Upcoming Events at the Museum

The following is a list of some events taking place at the museum over the coming months.

February 15 - Talk by William Fraher- Old Dungarvan Families

March 1- Historical Table Quiz- in aid of museum funds - 8.pm at  Park Hotel

March 21 - Talk by Bill Power The Black-Water River. Discovering the Irish Rhine from Source to Sea.

April 12 - Exhibition - County Waterford A Commercial History in Photographs 1890-1990

April 14 - Children's Event - "Sweet Memories"
Talks as always will take place in the Town Hall Theatre at 8.pm. Admission is €5.
More information on the upcoming events will be detailed nearer the date.

Table Quiz Fund Raiser

Each year the Museum Society puts together a fundraising  event to help with the costs of maintaining the museum. Eddie Cantwell is the brains behind such ventures and this year is no different.

This year he has come up with the novel idea for a table quiz.  Using a powerpoint presentation participants will be able to view historical scenes of Dungarvan and Districts on the big screen.  It is not necessary to have a knowledge of the history of Dungarvan as most of the illustrations will be recognisable and questions will not be difficult.  The photographs will include buildings, streets personalities and shop fronts etc and the questions will be based on identifying the street or person in the images.

We are looking for teams of 4 per table to participate with a fee of €40 per table.  Groups of 3 are welcome to take part as long as the fee of €40 is paid. The quiz is open to everyone and we would like to see the businesses and factories in town and surrounding areas enter a team as we search for the most knowledgeable team of "Dungarvan's faces and places".

The table quiz will take place in the Park Hotel on Thursday March 1 at 8.pm

 This fundraiser is sure to generate a great deal of interest and will be great fun. We ask those who wish to take part to register their team at The Museum, on Friary St, Dungarvan as this will help us to arrange the facilities for the event and provide two screens if needed.

The museum is open Mon - Fri from 9.30 am to 5.pm. Tel: 058-45960.

Some Old Dungarvan Families

An Aerial View of Ballinacourty House, which will be featured in the Talk

The next lecture in our series takes place on Wednesday February 15. This talk will be given by the museum curator William Fraher on the old families of Dungarvan.

William will give an illustrated talk on a selection of families associated with Dungarvan and district over the centuries. Some of the families featuring in the talk include McGuires of Clonea House, Moloney's and Currans - ship owners and merchants, Dower's. Gibbons, Anthony's of Dungarvan and Ring and Longan of Ballincourty.

This is the first time that such detailed research has been compiled on these families.  William has been collecting genealogical material over many years and is delighted to be able to make this initial presentation on his findings  This promises to be a fascinating evening.

The talk will take place in the Town Hall Theatre and entry is €5.  All are welcome to attend.

Dr.Richard Henebry, the Déiseach Musical Priest, by Dr. Méabh Ní Fhuartháin

Dr. Méabh Ní Fhuartháin who will give a talk on Fr. Henebry.

Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin is currently Co-ordinator of the BA with Irish Studies at the Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway.  A native of Waterford, she returned to Ireland following graduate work and lecturing in the United States. Méabh has a particular interest in the culture of music in Ireland.  She has contributed articles and reviews to various journals and is subject editor on the forthcoming Encylopaedia of Music in Ireland (UCD Press, 2012). Her research on Dr Richard Henebry is part a a larger archive digitisation project currently underway at UCC.

Revd Dr. Richard Henebry was born into an Irish speaking farming family in Mount Bolton, Portlaw, Co. Waterford in 1863. He was involved with the foundation of Ring College and also taught there for a time. The family were  musical, Henebry played the fiddle and he had a great interest in traditional singing and uilleann piping. During the 1890's and early 1900's he worked in America as professor of Irish in Catholic University of Washington DC and in Berkeley University in California.

While working in the America he became friendly with Capt. Francis O'Neill in Chicago and other Irish musicians. Suffering from ill health he returned to Ireland in 1903 and made a valuable collection of early cylinder field recordings in Waterford in 1905.  These led to correspondence with leading German ethnomusicologists in Berlin, and formed an influential component of his theories on Irish scale and intonation.

From 1909 until his death Henebry was professor of Irish Language and Literature in University College Cork. He had a great interest in Irish music and produced writings and books on the subject, including his handbook of Irish music. He died in Portlaw on 17 March 1916 and was buried at Carrickbeg.

Méabh's talk will take place on Wednesday January 18 at 8.00pm in the Town Hall Theatre.  Entry fee of €5, and all are welcome to attend.

New Poetry Book "Songs of a Stargazer" Launched at Museum

John Daly presenting the Canadian Ambassador Loyola Hearne with a copy of his poetry on his recent visit to the museum

John Daly a long serving committee member of the Museum Society published his first book of poems"Songs of a Stargazer" last Friday night December 9 in the museum.
The book was officially launched by Frank Daly in the presence of a large number of friends and museum members.

John has been writing poetry for a number of years and publishes regularly in the local press.  We wish John the best of luck with this publication, which is available for sale here in the museum, at Eason's store and Michael Power's book shop. Priced at €10 this book would make a lovely Christmas present. To view more images of the event follow us on facebook

Visit of Canadian Ambassador to Museum

Canadian Ambassador Loyloa Hearne addressing the Audience at the Museum

We were delighted to welcome his Excellency Ambassador Loyola Hearne to the Museum to mark the Ireland Newfoundland links. The Mayor of Dungarvan was represented by Clr Michael Cosgrove. Also in attendance was Denis McCarthy, acting County Manager and committee members of the Ireland Newfoundland connections.


The Mayor praised the work of the museum and stated that it was an important asset to the town and county. The museum President, Nioclás Ó Griofáin recalled the links between West Waterford and Newfoundland and referred to booklet - The Newfoundland Emmigrant Trail, edited by Paula Uí Uallachain which was launched last year at the museum.  To view more images  Visit us on Facebook

Recent Visits From Waterford Schools

Group of the Students from the Adult Education Center in Waterford City.

In recent weeks we had the pleasure of visits from schools in the east of the county. The first school to visit was the boys from 3rd year of the CBS in Tramore and were given a guided tour by Michael Fitzgearld. They were delighted by the enactment of the loading of the Brown Bess Musket shown on the iPad.

The following week on the 30 November we had 35 adult students from Adult Education Center in Waterford who are frequent visitors to the museum and were very impressed with our latest exhibition the Big Houses of Co Waterford.