Presentation of Historic Glass Plate Photographs in Waterford County Museum 22 July 2016

Waterford County Museum was delighted to welcome a group of the extended O'Brien family clan of Aglish House.

After attending a special Mass in Aglish the group visited the museum to make a presentation of a collection of glass plate photographs featuring members of the O'Briens of Aglish from the early 1900's.

Grainne Moynihan spoke on behalf of the family and stated that she was delighted that these precious family mementoes would be held in the museum's extensive image archive.  Josef Keith transported the glass plates in conservation folders.

Museum president Willie Fraher addressed the group and said he wished to thank the extended O'Brien family for donating the images, and also a copy of the excellent family history 'The O'Brien Family Tree Album' compiled by Grainne Moynihan and Jim O'Brien.  Willie referred to the notable people in the O'Brien family tree including the Fenian, James F.X. O'Brien, William Williams, designer of Dungarvan's coat of arms, and Bishop James Vincent Cleary.  The group enjoyed some refreshments and a chat after the presentation.

Thursday, 25th August Ogham Workshop at Waterford County Museum

Ogham Workshop

This workshop will introduce children (accompanied by parent/guardian) to the ogham alphabet and the ogham stones of Co.Waterford in a fun, interactive and creative manner.

Venue: Waterford County Museum, Friary Street

Date: Thursday, 25th August

Time: 15:00 to 15:45 pm

Booking required and cost is free

Email: ogham@celt.dias.ie or website @waterfordmuseum.ie

Telephone: Ogham in 3D 01 6140184 or Waterford County Museum 058 45960

Waterford County Museum Book Sale

Book Sale

Our annual book sale is taking place over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.

Venue: Dan McCarthy's Shop, Friary Street

Date: Thursday 28th July, Friday 29th and Saturday 30th July

Time: 9am till 9pm

All are very welcome.

As this is our main fundraiser for the year, your support would be greatly appreciated. There will be a wide variety of books on sale from novels, gardening, cookery, medical to sports and history.

There will be books galore and plenty of special offers.

 Please come along and support this very worthy cause.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Recent visitors to Waterford County Museum

Recent visitors to the museum

Mary Maher contacted the museum two years ago; she was searching for her grandfather and grandmother and in particular her father who was named Thomas Francis Maher.

Mary's grandmother ran the Post Office at Abbeyside and it was here that the family lived.


Eddie Cantwell, Waterford County Museum was delighted to meet up with the family and took them to the now oldest untouched pub in the town, if not in the country, Alice O'Connor's Bar at Abbeyside.

Alice knew Mary's aunt Monica quite well, having lived across the road from her. Monica was the last in the Maher family to run the Post Office at Abbeyside.


The visitors were thrilled with the visit to the famous pub at Abbeyside. It was their first trip to Ireland and visiting the family grave at Abbeyside was the highlight of their visit.

Gallows Hill, Dungarvan, Community Archaeological Project July 2016

Aerial view of Gallows Hill

The continuing investigation into the origins of Gallows Hill, Dungarvan, saw members of the Adopt a Monument scheme, members of the local community and Waterford County Museum spend Monday 4th July 2016 (with some work completed on Wednesday 6th) working on the hill and adjoining green area with Archaeological Geophysicist, Kevin Barton.  We were also joined by County Heritage Officer, Bernadette Guest, and award winning photographer, John Foley.

For the first time the group used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), a very high spatial resolution technique which allows two dimensional time and depth sections or horizontal time and depth slices to be produced, transmitting pulses of electromagnetic energy into the ground and recording their reflection or absorption by sub-surface features.  It is a technique that can detect features under surfaces such as tarmac or concrete.

It is hoped that using this technology will add to the information gleaned from previous tests, and help to increase our knowledge about what we believe to be the oldest part of Dungarvan Town.

Community Archaeological Surveys 2016 are funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland.

Gallow's Hill Community Archaeology Project is part of the Heritage Council's Adopt a Monument Pilot Project 2016-2017.

A big thank you to all involved, including Ben from Abbeyside Scouts.

Photos by John Foley, Abarta Heritage and Eddie Cantwell.

johnfoleyimages.com abartaheritage.ie www.facebook.com/community-archaeological-remote-sensing-979573268823682/

The gang on top of Gallows Hill!  Included in photo along with all the other great volunteers are Kevin Barton (wearing harness), Paul McLoughlin (holding handle), Bernadette Guest (holding cable), Eddie Cantwell, and Willie Whelan.

The team getting started in the morning

Setting up for the day

Kevin Barton setting up the GPS

Scout's dining tent

Surveying on the top of Gallows Hill

Working on the top of Gallows Hill

Finishing off on Wednesday

Finishing off on Wednesday

Excellent feedback from visitors to the museum

Feedback from visitors to the museum on TripAdvisor

At the museum we are always delighted to receive feedback from visitors about their museum experience. It not only encourages us to continue but it gives us valuable insight into what people think and what they would like to see. All feedback is greatly appreciated. The following feedback about the museum appeared on TripAdvisor recently.

"A potted history of Ireland"

The museum has been carefully laid out to take you from pre-history to the current day with particular reference to the local area. Fascinating and well worth the time - entry free!

"Interesting"

I went there with my Aunt to gain some family history. The staff were very helpful and friendly. I would recommend a visit, especially if you have historic connections.

"Great place"

This was a small well laid out museum. Very interesting and informative displays. Excellent displays of local history.

"Better than most"

This museum is not bad at all, certainly better than the majority of regional small town museums that I visited on the continent and the staff were very obliging in helping source material for my studies.