National Heritage Week takes place from August 20th to 28th and there is lots of things to do in Roscommon town and surrounding areas during this time.
Saturday 20th
In Mote Park, just outside Roscommon town, Mote Park Conservation Group present a Heritage & Biodiversity Walk and Talk on the history and biodiversity of Mote Park. Attendees are asked to meet at the Girl Guides Centre at 5pm. They will learn about the red squirrels and much more and get to try out the new interactive app.
In Kilteevan at 7pm in Kilteevan Graveyard, Kilteevan Graveyard Committee host a Celebration of 25th Anniversary of Mass in Kilteevan Graveyard. This is followed by an illustrated talk ‘Did you know? – 100 interesting facts about Kilteevan Graveyard’ in Kilteevan Community Centre.
From Monday 22nd
In Roscommon town all week during library opening hours Roscommon County Library host the B.M. Croker Book Collection – an opportunity to view the substantial Roscommon library collection of the works and material relating to B. M. Croker who was born in Roscommon in 1849 and wrote mainly romantic novels.
All week during office hours Roscommon County Council present a Kids Heritage Hunt in Loughnaneane Park. Pick up your heritage hunt sheet at the Customer Service Desk in Áras an Chontae and follow the clues to discover the secrets of Loughnaneane Park – the castle, the turlough, ducks, wildflowers, swifts and much more.
Also during office hours, all week in Áras an Chontae Roscommon County Council host “From Beyond the Horizon to a Day in Life and 100 Years Between”. This is Art Exhibition and Installation – a mixed media presentation of visual art, books, displays and sculptural installation created by James M. Moran, writer and artist, Moran/Cartúr Eco Art Presentation.
Tuesday 23rd
From 2-4pm in “Hannon’s Field” beside Hannons Hotel, Roscommon Heritage Group host “Investigating the Crannog at Roscommon Town – what we found and how we did it”. This is a demonstration of some of the remote sensing tools used for researching the crannog. Come along and have a go yourself!
This event continues at 7pm in Hannons Hotel. Join Frank Scott and Kevin Barton who will present and discuss the results from the Heritage Council funded remote sensing survey of the Crannog at Loughnaneane.
At 7:30pm in Hannon’s Hotel (Note change of venue) there’s Archaeological Excavations and Surveys in Ranelagh Townland – a talk by Archaeologist Shane Delaney on recent archaeological research, just outside Roscommon town, as part of improvement works for the N61 route.
Wednesday 24th
At 3:30pm in Roscommon Library, Roscommon County Council host Folklore Recordings on Roscommon Media Archive 1916:2016 – a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Co. Roscommon Folklore and Oral History Network with a focus on interviews from the collection which identify personal insights in to the 1916 -1926 period.
Thursday 25th
From 2-6pm there are free Genealogy/Family History consultations with Eilish Feeley, Genealogist, Irish Clann Connections. On Thursday 25th at 18.30 in Roscommon Library there’s Aspects of Roscommon Town in 1916 – a talk on aspects of Roscommon Town in 1916 by Marion Harlow, Local Historian.
At 8pm in Hannons Hotel, Birdwatch in association with Birdwatch Ireland present Up with the Lark – an evening with Niall Hatch, looking at birds and their habitats from the perspective of 100 years ago in the county and today.
Friday 26th
At 8pm in Roscommon Arts Centre, the Suck Valley Angling Hub & Suck Valley Development Co-operative Society Ltd presents ‘Along by the River’ a documentary film. Discover the River Suck from Lough O’Flynn to Shannonbridge- its flora and fauna, rich biodiversity, heritage and culture & the communities that live along the river as they share stories and reveal secrets of this charming hidden Ireland.
Also on Friday at 8:30pm at Roscommon castle, Roscommon Tidy Towns host a Bat Talk. Explore Loughnaneane Park & Roscommon Castle with Ecologist David Fallon who will give a talk about bats and have a bat detector for people to use. See how many bats you can find!
You can find out more about Heritage Week and view a list of things to do in Roscommon (arranged by locality) here.