Iarmhí journal the definitive memory-keeper for county

More than 150 people braved a miserable night and packed into the ballroom of the Greville Arms Hotel, Mullingar, last Wednesday for the launch of the fifth edition of Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society’s journal, Iarmhí.

The launch, performed by historian and former Westmeath Examiner journalist Dr Paul Hughes, was followed by a lecture on the history of the land struggle in Ireland, delivered by broadcaster, historian and host of RTÉ’s The History Show, Myles Dungan.

Launching the volume, Dr Hughes described Iarmhí as “the definitive memory-keeper for the county” and the latest edition as a “multidisciplinary tour de force” dealing with themes as varied as archaeology, cartography, folklore, the built environment, agrarianism and the local gentry, law and order, cultural and business history.

In more than two dozen high-quality contributions, the lavishly illustrated journal covers a wide geographical spread of the county and peeps over the local, and indeed national, parapets to discover Westmeath’s transnational links to the United States, Canada, India, Russia, Argentina and even the remote south Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha.

“At the launch of last year’s edition,” Dr Hughes told the gathering, “Bishop Paul Connell described Iarmhí as ‘local history done well’ and I can assure all those who leave here with a copy tonight that the 2026 edition is no exception.”

Seamus O’Brien, editor of Iarmhí since its inception, was introduced by Myles Cosgrave, chairman of the society, and thanked the contributors on realising a fourth edition in as many consecutive years; the first one, of course, was published all the way back in 2017. Seamus thanked Westmeath County Council heritage officer Melanie McQuade, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and Linda O’Halloran from Temple Printers for their support.

For the record, the contributors to the 2026 edition are: Paul Gosling, Clare Tuffy, Caimin O’Brien, Michael Stanley, Mary B Timoney, Jonathan Raleigh, Eugene Dunne, Donal O’Brien, Ruth Illingworth, Andrew Hughes, Ursula Kane Cafferty, Patrick Costello, Jason McKevitt, Adrian Lee, Sean Byrne, Rob Delaney, Edward Walsh, Peter Wallace, Anne Byrne, Gearóid O’Brien, Sean Murray, Martin A Timoney, Kevin Nugent, Pat O’Connor and Mary Kenny.

Land struggle

Following the launch, guest speaker Myles Dungan, author of the recent book Land Is All That Matters, treated the large audience to a broad survey of the history of the land struggle in Ireland, going right back to the 17th century and finishing up with the distribution of land in the Irish Free State.

In his engaging and light-hearted talk, Myles referred to the “boy band era” in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, explaining the history of violent agrarian groups such as the Whiteboys, the Steelboys and the Peep O’Day Boys.

As the 19th century wore on and some landlords became amenable to a settlement for the landless or land poor, others like the Marquess of Clanricarde were much more intransigent and unkind to their tenants.

In categorising those landlords, Myles humorously spoke of his “graduated landlord malignancy scale (GLMS)”.

“This is basically a simple, standardised, 10-point yardstick for measuring how much of a bastard members of the landlord class were,” he said. “If you were really nice, you were zero. The Parnells of Avondale, for example, would have been a two or a three.

“However, somebody like the Marquess of Clanricarde, who was in Galway, was an absentee, congenital miser and serial evictor. I don’t know if you are familiar with the film This Is Spinal Tap but, in the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel, ‘He goes all the way to 11’.”

As Myles concluded his lecture, before a lively question-and-answer session, the audience was keen to hear more about the local aspect of the land struggle, and he dealt not only with the 1906-9 ranch war led by Laurence Ginnell, but also the Protection of Life and Property in Certain Parts of Ireland Act, passed in Westminster in 1871 and more commonly known as the ‘Westmeath’ Act.

Copies of Iarmhí are available in local bookshops at €20 each and would make a worthwhile Christmas gift.

Christy Maye remembered as ‘best people’s man I ever met’

It was noted, poignantly, that this was the first launch of an edition of Iarmhí since the death last summer of the proprietor of the Greville Arms, Christy Maye.

Christy, a strong supporter of the society, had an active interest in the promotion of heritage, and hosted most of the society’s key events in his Pearse Street hotel over the years. One of his dear friends, Conor Maguire, paid an eloquent tribute to Christy on the night.

With Christy, Conor was a member of an informal coffee and discussion group that frequently met in the Greville for “banter and the craic” and chat about history, culture and “local, national and international problems”.

“We never solved any of them of course, but we had a go at them anyway,” Conor said. “Christy was a major contributor to it and we certainly miss him from the group.”

Conor spoke at length about Christy’s reputation as a businessman and creator of employment, as a hotelier, disco pioneer and a lover of history, art and travel. Christy loved farming and horse racing, Conor added, and was involved in the committee behind the construction of St Paul’s Church in Mullingar.

“He has left a great legacy of entrepreneurship and from his huge interest in heritage and history.

Most of all, I would say he was the best people’s man I ever met,” Conor concluded.

Members of the Maye family were present at the launch and on behalf of the society, Anna May Monahan presented Christy’s widow Ellen with a bouquet of flowers to mark her birthday.