Local History Lectures
Local History Lectures
Local History Lectures
'The Corleck Head and Other Aspects of East Cavan's Ancient Past' by Jonathan Smyth 25 May 2023. Celebrating Bealtaine Festival 2023.
Premiered on 6 May 2022
Jonathan Smyth is the author of 'Gentleman and Scholar: Thomas James Barron, 1903 - 1992'; a member of Cumann Seanchais Breifne, a regular contributor to The Anglo-Celt and librarian with Cavan Library Service.
'Cavan's Linen Story' by Patrick Cassidy, 5 May 2022. Celebrating Bealtaine Festival 2022
Premiered on 6 May 2022
Historian Patrick Cassidy provides an informative online talk titled: ‘Cavan’s Linen Story’.
Patrick Cassidy is a lecturer in Cultural and Heritage studies at Cavan Institute and has lectured extensively on the flax and linen history of Co. Cavan.
'Virginia Road Railway, 1862-1963' by John Smith
Premiered on 15 March 2022
Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne (Breifne Historical Society) presents this history lecture by John Smith. Virginia Road was a railway station situated on the Meath/Cavan boarder, six miles from Virginia town. The railway line was opened 17th March 1862. This presentation is a brief history of this railway line.
'A Bishop For The Shortest Time Bernard Finegan (1837-1887)' by Monsignor Liam Kelly
Premiered on 08 February 2022 @ 7.30 pm
Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne (Breifne Historical Society) presents this history lecture by Monsignor Liam Kelly. This lecture is about Bernard Finegan, a native of Corlurgan just outside Cavan town, who was bishop of Kilmore for a mere seventeen months when he died, at the age of fifty, in November 1887. He was ten years old when the Great Famine struck, old enough to see the poverty, starvation and death that it left in its wake.
This experience had a profound effect on him. He taught in the Kilmore Academy in Cavan town before going to America to fundraise for the new St Patrick’s College in Cavan. He was the last President of the Kilmore Academy and the first President of St Patrick’s College. He involved himself in the Land League and Home Rule politics in order to improve the lot of tenant farmers and he, along with Church of Ireland clergymen, promoted temperance.
'The First Fatality of the Land War; Philip Meehan 1845-1880' by Monsignor Liam Kelly
Premiered on 11 December 2021
Cumann Seanchais Breifne presents another fascinating lecture with Monsignor Liam Kelly speaking about ''The First Fatality of the Land War; Philip Meehan 1845-1880'. This lecture is about the shooting of Philip Meehan, a tenant farmer from the County Cavan townland of Corraleehanbeg which is situated on the Cavan/Leitrim border. He was shot by Henry B. Acheson, a young landlord from Croghan in County Roscommon, on 14 June 1880. This event took place against the backdrop of the Land War and it was Michael Davitt, the leader of the Land League, who described Philip Meehan as the first fatality of the Land War.
Book Launch - Cumman Seanchais Bhreifne
'Henry Jones' account of the 1641 rising: plantation and war in County Cavan' by Dr Brendan Scott
Premiered on 19 October 2021
Dr William Roulston was in conversation with the author to mark the launch so tune in for this very interesting introduction to the topics covered in the book.
Bilingual talk 'Ardscoil Bhreifne Cavan’s Irish College, Glangevlin 1920-1924', le Aogán Ó Fearghaíl
Premiered on 17 Sept 2021
Culture Night 2021. The ‘Irish College’ in Glangevlin was the last Gaeltacht to exist in County Cavan. In West Cavan native Irish speakers were still comparatively numerous towards the end of the nineteenth century and this was particularly true of the area west of the Gap. The Gaelic League was established in County Cavan in 1901. There was a branch in Glan in 1909 and by this time Irish was taught in some of the local schools.
Aogán Ó Fearghaíl is a retired Principal of Dernakesh National School. He has a lifetime of interest and research undertaken into aspects of Irelands History and Heritage. He is former President of the GAA and he is currently School Placement Tutor with the Institute of Education, DCU.
‘The formation of the Poor Law Union and the establishment of the Workhouse at Cootehill’, by Jonathan Smyth
Premiered on 17 August 2021
‘The formation of the Poor Law Union and the establishment of the Workhouse at Cootehill’ a lecture by Jonathan Smyth of Cavan Library Service.
The workhouses of Ireland tell a sad tale of the hopelessness and destitution of those who had no other choice. Cootehill was home to a workhouse and this lecture by Jonathan Smyth of Cavan Library Service entitled ‘The formation of the Poor Law Union and the establishment of the Workhouse at Cootehill’ looks at how it all began. This talk took place in celebration of National Heritage Week 2021.
'Folklore collecting in Co. Cavan and the changing nature of folk traditions', by Dr Mícheál Briody
Premiered on 28 May 2021
This lecture explores some of the great Cavan collectors; Micheal J. Murphy, PJ Gaynor, Jim Delaney and their legacy with reference to the School Collection and its importance and the Irish language and where it was prevalent in County Cavan.
Dr. Mícheál Briody is a retired lecturer from the University of Helsinki. His monograph The Irish Folklore Commission 1935-1970: History, Ideology, Methodology was published in 2007. He has written numerous articles in Irish, English and Finnish on folkloristics, the history of the Gaelic League and has edited two volumes of his father’s memoirs: Thomas Briody, The Road to Avondale ( 2009) and In the Service of the State (2012).
'Cavan's parliamentary elections, 1613', a lecture by Dr. Bríd McGrath
Premiered on 27 April 2021
Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne (Breifne Historical Society) presents this history lecture by Dr. Bríd McGrath entitled 'Unconstitutional acts, violence, intimidation, vote-rigging, fraud and resistance: Cavan's parliamentary elections, 1613'