Friday 17 August 2012

Take three: Saturday events

There are hundreds of events on over this weekend, many of them focussing on Irish genealogy, history and heritage. Here's my Take Three selection.

Galway is known as the City of the Tribes
after the fourteen merchant families who
dominated the medieval town.
The Tribes of Galway, a talk with author Adrian Martyn about the origins of the famous fourteen Galwegian families – Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Deane, Darcy, Lynch, Joyce, Kirwan, Martin, Morris, Skerrett, Ffont and Ffrench – which dominated the social, cultural and economic life in medieval Galway. Cromwell's forces first applied the name "tribes" to the natives of the town as a term of derision, but it has since become a badge of honour.
Venue: Galway City Museum, Spanish Parade. Time: 3pm. Age 12+. Booking required. Tel: (091) 532 460. Email: museum@galwaycity.ie. Free.

Family History Workshop
, with highly-regarded genealogist Paul Gorry, a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland. In this first of two workshops, Paul will explain the scope and access of Irish genealogical records, focussing primarily on civil records, census returns and church records. Venue: County Library, Tallaght, Co Dublin. Time: 2-4.30pm. Free. Booking required on Tel: (01) 462 0073. Email: localstudies@sdublincoco.ie. Paul's second workshop is on the 25th and will cover land records, OSI maps, graveyard memorials and registers, newspapers and other miscellaneous sources.

Quakers in Waterford: Organised by Waterford Quakers, both the Meeting House and nearby Burial Ground will be open to visitors from 11am to 4pm. This is the first public opening of the burial ground and guided tours will take place there at 12noon and 3pm. Venue: Newtown Road, Newton, Waterford City. Free. Car parking available. Details: 086 3170544. Email: rogerjoan5@gmail.com.

For more events, check out the Heritage Week search facility.