Decade of Centenaries Programme 2020-23
Shannon Waters Flow Songs, Stories & Cultural Change in 1920s Leitrim The Shannon has always carried more than water. It carried people, memory, music and ideas — flowing outwards from Leitrim to the wider world and back again. Shannon Waters Flow brings together songs, stories, people and moments from a […]
Cumann na mBan Cyclist Corp – date unknown Military Archives Cumann na mBan, founded in 1914, emerged at a defining moment in Irish history. Created as a women’s organisation aligned with the ideals of national self-determination, it became a vital force in the struggle for independence. Its members were fundraisers, […]
Jimmy Gralton – Unkown source Jimmy Gralton and the Dance Halls Act (1935) In the early decades of the Free State, music and dancing were never just “a bit of craic” — they could be read as politics, morality, modernity, and power, all happening under one roof. Few stories show […]
Memory, conflict and the songs that carried the people through In the spring of 1921, County Leitrim — often remembered as a quiet border county — found itself drawn directly into the final, most intense phase of the Irish War of Independence. Two events in particular, the Sheemore Ambush and […]
Northern Bank Mohill thought to be around 1905. Picture – National Library Ireland Sweet Mohill for Me “Through famed County Leitrim, I’ve travelled for sights / Its valleys so deep and its great mountain heights / No spot in the county, my longings could win / Like the fair town […]
Picture courtesy of Val Fitzpatrick, Mohill – taken at Leitrim Fleadh 1983. Back Row (l-r) Felix Gallagher (Drumshanbo), Tom Mulligan (Bornacoola), Barney McCormack (Drumshanbo), John Daly (Jamestown), Patricia Coffey aka Bangles (Dublin). Front Row (l-r) Packie Duignan (Arigna), Mick Clancy (Manorhamilton), Jack McGrath (Carrick-on-Shannon), Peter “Pee” Fitzpatrick (Aughavas/Mohill) Lilting Nobody […]
When times were hard, good times were simpler – and whether an occasion was serious or not, wherever people gathered, there was a bit of craic. Here Charlie McTeague from the Ballinamore area remembers May Day customs and bonefire night. He also speaks about the pattern at St. Brigid’s […]
The Good People “Long ago, there lived a lone girl in a house on the side of Clooncarne rock. Beside the house was a fairy tree where the fairies used to stay. So one day the girl had a very bad fire and she went out gathering sticks to put into the fire. When […]
Teacher and Musician Michael Shanley was born in the townland of Sheebeg – his father Packie Shanley was a carpenter and his mother, Katie (nee Gill) was a great melodeon player. Both parents played a role in influencing Michael. He qualified as a woodwork teacher and was a talented carpenter […]
Ó Máille, Tomás (1880–1938), an Irish scholar and professor of Irish at University College Galway , was born 30 March 1880 in Muintir Eoin near Leenaun, Co. Galway. He was the first professor of Irish at University College Galway from 1909 until his death in 1938 Find out more Ó […]
