1. Take a steam train from Dublin to Kilkenny
All aboard for one of this year’s hottest tickets – a good old-fashioned steam train journey from Dublin to Kilkenny.
Like something straight out of an old movie, this trip comes courtesy of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. It is dedicated to conserving Irish steam trains and operating them on the Irish railway network for all to see, appreciate and enjoy.
The society has around 1,000 members from all over the world and depends entirely on the expertise of its volunteers to keep its stock of beautiful blue and cream-liveried locomotives operating in all their glory.
On the morning of Sunday, August 18th one of these beautifully coloured steam trains will depart Dublin’s Connolly Station, bound for Kilkenny. The route will take it through the tunnel under Phoenix Park, out past Heuston Station, then departing the Cork line at Cherryville Junction, just after Kildare town.
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The train will stop to take on water in Athy, Co Kildare, where passengers can disembark to stretch their legs and take photos, before arriving into the Marble City at lunchtime.
Also on board will be the Star of Knockagh accordion band from Carrickfergus who will play on the platforms at Connolly, Athy and Kilkenny. Sandwiches and refreshments will on sale too, so you won’t even need to pack a picnic. For more see steamtrainsireland.com
2. Ponder a pilgrim trail in Co Wicklow
The Office of Public Works is offering free admission to more than 70 heritage sites for the opening weekend of Heritage Week. The theme of this year’s Heritage Week is connections, routes and networks, which makes the OPW’s All Paths Lead to Glendalough, a celebration of St Kevin’s Way event a perfect way to commemorate it.
Taking place on Sunday, August 25th, it’s a chance to explore one of Ireland’s best-known pilgrim trails, a 30km route beginning in the village of Hollywood, crossing the Wicklow Gap, and ending at the remains of the medieval monastery in Glendalough.
It is typically completed in one day and visitors can join for as much, or as little, as they like, all following in the footsteps of St Kevin, who crossed the Wicklow Mountains and founded the monastery at Glendalough in the sixth century.
For little legs the OPW will also be hosting Lego workshops at Glendalough. Taking place at the site’s visitor centre, these will be open to families with neurodivergent children aged seven years and over and will include autism-friendly activities to interpret Glendalough’s history and architecture in a fun, creative way. Visit heritageireland.ie for more
3. Catch the buzz at Turlough Park, Co Mayo
Did you know there are more than 100 species of bee in Ireland, but only one that makes honey? Or that bees were so important in Irish history that they have their own patron saint – St Gobnait?
To find out why there’s such a buzz about them, don’t miss Beekeeping in Ireland, a special event at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, at Turlough Park, Co Mayo.
Scheduled for Saturday, August 24th, it’s one of the highlights of The Murmur of Bees, a fantastic new exhibition running throughout this year exploring the magic of Ireland’s bees and their influence on our culture and environment.
To celebrate the exhibition, the museum is hosting this daylong programme of talks and demonstrations, exploring the topic of beekeeping with the Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations.
It’s an opportunity to learn all about these incredible creatures from the largest beekeeping organisation in the country, which has been supporting beekeepers for more than 75 years. Though the event is suitable for adults, younger people will find all the materials they need in the museum’s activity rooms to create some bee-inspired crafts too. Visit museum.ie and irishbeekeeping.ie for more
4. Have a field day in Co Sligo
Sligo Field Club is a voluntary group that works year-round to promote interest in the environment, both natural and man-made, through lectures and guided field trips. It offers a programme of monthly lectures by local and national authorities on everything from archaeology to natural history.
The club, which is 70 years old, is currently headed up by Sally Siggins, its president. An archaeologist by profession, she is also a senior guide at the renowned Carrowmore megalithic complex nearby.
For this year’s Heritage Week, Sligo Field Club is planning a number of events including a tour of the Masonic Lodge in Sligo town, led by Canon Noel Regan, and a talk with local conservation architect Wendy Lyons at Clogherevagh House, a beautiful 19th century building set on the shores of Lough Gill, around which the modern-day campus of St Angela’s College was developed.
Heritage Week will also see a special opening of Lissadell and Munninane Churches. Lissadell Church, built in the 1850s by the Gore Booth family of Lissadell House, is reputed to have some of the oldest stained-glass windows in a church setting in Ireland. Made by Warrington & Sons of London and recently conserved by Connon Studios Limited, this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy them in all their glory. See sligofieldclub.ie for more
5. Get to grips with woodland walls in Co Galway
Merlin Park Woods in Galway city is one of the largest and most diverse urban woodlands in Ireland, with more than 80 hectares of native and exotic trees, wildflowers, birds and mammals.
“It is home to a massive variety of species, including 22 different types of butterfly alone,” says Caroline Stanley, one of the founders of The Friends of Merlin Woods.
Originally part of the estate of the Blake family, who owned the land since the 17th century, the woods were named after their ancestral home in England, which was said to be the birthplace of the legendary wizard Merlin.
The Friends of Merlin Woods, a voluntary community group who help to conserve and promote the woods, will be running a number of events for Heritage Week, including repair workshops for the beautiful old stone walls that run through the woodland.
It will also be running bat walks and walk and talks with local experts in its flora, fauna and history.
“We started out as a litter-picking group and it grew from there,” Stanley explains. “Today we organise events, have developed a community garden and are building a green amphitheatre that schools can use as an outdoor classroom or for events.” Find out more at heritageweek.ie
6. Enjoy a Co Leitrim-inspired meitheal for Mummers
Mummers go from house to house to dance and entertain at Christmas time. It’s a pre-Netflix form of entertainment that is way more participatory.
“Mummers are dressed in colourful clothing and straw costumes, and call from door-to-door over the 12 days of Christmas, like the Wren Boys on St Stephen’s Day,” explains dancer Edwina Guckian, who grew up with the tradition in Co Leitrim.
She is planning a Heritage Week harvest day event, Sowing the Seeds, at Mount Allen Eco Farm, a beautiful organic farm on the shores of Lough Allen, Co Roscommon, to help create the Mummers’ costumes.
“In April we sowed the seeds for the oats that will be used to make the Mummers hats. We will be harvesting by hand, using sickles and scythes, with our friend John Reynolds on hand to cook up potatoes and bacon and oaten cakes from last year’s harvest. Everybody will be welcome.”
The day will be packed with good old-fashioned fun. “Once the work is done we’ll be partying in the long grass, with music and singing and dancing, and I’ll be calling the dances,” says Guckian. “It’s a real meitheal, with everybody working together and being rewarded for it.” Find out more at sowingtheseedproject.com
7. Celebrate Féile Saibhreas Mhachaire Rabhartaigh i d’Tír Chonaill
This year sees the second year of Féile Saibhreas Mhachaire Rabhartaigh, an Irish-language festival that celebrates the rich history, heritage and culture of Teach Mhicí Mhic Gabhann in Cloughaneely as well as the surrounding area, including Machaire Rabhartaigh and Inis Bó Finne.
Mac Gabhann was a local adventurer who travelled to the Yukon in search of his fortune. His son-in-law Seán Ó hEochaidh, transformed Micí's tales into a book called Rotha Mór an tSaoil, which many of us read and studied for our Leaving Cert Irish exam.
The festival includes traditional music and storytelling by the open fire, with local musicians, craft demonstrations and a bus trip on Tuesday, August 20th which will retrace Mac Gabhann’s footsteps to the hiring fairs in Letterkenny. It will also include an open day at the fully restored cottage where Micí spent his formative years, a céilí, a fun day, a guided tour of Inis Bó Finne, and many more activities suited to all ages.
This year the organisers have partnered with the Clean Coast group to host a family walk and talk on the beautiful sand dunes of Machaire Rabhartaigh, to discover the importance of conserving and maintaining this important geomorphological feature.
Féile Saibhreas Mhachaire Rabhartaigh runs from Friday, August 16th to Friday, August 23rd. See heritageweek.ie for more
8. Seek out lost skills in Co Clare
Common Knowledge was founded in the belief that coming together to share basic skills, create useful resources and connect as a community makes for more affordable, sustainable and joyful homes.
Based in the beautiful Burren, in Co Clare, the not-for-profit organisation sits on a 50-acre site between Lisdoonvarna and Kilfenora, from where it offers a series of training courses to help people learn to mend, make, fix and grow.
For Heritage Week it will be running its Festival of Lost Skills, on Friday, August 16th and Saturday, August 17th, which will include traditional music and dancing, plus a special focus on heritage skills. The event includes a market day in Ennistymon comprising 30 vendors and demonstrating skills from willow weaving to boat building and rope making. It will also feature a demonstration of traditional Ukrainian embroidery.
“It’s a gorgeous festival,” says Aoife Hammond, the organisation’s heritage officer. “A lot of the demonstrations are made by people from older generations. They will be showing how to do everything from stone wall building to lime plastering to cob house building. All skills that, if we don’t share them, will be lost.” Visit ourcommonknowledge.org for further information
9. Do battle with Vikings in Co Waterford
Don’t miss the chance to see Waterford’s most famous Viking site brought to life this Heritage Week at the Woodstown Viking Festival. Now in its seventh year, it’s a great free day out for all the family. More than 1,000 visitors joined the fun last year and, according to Bernadette Guest, heritage officer at Waterford City and County Council, this year’s event will be even bigger.
Taking place on Saturday, August 17th and Sunday, August 18th daily from 11am to 5pm, it celebrates the most important find of Viking artefacts in more than a century, discovered by archaeologists as part of routine preparations for building the Waterford bypass 20 years ago. Even though only 5 per cent of the site has been excavated to date, that alone yielded more than 600 individual items, including a Viking grave with sword.
The day will see live performances from Déise Medieval Battle Reenactments, a Viking craft village showcasing everything from spinning to jewellery making, a bird of prey display and even Irish wolfhounds. “Because the Woodstown site is made up of fields, with nothing upright to see in it, this is a great way to bring it to life for people, and the beauty of it is that it’s right on Waterford Greenway too,” says Guest, making it a great day out all-round. See facebook.com
10. Bring wildlife closer to home in Co Dublin
Don’t miss ecologist Donna Mullen’s free talk at the Lexicon Library, Dún Laoghaire, on Wednesday, August 21st to find out all about how to bring wildlife closer to home. Mullen, author of new book Make Your Home a Nature Reserve (O’Brien Press), has dedicated her life to promoting wildlife and is keen to show all of us how, with just a few small tweaks, we can provide board and lodgings to a host of nature’s most fascinating creatures.
“It’s all about what you can do in your garden, your community and even just your window box,” she says.
For example, if you can build a little pond and surround it with long grass you’ll attract frogs. Making a hole in your fascia board and turning off outdoor lighting will help attract bats. Putting a few bird boxes close to one another will help support blue tits, especially male ones.
“They have to be able to show a few places in order to attract female blue tits, a bit like a farmer being able to show good road frontage,” Mullan explains, whose talk will be packed with a variety of props, from skulls to scat.
It’s important we all do what we can, she says, “because even common creatures are becoming more and more rare”.
To find out more about all the events happening for Heritage Week visit heritageweek.ie