Culture & Heritage

Culture and Heritage

Historic Grave Training:

Participants of the Historic Graves Programme with tutor John Tierney at a group meeting

IRD Duhallow has been long engaged in the process of surveying and publishing the inscriptions on historic grave yard monuments thanks to the efforts of dedicated community volunteers and groups in Duhallow.

Since 2013 the biographical details from 28 graveyards have been recorded and this has helped individuals from far flung places connect with their own particular graveyard plots.

From all over the world genealogy tourists can log on to the online resource www.historicgraves.com and identify relevant burial places. Furthermore, in person people can also locate relevant headstones via their associated GPS coordinates which are published on the website with each headstone.

Currently underway in Duhallow is a dedicated LEADER funded initiative which is focused on training volunteers from local communities in simple systems for historical research and recording stories. This approach will ground participants in research fundamentals, establishing key facts, sharing stories, documenting sources along with making audio recordings. The project aims to train individuals and groups in Duhallow to record local stories using their smartphones and to publish them online as tourism heritage resources. The importance of noting these stories cannot be overstated, as each generation has their own memories and recollections of the people who went before them, which eventually fade with the passage of time. Through field work in the local graveyards and the recording of people ’ s stories, an expandable oral record of the locality will be created, showcasing Duhallow ’ s broad heritage with online multimedia resources available for all to access.

Culture & Heritage Centre

Duhallow has a wealth of heritage and culture centres across the region in Laharn, Rochchapel, Freemount, Aubane, Tureencahill, Glash and Banteer, all of which act as vehicles for promoting and preserving culture and heritage in the region. With the lifting of Covid restrictions it is great to see crossroad dancing back in Laharn cross, seisiuns in Rockchapel, community events in Tureencahill and other events being planned elsewhere for the remainder of the year. All of these centres have benefited greatly from the LEADER Programme over the years. The ever-popular Sliabh Luachra seisiuns recommenced this summer in Rockchapel along with the Sliabh Luachra Summer camps with local families eager for their children to learn music and dance in the Sliabh Luachra style.

Participants of the Historic Graves Programme with tutor John Tierney at a group meeting

Marion and Thomas Barrett enjoying an evening of traditional Cross Roads Dancing in Laharn.

Sliabh Luachra Journals

Cumann Luachra are champions in the conservation of the history of Sliabh Luachra with 19 historical journals produced to date. The latest 2 were once again LEADER funded with a 20th journal in the pipeline. These local historians have invested so much of their own time into the preservation of such information for future generations. The committee is extremely innovative as they collectively record oral history, stories of the past, music, poetry and anecdotes. Their reputation precedes them due to the high quality of past journals and demands for these journals continuing to grow and copies being send aboard to the diaspora in America and Australia. The committee was dealt a blow in 2022 with the passing of their Chairperson Martin Murphy earlier this year. Martin was a great stalwart in the promotion the work of Cumann Luachra and always passionate about the work that they were involved in.

Cullen Pipe Band

Cullen Pipe Band was established in 1941 and has encouraged the growth of Piping over the past 80 years in the region along with the other 2 pipe bands in the region. Under the current LEADER Programme the band were approved funding to engage a professional instructor to provide expert tuition to its members to help raise the standard of the band even further. Senior members of the group had dedicated tailored sessions which allowed them to learn new skills they could then impart to junior members of the band as part of the weekly practice sessions.

Pat Fleming is a regular contributor with Discover Duhallow, writing articles on Sliabh Luachra musicians and their heritage. Pat launched his CD in the beautiful setting of the refurbished Culturlann Centre in Newmarket, which is a great addition to the culture and heritage facilities in the region.

Sarah O’Keeffe of Ceoiltoiri Sliabh Luachra performing at the summer seisiuns in Bruach na Carraige Rockchapel.

Nollaig Murphy, Eileen Linehan and Maura Walsh all of IRD Duhallow with the Late Martin Murphy Chairperson of Cumann Luachra with their most recent publication

Source of the Blackwater.

The Source of the Blackwater continues to be an area of great interest locally as it is celebrated for providing a hiding place for Gearoid Iarla, the fugitive Earl of Desmond in 1558 after the collapse of the Desmond rebellion. The area is also associated with Fr Maurice McKenraghry, chaplain to the Earl of Desmond who was captured here by Lord Roche in the 1580’ s and martyred. He was beatified in 1992. Today the site is used annually by IRD Duhallow for the Dawn Chorus Mass as part of Bealtaine which is always well attended.

Maura Walsh, IRD Duhallow with Fr Tarrant of Ballydesmond who concelebrated the Dawn Mass at the Source of the Blackwater. The Source of the Blackwater is a place of cultural significance in the region and was the site of the capture of Fr. McKenraghry who was a martyr in penal times.

Community Development

The Community Development Working Group returned to in person meetings in early 2022 having had all previous meetings in 2021 take place virtually due to Covid Restrictions. Planning has already commenced on the need to hold meetings in a number of community locations again to identify the main issues on the ground and give communities an opportunity to come together to discuss the future of community and rural development for the region. Being in an interim funding period for the LEADER Programme, communities are eager to start planning and preparing for the next LEADER programme to improve their communities. The bottom-up approach to rural development which we have always operated from in IRD Duhallow has ensured that we have a very active region of community and voluntary groups who are enthusiastic and motivated to improve the quality of life for people in their communities themselves. Our model of integrated and sustainable rural development which we have always advocated for and operate on helps to ensure that any new groups who start up are linked in with us and are supported through our community forums for the region along with all existing groups also being supported and engaged with. Such an integrated approach helps to bring all groups together to look at the future of their area on a bigger scale and facilitate them to work together to bring about change for the good.

Community Development Engagement

Despite Covid but in compliance with HSE guidelines IRD Duhallow continued to work closely with all of its communities both virtually and more recently in person. One benefit of the covid restrictions was that people who prior to the pandemic weren ’t engaged in their local community or availing of local amenities were now doing so. This allowed for new families in our communities to become more familiar with what was on their doorstep and for local community groups to recognise the skillsets of individuals living and now working remotely in their communities. Asset based community development like this is now being fostered where local committees are utilising such skills of their residents to improve their own communities. Communities have never been so eager to undertake medium and large-scale projects and invest into their own communities which is great to see. If living through the restrictions of the pandemic has taught us anything its that supporting local initiatives and projects will help to create a living countryside where families will have a good quality of life in rural areas like Duhallow.

Playground & Amenity Development in Duhallow

The LEADER Programme has played a fundamental role in the development of community playgrounds across the region. 2022 saw the playground in Rockchapel officially opened in July with Knockagree Playground also opening at the start of the summer. These are two great community led projects for local children and families to benefit from and they complement the other playground developments across the region. Minister Heather Humphries on a recent visit to Kanturk town visited the playground in Kanturk town park which was LEADER funded and made a substantial improvement to the town park amenity.

Fun and Games was had at the Rylane Family Fun Day which was supported by IRD Duhallow under the LEADER Day of the Regions Initiative

The closing ceremony of the Annual South West Regional Girl Guides Camp was hosted by the Boherbue branch on the grounds of the James O'Keeffe Institute Newmarket this July which was their first large event since before the pandemic.

Rockchapel Community Playground was developed with the support of LEADER funding and was officially opened in July. The LEADER funded playground at Knocknagree was opened to the public this summer.

OECD Local Development Forum; Better Strategies for Stronger Communities.

The Annual OECD Local Development Forum took place over 3 days in Cork in June 2022. Pobal is the Irish delegate on the Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme. LEED is a unit within the OECD’ s Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. Its mission is to contribute to the creation of more and better jobs through effective policy implementation, innovative practices, stronger capacities and integrated local strategies. This forum event was a significant occasion as it coincided with the 40th Anniversary of the OECD’ s LEED programme. IRD Duhallow was delighted to be invited to present at the Local Initiatives Marketplace as part of the Forum event to showcase the role of LDC’ s in rural and community development and our innovative approaches to building more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable communities.

Work is well underway in the Knocknagree Community Sensory Gardens which was identified as a future project in the LEADER Funded Feasibility study which was undertaken by Knocknagree Community Development Group.

Newmarket GAA developed a fully accessible walk around their playing pitch with support from the LEADER Programme which is being widely used by the community.

Newmarket Tennis Courts which has recently been refurbished with state of the art floodlighting funded by IRD Duhallow under the LEADER Programme . The tennis courts and MUGA was funded under the previous LEADER Programme.