Uisneach: The Hearth of Ireland to show at The Big Dig

As National Heritage Week quickly approaches, Westmeath is set to host almost 70 events that aim to display the heritage of areas all over the county.

One event in particular, The Big Dig at the Hill of Uisneach will feature a very special screening. Uisneach: The Hearth of Ireland, an animated short which tells the story of the first excavation of Uisneach in 1925.

Peter Symonds along with his business partner Anna Dottle have been working tirelessly on producing the piece , with Peter as the writer and director, and Anna as the animator.

The film premiered in Drogheda on Saturday, August 8.

Both Peter and Anna are particularly suited to the task as the two are qualified archaeologists.

“We answered the call from Westmeath, the Department of Culture and Heritage at Westmeath County Council following their announcement of a Centenery Award last year,” recalled Peter.

“It had to be something that happened 100 years ago in Westmeath and they had some suggestions themselves.”

The excavation of Uisneach was featured on the list of suggestions.

“We are both archaeologists, I’m a screenwriter and she’s an animator so we saw that there was an archaeological dig at Uisneach.

“We thought, oh this is amazing we should definitely pitch for this because it’s part funded by the National Talent Academy of Animation as well.”

Ahead of submitting their project Peter and Anna did their research on Uisneach and its history, they then applied to produce an animation.

Their project was chosen and then the work began.

They kicked off the project by meeting Melanie McQuaid, Heritage Officer for Westmeath County Council, and Laura McCormack, acting Arts Officer and Ruth Illingworth for a tour of the Hill.

Following this, the two got to work on research, and of course the animation itself, and developing the short that would tell the story of the first archaeological excavation of the Free State.

“Two eminent academics, R.A. McAllister, who was an archaeologist who’d been working in Palestine, he was back in Ireland and Robert Lloyd Praeger who was a naturalist, he was the first official Librarian of the Free State.

“These two guys set foot on the Hill of Uisneach and began their work in 1925.

“That was the place they were interested in because of its wealth of myth and history that had been taking place there.”

The dig continued on for many years, “as many archaeological digs do,” said Peter.

“We tried to condense the stuff that happened into one meaningful five minute animation, along with an idea of how what they found there could have tied in with the local folklore and well known written myth.

“Half of the animation is the guys doing some digging, half of the animation is an imagination of theirs of how things that they discovered could have been deposited there 1500 years ago.”

During their research they discovered that the two archaeologists had proven a myth to be true in their excavation all those years ago.

“There was a large layer of charcoal they found.

“The reason it was so interesting is that it supported the myth of a fire burning there for seven years.

“It was said that the fire was passed around the chieftains of Ireland , it’s mentioned in the myths.”

As said before, the film will have its Westmeath debut during Heritage Week but for those who can’t make it, the two are hoping to show the film on Culture Night in September.

It will be a busy year for the two filmmakers who are set to go down to the Clare Island Film Festival where their movie has been accepted.

Tickets for The Big Dig are available now on the Hill of Uisneach website. While it does require booking it is a free event.

As well as promoting the history of Uisneach, Peter also hopes that the film will encourage more like it, more artists and more filmmakers across the country seek the support of their local authorities.

“We hope that this will just be the first of many potential opportunities, not just for us but for other writers and animators across the country to get their foot in the door with a small amount of funding to be able to produce something about their local area.”