Mapping Memories project ‘a valuable historical source’

The “beautiful art work” celebrated at the Atrium last Tuesday evening is as significant for the community of Taghmon Turin as the Bayeux Tapestry is to the UK, historian Seamus O’Brien declared when he launched it. Seamus noted that the older tapestry depicts the defeat of the Anglo Saxons at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, he told the gathering it is the most famous tapestry in the world, and it has been consulted by historians in the centuries since its completion.

Moving to the local tapestry, ‘Mapping Memories, a community arts project by Taughmon Turin Women’s Group in collaboration with Claire Delabre and Ursula Meehan’ (to give it its full title), Seamus said it is unique and significant in several respects. “Their collective aim was to create an artwork reflective of their lived experience and memories of their sense of place in the parish of Taughmon Turin over several decades. It is only fair to observe that the women live in what is widely regarded as one of the most picturesque areas in the midlands.

“The women meeting at the Clonkill Community Centre every Tuesday over several months have done justice to the exceptional material at their disposal.”

An experienced historian, Seamus said the traditional approach to doing a local study is to seek primary sources, consult notable locals, analyse everything collected and publish the monograph. “That is exactly what a previous women’s group successfully completed 15 years ago – richly illustrated, accurately referenced, personal reminiscences and interesting primary sources like the Famine letters sent back to the Mountain Parish by Matthew Gaynor.

“That was in 2011; now in 2025/26 they asked themselves more challenging questions – what was life like for women living here over the last half century, where is memory embedded in the landscape, what changes had taken place, how had those changes affected the landscape and, most importantly, how can we share all that with our local community.”

He said the result of those deliberations is “this magnificent artwork, which is tactile, three dimensional, invitational, engaging, and is now a significant historical artefact in its own right which will be studied and displayed for many years to come”.

The work is called Mapping Memories and part of its foundational framework is the 1837 OS map of this district. “Those maps are arguably the most important sources for modern Irish history the first comprehensive survey of the country, first in the world - pre-Famine, houses, forges bleach greens, townland boundaries, public houses, farming practices, individual trees, schools, placenames – Irish names, Clonkill, Loughegar, English names, Macetown, Cooksborough, Crazy Corner, Pass if You Can.

“The second part of the title is memories, which acknowledges the contribution of folklore to our understanding of communities and landscapes. When we stand back to explore this artwork, we can look at it in two ways – bird’s eye view and through the lens of the microscope.”

He said the memories include Ellie Muldoon recounting fishing in Lough Derravaragh, Mairead Boyhan walking through the Clonlost Demesne, Geraldine Cleary drawing water from the parish pump, Paula Sheridan walking in Donore Woods with her son’s dog Taco, Brigid Mayes on skyscapes and landscapes, Eithne Scally on Crazy Corner, a day on the Bog by Betty Coleman, Rosa Monleon, 45 years in Ireland and discovers paradise in this parish, Clare Dunne on a favoured walk at the back of the farm, and Bridie Scally recalling happy memories in Scally’s Forge in Farnalore.

“This Taghmon Turin Tapestry, created by the Women’s Group in Clonkill Community Centre under the guidance of Claire Delabre and Ursula Meehan, is now a recognised exemplar of best practice in the Creative Westmeath portfolio. It is unique in being created entirely by women living in the parish and is now a valuable historical source in its own right.

“The artwork is visually compelling, tactile, multi-layered and aurally accessible. The memories have been recorded. The parish has been re-imagined, and recreated through the female eye and it never looked better.

“The tapestry we launch here this evening speaks of the love and care and sense of place the women have for their native parish. They can be justly proud of their creative contribution.”

Taughmon Turin tapestry takes visitors down memory lane

Síofra Grant

The Atrium of Mullingar Library is taking visitors on a trip down memory lane this month as the ‘Mapping Memories’ tapestry is on display.

The tapestry depicts the parish of Taughmon Turin, based on townland boundaries mapped by the Ordinance Survey in 1837.

Each part of the map has a memory attached from one of the 10 members of Taughmon Turin Women’s Group.

Claire Delabre, a designer and one of the organisers of the project, was delighted with the turnout at the launch. “I think there were about 80 people,” said Claire, “so that was a and there is a lot of interest in the project.”

The project is about the importance of memories and how they are intertwined with places. “We all have memories, this is the opportunity to speak them. This idea that we should maybe look at different things and you know releasing a memory within the landscape, so that’s how it really started.”

Claire pitched the idea to the women’s group, and got a good reaction. And having teamed up with Ursula Meehan, another Westmeath based artist, she applied for funding.

“They were really enthusiastic with the idea, although I suppose initially the concept for them was a bit vague.

“I had an idea and I had a vision of what it could look like.”

Each of the women have contributed a memory associated with a spot on the map.

“I told them maybe to think about a memory that they would like to tapestry and it had to be connected with the landscape.”

The team did a lot of research on textile pieces throughout the world, how different artists approach tapestry and textiles as a medium prior to beginning their own work.

“Once they had their memory, they either had to have photographs of the memory or the place. Then they started to understand what it was about and what it looked like, and we also had different skills and loads of materials.

“We wanted to guide them if they were not sure, so we could take that and put it here, this picture there or a picture of this place.

“So it was a great project to work with.”

The map of the parish comes from an 1837 Ordinance Survey, which drew out the townlands boundaries and depicts details of the area at the time.

The map also shows an image of the 1965 greater Mullingar area map. Copies of those maps are displayed in the Atrium.

Claire points out that those qualities are represented in their tapestry, the bogs and Crannogs of the area.

Lough Derravaragh can be seen in the top left corner – one of the women who was working on the project had a memory of going fishing there, and a picture of the memory can be seen just beside the painted lake.

Each of the memories is attached to an embroidery hoop with the image of the memory attached to the place depicted in various textiles. Beside them there are QR codes that link to the story.

The project was a new experience for many of the women taking part.

“Some of them had never painted anything,” Claire said, “so there’s a lot of different techniques. They used paint, felting and weaving.

“There was a workshop about weaving if they wanted to explore that as well. There was embroidery as you can see, there was hand drawing so there were a lot of different techniques that they learned and shared.

“Some of them were saying, oh no I’ll show you how to do this.”

This was something that clearly touched Claire, the sharing of knowledge and skills learned throughout their lives, it fits in well with the theme of memory.

“It was lovely in that sense that we all learned something from it as well and there was this strong sense of sharing and sharing knowledge.

The map triggered memories in the guests at the event as well, who, according to Claire, were reliving their own moments while looking at the tapestry.

“There were a lot of people from the community of Taughmon Turin,” said Claire.

Overall, the reaction to the tapestry and the memories quite literally interwoven into the townland was incredibly positive.

For those who have not yet seen the ‘Mapping Memories’ piece there is still time as the exhibition continues until February 26.