Boyle Abbey is a National Monument in State Care in the town of Boyle, Co. Roscommon. It was the principal Cistercian house in the kingdom of Connacht in the medieval period and its ruins today are among the best preserved of the order to be found in the country. Since 1892 it has been in the guardianship of the Commissioners of Public Works who have maintained the site. In the 1980s the Office of Public Works (OPW) undertook conservation works which involved archaeological excavation. Subsequently, in 2006 the OPW commenced a major programme of conservation works on the abbey, which involved dismantling and restoring the north aisle wall of the church, which had bowed. This was one of the largest stone conservation projects undertaken by the state and involved a multi-disciplinary team of experts, including engineers, architects and archaeologists who worked closely together to oversee the entire project through to completion. These works have produced a vast body of new information on the history, architecture and archaeology of Boyle Abbey, which is presented in this volume.
Kilmeane Co. Roscommon – The Graveyard and the Grave Memorials, Mary B. Timoney, Editor
The style of this book is that of the Ballintober Old Graveyard and The Grave Memorials of Co. Roscommon. Like the Ballintober book, there is a catalogue of the Kilmeane memorials, including inscriptions, photos and references to those listed in the census of Elphin 1749. The Kilmeane memorials are compared to those of the nearby graveyards of Killinvoy, Athleague, Rahara and St. Coman’s and then extending out to other Roscommon graveyards. References are also made to memorials in other Irish graveyards.
Contributors include Dr. David McGuinness, Dr Daniel Curley, Seamus Lough, Martin A. Timoney, P. David Sweetman, John Macklin, Albert Siggins, Eilish Feeley, Jaqueline née Craven d. Towey.
Mary B. Timoney, originally from Waterford and living in south Sligo, has been researching graveyard memorials since 1984. She received an M. A. from UCC in 2001 for her study of ‘The Decorated Box Tombs of the Skreen School, Co. Sligo, c. 1780 – 1850’. In 2005 she published ‘Had Me Made, A Study of the Grave Memorials of Co. Sligo from c. 1650 to the Present’ and ‘Ballintober Old Graveyard’ in 2018. She has lectured and published on grave memorials in Co.s Cavan, Monaghan, Roscommon and Sligo as well as on the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, Ireland, and on the care of graveyards.
Moygara Castle, County Sligo and the O’Gara’s of Coolavin – Kieran O’Conor, editor
Moygara Castle, with its four towers, gatehouse and high curtain walls, is one of the most impressive masonry-built monuments in north Connacht. Constructed in the late fourteenth/early fifteenth century by the O’Garas, the castle functioned as a centre of their lordship of Coolavin.
This study of Moygara Castle marshals various fields of expertise – history, archaeology, architecture, geography, genealogy, geophysical survey and DNA analysis – to provide much-needed information about life in later-medieval Gaelic Ireland.
Contributors include Kevin Barton, Jason Bolton, Anne Connon, Phyl Foley, Paul M. Kerrigan, Máire Ní Chearbhaill, Kieran O’Conor, Maura O’Gara-O’Riordan, Christopher Read and Rory Sherlock.
Kieran O’Conor is senior lecturer in the School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway.
The Elusive Mrs. Walcott: An 18th Century Entrepreneur and the Rookwood Estate, is a compelling
work that seamlessly combines local history with genealogical facts. Drawing on an impressive array
of primary sources, including leases, wills, land, church and state records, historian and genealogist
Nuala Farrell-Griffin explores her Farrell and Flaherty ancestors and their connection to Lettice
Caulfield Walcott. Known primarily as the woman at whose sole expense the Roscommon Infirmary
was built in 1783, and is obliquely commemorated on a stone plaque in the Foyer as, “Mrs. Walcott,
sister to the Lord Chief justice Caulfield of Donamon”. Naula’s meticulous research brings this
remarkable woman, and several of her ‘attached relatives’ to life.
Rathcroghan and Carnfree (Celtic Royal Sites in Roscommon), by Prof. Michael Herity. This guide is based on a survey of the antiquities in an area of 100 square kilometres around Cruachain and Carnfree begun before 1980.
The results of the survey have been published in four articles in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1983, 1984, 1987, 1988).
Gerald of Wales was among the most dynamic and fascinating churchmen of the twelfth century. A member of one of the leading Norman families involved in the invasion of Ireland, he first visited there in 1183 and later returned in the entourage of Henry II. The resulting Topographia Hiberniae is an extraordinary account of his travels.
This accessible translation preserves the directness and lively storytelling of the original and includes maps, illustrations and notes.
This colourful children’s book brings to life the story of the burning of Knockcroghery in 1921 by the Black and Tans and the resilience of the local community as they deal with the aftermath of their destroyed village. Told through the eyes of young Sally Finnegan, it is vividly illustrated and contains interesting facts on the Crofton estate at Mote Park, the Clay Pipe industry and the backdrop of revolutionary Ireland.
The Burning of Knockcroghery Village, Co. Roscommon, 1921
Regina Donlon
On the evening of 20 June 1921, Colonel-Commandant Thomas Stanton Lambert was assassinated at Benown near Glasson in Co. Westmeath. Hours later, the small village of Knockcroghery in south Co. Roscommon was set ablaze by the British forces, seemingly in an act of retribution for Lambert’s murder. The burning was an unfortunate case of mistaken identity, however, that ultimately resulted in the decimation of the local economy and heralded the end of clay-pipe production in the area. This study explores the complex world of rural Ireland against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, while demonstrating how local communities were impacted by evolving national narratives. Although it later emerged that the Knockcroghery company of the Irish Republican Army was not involved in Lambert’s killing, this study examines how the social and economic fabric of that community was altered as a result.
This DIGITAL VERSION of ‘A Dictionary of Roscommon Biography’ contains 5000 individual entries which describe the careers of people in all fields of endeavour, including politics, religion, law, literature, journalism, business, trades, medicine, sport, engineering, painting, music and entertainment and is a must for anyone with an interest or connection with Co. Roscommon.
Upon your purchase of this digital copy, Rathcroghan Visitor Centre will forward your contact details to the author, who will then personally email your electronic copy in PDF format.*
*please note that by purchasing this version, you agree to the sharing of your contact details with the author Mike Lennon in order to facilitate the file transfer.
Over one hundred and twenty years ago a young man set about collecting Irish folk tales before they were lost forever. He taught himself Irish so that he could write the stories down as they were told, by storytellers beside the fire, word for word. Ancient Folk Tales of Ireland contains six of those stories, each brought to life with stunning illustrations.
That young man was Douglas Hyde, he would become one of Ireland’s finest scholars, working to preserve Ireland’s ancient heritage for future generations. In later life he would become Ireland’s first president but he is equally remembered for the wonderful stories he helped to keep alive.
Beautifully illustrated by Paul Bolger, this collection is based on those stories collected by Douglas Hyde.
Moore and Creagh in South Roscommon by Padraic and Xandra Kilduff.
This edition is the third installment of the three volumes on the parishes of Moore
and Creagh, which make up the Half Barony of Moycarn, and cover its history
from earliest times to the first decades of the 20th century.
Moore and Creagh in South Roscommon by Padraic and Xandra Kilduff.
This set of two of the three volumes of books on the parishes of Moore
and Creagh, which make up the Half Barony of Moycarn, cover its history
from earliest times to the first decades of the 20th century.
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