14/05/2013
I think this Gathering is going to be a highlight of Louth's Gathering events.Well done Old Drogheda Society
A GATHERING EVENT
DROGHEDA FENIANS RETURN
JULY 4TH – JULY 14TH 2013
“The Fenians” was the popular name for a mass political movement called The Fenian Brotherhood or The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) which flourished in Ireland and among the Irish in America and Britain in the second half of the 19th century. It was a radical movement which aimed at an independent Ireland with votes for all and a nationalisation of agricultural land. Its widespread support came mainly from working people, craftsmen, small manufacturers, peasant farmers and radical intellectuals and artists. Since it advocated complete separation of Church and State its membership included both Protestant and Catholic. In Drogheda they included some of the brightest and the best of the population and the fact that many of them had to leave after 1867 was a great loss to the life of the town.
After the abortive 1867 Fenian Rising most of the Drogheda Fenians had to flee the country and subsequently many of them played prominent roles in the lives of their adopted countries – mainly the U.S.A, Canada, Australia and Britain. Over the years descendants of these exiles have contacted the Drogheda Museum as they trace their genealogies and, mainly through the labours of our Community Historian Brendan Matthews, we have been able to piece together the dramatic stories of their ancestors. We are inviting the descendants of the Drogheda Fenians, their extended families and friends and indeed, anybody who is interested, to a series of events in Drogheda from Thurs 4th to Sunday the 14th of July 2013.
PROGRAMME
Thurs July 4th – 6.30pm – Drogheda Museum Millmount – Launch of new exhibition
WHO WERE THE DROGHEDA FENIANS? – a social history of the
Drogheda Fenians and their times.
Sun July 7th – 3pm – THE COL. LEONARD TRAIL – Monknewtown Cemetery – poetry, music and banners – assemble car park of Tourists Rest Pub, Rossin, on the main Drogheda to Slane Road (“Dolly Mitchell’s”)
Col. Patrick Leonard from Tullyallen was a major Fenian leader on both sides of the Atlantic and after his death in 1873 an annual commemoration attracted crowds of many thousands from all over Ireland and Britain to his memorial in Monknewtown cemetery. The Col. Leonard Fife and Drum Band was set up in his memory and this later became the Drogheda Brass and Reed Band.
Mon July 8th - 1pm – The Tholsel Lunchtime Presentations –
IN THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP: JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY, CANOEIST
AND SPORTS ENTHUSIAST –
Introduction to the week by Seán Corcoran, Chairperson Old Drogheda Society and a Director of Drogheda Museum – contributions from Claidhbh Ó Gibne, Boyne Currach supremo; also Silver Bridge Kayak Club and Drogheda Boxing Club.
John Boyle O’Reilly was not only a radical intellectual and poet; he was also an international figure in the history of the social development of sport, particularly canoeing and boxing. His accounts of canoeing trips, especially his expedition to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, are regarded as classics.
Tues July 9th - 1pm – The Tholsel Lunchtime Presentations -
THE FENIANS AND PHOTOGRAPHY - speaker Liam Kelly author of Photographs and Photography in Irish Local History (2008) including contribution from Drogheda Photographic Club using period equipment
Tues July 9th - 7pm - FENIAN TOWN WALK with community historian BRENDAN MATTHEWS: assemble outside Westcourt Hotel – 1 hour duration
Wed July 10th - 1pm – The Tholsel Lunchtime Presentations – Professor JULIANA FLINN, great-grand-daughter of THOMAS FLINN of Duke Street, who was the leader of the Drogheda Fenians in 1867, tells of his adventures after he fled from Drogheda and became a prominent engineer and inventor in the USA.
Wed July 10th - 8pm – Governor’s House, Millmount – Old Drogheda Society Lecture –
NEW LIGHT ON THE DROGHEDA FENIANS by BRENDAN MATTHEWS community historian
Thurs July 11th - 1pm – The Tholsel Lunchtime Presentations – THE RADICAL POLITICAL THOUGHT OF JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY - by Ian Kenneally author of From the Earth a Cry the definitive biography of JBOR
Thurs July 11th – 8pm – Westcourt Hotel – THE DROGHEDA FENIANS RETURN – OFFICIAL WELCOME – The descendants of the Drogheda Fenians are welcomed home by the Mayor of Drogheda, The Old Drogheda Society and local MEPs and TDs with music, song and dance.
Fri July 12th - 1pm – The Tholsel Lunchtime Presentations – ARTISTS’ DEPICTION OF IRISH NEWS IN THE ILLUSTRATED PRESS OF THE 19th CENTURY – by PETER MURRAY, leading international art historian and Director of the Crawford Gallery, Cork.
Sat July 13th – 9.30am to 5pm – Tholsel - “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” DAY – Genealogy advice day – come along and learn how to trace your ancestry.
Sun July 14th – 2pm to 5pm – Millmount Cultural Quarter – THE GATHERING FESTIVAL – fun filled day for all the family with music, song and dance; cannons firing, re-enactors, crafts, foods, traditional games and Museum and Tower free.
For further information contact Liam Reilly at Drogheda Museum 041 9833097
or email [email protected]
www.droghedamuseum.ie
Drogheda Museum Millmount and Martello Tower are located on the great fort that towers over the town of Drogheda, County Louth, on an ancient hill overlooking the historic river Boyne. It is the gateway to the Boyne Valley, an area rich in heritage dating back over 9,000 years, while the town itself...
