The Society |
Welcome to the website of The Edenderry Historical Society. The Society has led the promotion of the history of the town of Edenderry and the surrounding area since it's founding in 1979.
The society runs events to help preserve the history of the area, both the physical remains and the people's memories. It has a regular meeting once a month, 6-8 lectures a year, runs competitions,
organises an annual weekend trip away and day trips during the summer.
Over the years the society has been heavily involved in Edenderry town's life. We invited the President Mary Robinson 1994 to formally unveil the informational plaque on the town hall, only the
second time a president has visited Edenderry. The society was also involved in the organisation of the 1798 bi-centenary commemerations. See the section
of the website about the societies history for more information.
The society has about 80 members.
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Upcoming Events |
Autumn/Winter Lecture Series 2009
The following lectures will take place over the next few months, all lectures will take place in the RC Edenderry Parish Centre
18th September, Collette Jordan, 'The role of women in the Big House'
23rd October, Brian Casey, 'A dangerously clever man: Matt Harris and the Irish Land War'
20th November, Liam Kenny, 'Kildare Men and the Boer War 1899-1902'
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Local Projects
Amanda Pedlow, the Offaly Hertitage Officer, is going to meet the society on Friday 9th of October at 7:30 in the parish centre to talk about some of the projects which are being carried out in the county. These include a recent survey and work at Blundell Castle and proposed works at Ballymacwilliam.
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Book Launch a Great Success |
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There was a large turnout for he book launch of "Images of Edenderry". The book is a compilation of photographs and their descriptions documenting Edenderry and it's people that has been put together by members of the Historical Society. |
The launch was held on Friday 14th August in the Edenderry GAA Pavilion. The MC was Mr Séan Fitzgerald (speaking right), the principal of the local boys national school. He spoke of the impressive contribution made by the late Joe Reilly and Noel Whelan to the Historical Society and the community as a whole. The historical society chairperson Mrs Cherry Carter was next to speak and thanked Ciarán Reilly and his helpers for the huge amount of work put into developing the book, in particular Mairéad Evans who had the idea for the book, she also thanked the publishers, Nonsuch Publishing Ireland. The other speakers were the Cathaoirleach of the Offaly County Council Noel Burke and the Cathaoirleach of Edenderry Town Council Finian O'Neill, before Dr. Philip Brady gave the keynote speech to offically launch the book.
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Dr. Brady (to the right of the speaker above) spoke of how the book reflected the changes in Ireland over the last century and the changes he himself has witnessed since he came to Edenderry. He also spoke of some of the major events in Edenderry's history that are show in the book such as the visit of Cardinal Gilroy, Australia's first cardinal. |
The book can be bought at the following shops in Edenderry, Mary & Maries, Brady's Spar SuperMarket, The Paper Shop. It can also be requested from the society's email edenderryhistory@gmail.com
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Sunshine charity and the St. Vincent de Paul society.
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WorkHouse Paupers Graveyard |
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National Heritage Week was held from 22nd-30th August 2009. On the 26th the society hosted an ecumenical service at 6.30pm at St Vincent's pauper's cemetery, Edenderry (behind Offalia House) in memory of those who are buried there. An exhibition was held in Edenderry library all that week and was officially opened after the service on the 26th. Ciaran Reilly gave a short talk on the Great Famine in Offaly.
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July Outing |
July Outing. Seamus Kelly, author of ‘A Ramble in Rathangan’ gave a guided historical tour of Rathangan on Saturday 11th July. This outing was in association with the Maynooth Historical Society. The picture is of Seamus in the Rathagan C of I church, part of the outing was held here due to the rain.
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Schools Competition 2009 |
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This was the second year for the competition to be held. Like last year, it was a huge success, with a total of 321 entries between 4th, 5th and 6th classes in St Mary’s Girls National School, Monasteroris National School and Scoil Muire Banrion. The standard of the entries was very high which made judging very difficult. The first prize was €25.00 voucher for Elvery’s Sports Shop, second prize was €15.00 voucher for Heartbeat City Music Shop and third prize was a €10.00 note. Every participant received a Certificate of Achievement.
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April Meeting - Achill Island Lecture and Memorabilia Night |
April 17th - A meeting was held in the Parish Centre (formerly St John of God Convent), Friday 17th April and was followed by a lecture by Brian Coughlan about "The unique 'Achill Island system' of tattie-hoking and an historical analysis of the Kirkintilloch tragedy, 1937".
Edenderry Historical Society is celebrating it's 30th Anniversary in 2009. As part of the celebrations, the Society hosted a 'Memorabilia Night' on Friday 29th May in O'Donoghue's function room.
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March Meeting - Meeting followed by a lecture by Declan O'Connor 'The murder of John Gatchell, Clonbullogue 1843' |
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January Meeting - Legal Offaly: the county courthouse at Tullamore and the legal profession in Offaly from 1820s to the present day |
There was a lecture given by an old member of the society, Michael Byrne, who was heavily involved in the setting up the Edenderry Historical Society in 1979. The society celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year so it was fitting that we welcomed Michael to celebrate that event with us.
The lecture was on the topic of the development of the legal profession and the courts from the 1820s to the present day and provided an introduction to the background of the development of the legal profession in County Offaly including the old Home Circuit and the present day Midland Circuit. The lecture had an overview of the development of the legal institutions and the expansion of legal personnel in County Offaly with particular reference to Edenderry. In his recent publication of the same title Michael has sought to show over a series of eight chapters how the law and legal institutions developed at local level in this county since the 1800s. A detailed background to the building of the new courthouse and the transfer of assizes is discussed in an early chapter affecting as it did Daingean and Tullamore. Later chapters in the book and summarised in the lecture dealt with the assizes, the barristers on circuit and the development of the county court and petty sessions into the present day circuit and district courts. The final section of the lecture covers the growth of the solicitors’ profession in the county including the town of Edenderry.
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