Julian Walton |
We wish to send our congratulations and best
wishes to historian, former museum trustee and generous donor, Julian Walton,
on his 80th birthday this Tuesday. A full celebration for family and friends is not possible at the moment, but this will be arranged at some future date.
Julian Walton
As well as being arguably the pre-eminent Waterford historian, Julian's long running radio programme on WLR FM "On This Day" introduced many people to the joy of local history. He has been very supportive of local heritage groups across the county large and small (including Waterford County Museum). This inclusive approach did much to foster the next generation of Waterford local historians.
Julian is a former secondary schoolteacher and librarian with a lifelong
interest in Irish history and genealogy, particularly relating to Co.
Waterford. During the 1990s he worked at Waterford Heritage Genealogical
Centre, where among other assignments he undertook the conservation of
Waterford Cathedral Library. He was then employed at the library of University
College Cork in the cataloguing of older printed books.
Since he ‘retired’ in 2006 he has been Resident Historian at Dunhill
Multi-Education Centre in Co. Waterford, where he lectures on
aspects of local history. He is the author of The Royal Charters of Waterford
and of many articles in historical journals, especially The Irish Genealogist
and Decies (Waterford Archaeological & Historical Society), and is a former editor of both journals. His most recent publications are On
This Day volumes one and two, which comprise historical snippets based on a
series which he presented on Waterford Local Radio between 1994 and 2012.
He is currently researching the history of Curraghmore with the assistance of
William Fraher and Marianna Lorenc. He is also an active member of the
Bookplate Society.