Events
EVENTS
To be announced
PAST EVENTS
Custom House Visitors Centre & Dublin Docklands
Some 20 members enjoyed a visit on Saturday, 5th November 2022 to the Custom House Visitor Centre, courtesy of the Office of Public Works. This was followed by a guided tour of the Dublin Docklands area and Lunch at the Dublin Port Centre, courtesy of the Dublin Port management. Our guides for the day were IHAI Board members Audrey Farrell, Fred Hamond and Lar Joye.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2022
The 2022 IHAI Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday, 20th August 2022 at The Steam Museum, Straffan, Co.Kildare.
The Minutes of the meeting will be circulated to members in due course.
EXCURSION TO BALBRIGGAN 2002
An excursion to the harbour town of Balbriggan on Saturday 16th July 2022 attracted some twenty members. Amongst the sites visited were the Dublin & Drogheda Railway & Viaduct, the Smyth’s Hosiery Factory and Balbriggan Harbour and Lighthouse. Members of the Balbriggan & District Historical Society acted as
guides.
TOUR OF DUBLIN PORT BY BOAT 2021
At the invitation of Lar Joye, Dublin Port Heritage Officer, and an IHAI Board member, members enjoyed a one-hour conducted tour of Dublin Port on board the St Bridget, a Dublin Bay cruise ship, on the afternoon of Thursday, 18th November 2021
IHAI ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2021
The 2021 Annual General Meeting of the IHAI took place on Saturday 11th September 2021 at Fancroft Mill & Gardens near Roscrea, county Tipperary.
The nineteen members attending adopted the minutes of the 2020 AGM, listened to the annual report of the Board and the Treasurer’s report.
Mary-Liz McCarthy was elected President and chairperson of the Board for the period 2021-2024. The current Company Secretary, Ron Cox, and Treasurer, Tim Odlum, were re-elected, as was Dermot O’Dwyer as Vice-President.. The outgoing President, Paul McMahon, was declared an ex-officio member of the incoming Board and the remaining outgoing Board members were re-elected. The annual accounts were presented and adopted and the accountants retained for a further year.. Membership fees remain unchanged for the year 2022. Paul McMahon was thanked for his years of service as President, as was the Company Secretary and Membership Secretary, Ron Cox. The report of the Board follows.
IHAI Board of Directors Report 2020-2021. This report is for the period from June 2020 to August 2021.
The 2020 AGM was held online by circulating all documents by email (and by mail for those without broadband). As no member was against the proposals set out in the documents, all proposals were adopted nem con. The Board was convened on eight occasions during the year, all of which were conducted via Zoom due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. The advice of the IHAI was sought during the session on a number of heritage, conservation and archival matters. The Board’s consistent advice has been that sites under threat should be subject to a structural survey and photographic record prior to any intervention being considered.
Membership has continued to decrease, due to deaths, retirements, and non-renewals. Membership currently stands at 5 Corporate, 3 Heritage, 40 individual members, 45 concessionary members, 2 honorary life members, and one honorary member, a total of 96. Invitations to renew membership were sent out early in the current calendar year and those who were members in 2020 and have not yet renewed their membership for 2021 have been invited to do so as soon as possible. It is now imperative that a membership campaign be instigated in order to improve our membership base, especially aimed at younger persons having an interest in industrial heritage, either personally, or through their employment.
The IHAI continues to maintain international links through its Corporate Membership of TICCIH (The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage), through individual membership of ICOMOS (the International Committee of Monuments and Sites) and by our Associate Membership of the AIA (Association for Industrial Archaeology). The IHAI is also a member of the Federation of Local History Societies (FLHS). The FLHS provides insurance cover for IHAI members and their guests whilst taking part in site visits and other events organised by the IHAI under a discounted Group Insurance Scheme with O’Connor Insurances.
Following last year’s AGM the Board introduced a bi-monthly Bulletin, primarily to keep in touch with the membership during the lengthy pandemic. It was not found possible to organise any field trips during this period. It is planned to issue a special 25th anniversary edition of the Newsletter in the near future.
The IHAI is a company limited by guarantee and its Annual Return for 2020, accompanied by a set of Accounts, was made to the Company Registry Office on the due date in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Acts. The IHAI is also a registered charity and an annual report to the Charitable Commissioners was completed online in December 2020, as was an extensive Governance Compliance Form.
Finally, I would like on behalf of the Board members, to offer our sincere thanks to our outgoing President and Chairman, Paul McMahon, for his commitment and efforts during the past three years
IHAI ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020
The business of the AGM was completed on 13th June 2020. Board members for 2020-2021 listed elsewhere on the website..
A Board meeting was held on 16th June using Zoom. Future events are being planned in the context of the government restrictions.
Wishing all our members a safe passage through the present COVID-19 crisis.
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AWARDS 2019
Offaly’s Fancroft Mill wins out at prestigious Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland Awards 2019
- Other winners include Limerick team for restoration of the ‘Ilen’ 1920s boat and Cork author Kieran McCarthy for his book on Cork Harbour
- ESB’s Archive and Heritage Manager and Dublin native Brendan Delany honoured with lifetime achievement award
- Awards took place in ESB’s new Archive building last night (11 December)
Fancroft Mill and Gardens in South Offaly has won the Norman Campion Award Best Museum/Industrial Heritage Site at the prestigious Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland (IHAI) Awards 2019.
The award recognises the professional and sympathetic restoration work of this significant historical site from dereliction, located on the Little Brosna river 4km north of Roscrea, that was first started by Marcus and Irene Sweeney in 2006. The award is named in honour of Offaly native and miller Norman Campion, a founding member of the IHAI, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Other awards went to a team in Limerick, led by Gary MacMahon, for rebuilding the The Ilen, a 1920s 50ft timber- and Baltimore- built ketch, which was deployed around the Falklands in the South Atlantic for 70 years. Much of the reconstruction of what is the last of Ireland’s traditional wooden built shops has been by volunteers in Limerick and Baltimore, with the help of professional boat builders.
Another maritime-flavoured project also received an award. Kieran McCarthy author of The Little Book of Cork Harbour won the Mary Mulvihill Media Award of Best Publication.
Rounding off the award winners on the evening, fittingly hosted at ESB’s new archive building in Finglas is Brendan Delany, ESB Archives & Heritage Manager for a life-long and central role in development of ESB’s archive into a digital, interactive resources for all to cherish.
Nicholas Tarrant, ESB Executive Director Engineering and Major Projects hosted the evening. Welcoming guests and congratulating the award winners, he says:
“The Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland was created by people of vision and commitment and the fruits of earlier efforts have served to create a notable increase in awareness of our rich industrial past. The Association recognises that we should not only have a sense of shared ownership for our past, but it is something we strive to safeguard and celebrate. It is also ESB’s pleasure to host the awards in our new Archive. A landmark development for ESB, it represents a tangible delivery to both celebrate and safeguard our history and heritage which forms part of the story of the industrial, commercial and social development of Ireland.”
Paul McMahon President of IHAI adds: “IHAI are delighted with the continued and invaluable sponsorship of these Awards from ESB which seek to give recognition to individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to promoting and safeguarding industrial heritage on an all-Ireland basis. It is important that we both recognise and celebrate achievement. We also wish to congratulate ESB on the development of their new Archive as it will be a wonderful resource for all those interested in the social development of this country and more particularly those interested in industrial history.”
The recipients of the Awards were:
Norman Campion Award Best Museum/Industrial Heritage Site: Fancroft Mill.
Fancroft Mill & Gardens are located about 4 km North of the town of Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. An extensive conservation project, commenced in 2006 by Marcus & Irene Sweeney, has resulted in the rescue from dereliction of this mill complex which is of noted industrial heritage importance. A set of new mill stones were installed in 2010. Milling capability is now restored for domestic purposes. A recently installed generator contributes to the household heating system. All of the buildings at Fancroft are included on the Offaly County Council list of Protected Structures. The restored mill is a handsome, even beautiful, structure with the stone work now cleaned, conserved and repaired, 90 new sash windows installed, the four-storey bay reroofed and graceful ogee details over the doors sensitively enhanced.
The interior work, less obvious, is equally fascinating. The restoration work carried out has been done professionally and sympathetically and has not only created a very fine visitor amenity, but it has preserved and safeguarded a very significant industrial site in County Offaly.
Special Recognition Award: Restoration of the “Ilen”.
Ak Ilen Company was set up in 2005 with a mission to ensure that anyone who can handle a sail or a shipwright’s maul, or who wishes to learn or would prefer to let others do so. The organisation is both a school and a network, based in Limerick with a national and international theatre of operations. Their goal is to rebuild the cultural interface between Limerick and its surroundings, realising the munificence of our natural and built marine inheritance.
The Ilen is a 50ft. timber-built ketch, weighing 45 tonnes’ which was originally built in Baltimore for Conor O’Brien. O’Brien sailed around the world 1924/25 and when he stopped in the Falklands en route, the islanders admired his boat, the Saoirse, and asked if he could design and build a bigger and better one for them. When he returned to Cork he designed and built with the Baltimore Fishery School the ketch, Ilen, named after a local river. The price was £1,500 including delivery. He delivered the Ilen in January 1927 to Port Stanley with the help of two Claire island boatmen, named Con and Denis Cadogan.
After seventy years of inter-island trading work it was bought back by a group of Limerick people, led by Gary McMahon and returned to Baltimore in 1998. During the past twenty years it has been beautifully restored in the Hegarty Boatyard near Baltimore and in the Ilen boat building school in Limerick. Much of the reconstruction has been by volunteers in Limerick and Baltimore with the help of professional boat builders. The Ilen is currently back in Kinsale where it is to be based for sail training and helping people sail back into wellness.
This restoration project is a celebration of the heritage of wooden boat building of Limerick and West Cork alongside the history of the fishing industry of late 19th and early 20th Cork coastline.
Mary Mulvihill Media Award Best Publication: The Little Book of Cork Harbour Author Kieran McCarthy (Publisher: The History Press UK 2019)
This book presents a myriad of stories within the second largest natural harbour in the world. This is book number 22 for Kieran and it follows on from a series of Kieran’s publications on the River Lee Valley, Cork City and complements his Little Book of Cork (History Press, Ireland, 2015). It is not meant to be a full history of the harbour region but does attempt to bring some of the multitudes of historical threads under one publication. However, each thread is connected to other narratives and each thread here is recorded to perhaps bring about future research on a site, person or the heritage of the wider harbour.
Kieran McCarthy is a born and bred Cork City man. He has devoted his working life to promoting the past, present and future of Cork and its environs. He was elected to Cork City Council in June 2009, May 2014 and May 2019 as an Independent City Councilor. In January 2015, Kieran was appointed by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to be an Irish member on the European Committee of the Regions (an opinion body of local authorities and regional assemblies) to the European Parliament. Kieran’s extensive list of publications have been meticulously well researched and well presented and have made a very significant contribution to providing a better understanding of Cork’s industrial past and history.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Brendan Delany
Brendan has had a life-long interest in history and heritage. In his role as ESB Archives & Heritage Manager he has responsibility for the development and management of ESB’s Archive & Heritage facilities and for the delivery of the related services. He has played a very central role in the development of ESB’s Multi-Media Archive Collection. The collection now comprises over 11,000 archival boxes of documentation, over 15,000, photographs, 46,000 digital images, 6,000 VHS/DVD’s, 1,000 cine reels and over 2,000 oral interviews. It is not only the volume but the quality of the archival material that makes this a collection of national importance.
Brendan has been a member of the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland for many years. He was IHAI’s Newsletter Editor from 2012 to 2015 and has been a member on the Executive Board from 2004 to the present. He has also completed a term as President from 2012 – 2015. Brendan is regarded by his peers in IHAI as a person “who likes to get things done”. He has provided advice on many aspects of industrial history and heritage, is generous in sharing his knowledge, expertise and experience.
]Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland Awards for 2018 were held on the 26th February 2019 – a summary and award recipients details can be read by clicking here.
Details of other past events may be found in the various issues of the Newsletter.