Waterford County Museum

John Creedon’s Atlas of Ireland

Well done to Chrissy Knight O’Connor for her appearance on John Creedon’s latest series on RTE. Chrissy explained about the Gallowshill Community Archaeology project and the associated research being undertaken into the Viking presence in Dungarvan.

Book Launch

Aine Ui Fhoghlu launched her latest book in Ring recently titled: ‘Scealta agus Seanchas’. The launch venue was packed to capacity. The book was launched by Padraig O Machain in Halla Pobail na Rinne. He remarked what a valuable exercise Aine had undertaken in recording the memories of local people and that he was glad to note that the book was printed in Ireland. The museum is delighted to be associated with the publication as we supplied a number of the illustrations for it from our extensive image archive. Thanks to Barry Moore museum image archivist for facilitating this. The hardback of 320 pages is a work of art and beautifully designed and is bilingual.

Mai Fox

The museum was saddened to learn of the death of Mai Fox who was a long-time member of the Museum Society and we send our sympathies to her family and friends.

Margaret Power, widow, of Ballinagoul, Ringville, a poor industrious woman

The following report a Board of Guardian’s meeting in Dungarvan shows the precarious existence of poor people in 19^th century Ireland. In this case a widow, Margaret Power, whose house was under threat of demolition.

Waterford News 14 December 1866

Margaret Power, widow, of Ballinagoul, Ringville, a poor industrious woman, who, with one son, aged twelve years, is in the habit of making nets in that locality for fishermen, to enable them to maintain the younger members of the family , was granted a continuation of two shillings a week for a month.

The chairman remarked that if the applicant left her little cabin, that moment it would be levelled to the ground; he might say she had the fee-simple of it, and if she came into the workhouse she would become a permanent burthen on the rate payers.

"The Vikings are Coming" - Making a model Viking Longboat

Continuing to celebrate National Heritage week and in conjunction with Gallows Hill Community Archaeology Project, Waterford County Museum held an enjoyable workshop for children and their parents on Wednesday 21^st August.

This event organised by Tony Hayes involved the children making their own model of a Viking Longboat and it proved very successful. Parents, staff and the children all got involved in the cutting, pasting and colouring. When the boats were finished the children enjoyed posing for photographs with the reproduction Viking swords and helmets.

The museum feels it is important to have events such as this to introduce children to history and their local museum. Many of our exhibits are suitable for children and we welcomed families from all over the world throughout the summer months.

Alfie and Samuel Carroll

Portrait Drawing Day in Waterford County Museum

To mark the start of Heritage Week Waterford County Museum held a Portrait Drawing Workshop on Saturday17^th August. Museum staff member Tony Hayes organised the event. Tony gave a PowerPoint presentation on five women artists and spoke about their drawings. Curator William Fraher gave a guided tour of the portraits on display in the museum.

We would like to thank David for doing one of the modelling sessions and all those who participated in the workshop. This is the second successful drawing event at the museum and we hope to have more of them in the future.

Keep an eye on Facebook, Twitter, our website and local newspapers for information on these events.