p, all welcome.
The meeting is open to all. We charge a nominal sum of €2 to €5 for tea and biscuits after the meeting. Stay on and get to meet more people.

William Bulfin: Birr’s Fenian Travel Writer. By Luke Condron. Blog no. 747, No. 19 in the Offaly History Anniversaries Series. 20.9.2025 On the 1st of February, 1910, a Gaelic League nationalist died quietly in his home in Derrinlough House, Birr, County Offaly. Four days later, in An Claidheamh Soluis, he was briefly memorialised i…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/20/w...

Banagher Ancient Cross is now on exhibit in the National Museum. By Kieran Keenaghan. Blog no. 744 12 9 2025. MUSEUM CAPTION :‘In preparation for our major temporary exhibition Words on the Wave: Ireland and St. Gallen in Early Medieval Europe, opening in late May this year, we reveal the ongoing conservat…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/12/b...

The Bridge Centre in Tullamore: Town centre shopping over thirty years. Blog No. 746, A contribution to the Offaly History Anniversaries and Commemorations Series, 17 09 2025. By Michael Byrne The big developments of the 1990s were the Bridge Shopping Centre and the new Texas store both of which were completed in September 1995. The equivalent of perhaps 100 typical shops in terms of flo…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/17/t...

22 September An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Offaly by Damian Murphy at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay 7 30 pm, all welcome.
Damian Murphy is an Architectural Heritage Officer in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), a
Below Charleville School,

Local Heritage and Family History Course: Sources and Methods, 24 September to 26 November 2025 (ten sessions of two hours each) at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore. Blog no. 745 13.9 2025 What? The course will give an overview of the sources and methods for the study of the archaeology, community and family history of County Offaly, and how to do research on areas that may int…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/13/l...

Charleville School, Church Street, Tullamore. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. No 7 in the new Offaly History series on Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 years. ... There are few buildings of interest on the northern side other than the Charleville School. McNamara’s Foresters Hall of 1923-4 had a fine façade spoilt in the 1950s to make way for the Morris hard…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/10/c...

The firefighting Foley family of Ferbane and the supreme sacrifice at 9/11 New York. By Aidan Doyle. Blog no. 742 6.09.2025. A contribution to the Commemorations Series 2025 The 1920’s saw high levels emigration to the United States from Ireland. Among those crossing the Atlantic Ocean was James Foley from Endrim near Ferbane. James was 21 when he boarded the RMS Cedri…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/06/t...

You are warmly invited to join Aoise O'Dwyer at 7pm on September 19th for Offaly History Centre's Culture Night Concert "Women Composers and the Viola". Aoise is a professional violist who has been engaged in researching and performing music for solo viola by women composers since 2023.

Artist and art teacher Oliver Connolly, Tullamore. No 16 in a series on the paintings and drawings heritage of County Offaly, 1750-2000, explored through the works of artists from or associated with C... Oliver Connolly must be one of the best-known artists in the midlands given that he has taught art to thousands of children and adults largely drawn from the wider Tullamore area for over forty yea…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/09/03/a...

Memories of Church St. Tullamore in the 1960s and 70s: living in flatland. By Imelda Higgins. From the Offaly History series on Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 year... I left Tullamore years ago but I enjoy reading the Offaly History blogs and delighted with the articles on Church Street. A friend of mine died there a few years ago and it brought back many memori…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/08/29/m...

The five Methodist Churches in Tullamore town, 1760–1889. In the Offaly History series on Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 years. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History... John Wesley, the founder with his brother Charles, of the religious movement, Methodism, visited Ireland on twenty-one separate occasions between 1747 and 1789 and has left eight volumes of journal…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/08/23/t...

James Lyle Stirling Mineral and Medicinal Water Manufacturing, Importer of Wines and Brandies, Athy and Church St., Tullamore. By Noel Guerin. Part of the Offaly History series on Church Street, Tulla... James Lyle Stirling was born 16 May 1858 to Thomas Lyle and Anne Stirling of Tullamore. He was a business man who ran several businesses in Tullamore, between the years of 1880 and 1888, and is bes…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/08/20/j...

The first Protestant church in Tullamore town, Church Street, 1726–1815. In the new Offaly History series on Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 years. By Michael Byrne... The young Arthur Fisher from Annagharvey was at the age of twelve in 1880 apprenticed to Archibald Warrren, the Church Street draper (where Salter’s shop was later located) and could recall many ye…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/08/16/t...

Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 years: the well-known Hayes’ Hotel (Phoenix Arms), now Boots Pharmacy. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. No 2 in the 2025 Living ... It is strange that we should start with the most modern of buildings in Tullamore completed in 2001 and since 2015 Boots Pharmacy. Prior to that it was Menarys fashion and homeware and opened in 20…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/08/09/c...

The Birr family of George Morrison of Mise Eire fame, died August 2025, aged 102. No 15 in a series on the arts heritage of County Offaly, 1750-2000, explored through the works of artists from or ass... One of Offaly’s pioneering photographers living in Birr in the late nineteenth century was George Morrison, son of Edward, both were jewellers in the town in Duke now Emmet Square. George Morrison …

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/08/06/t...

The Morrison family, jewellers, creative artists and photographers, Emmet Square, Birr – prominent members of the Birr Methodist community. By Michael Byrne. Offaly History blog no. 698. No 9 in the 2... The Changing face of Birr in the 1900 to 1920 period will be the focus of a talk arranged by the Birr Historical Society for Monday 10 March at 8 p.m. in the County Arms Hotel. The illustrated lect…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/03/08/t... The Birr family of George Morrison

Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 years. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. No 1 in the 2025 Living in Towns Series on Church Street prepared with the support of t... The Church Street series of articles is supported by the Heritage Council. The series has as its object making people aware of the history and heritage of their own town and to see how, in this cas…

offalyhistoryblog.com/2025/08/02/c...