Historical society to host spring lecture series online

Following the success of its autumn lecture series on ‘Doing Local History’, Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society are hosting a second spring series on Zoom starting on February 3 next and continuing for the two subsequent Wednesdays at 8pm each evening.

The initial lecture on February 3 will be delivered by Professor Eunan O’Halpin of Trinity College, Dublin. Prof O’Halpin has just published, with Dr Daithí Ó Corráin of DCU, the widely acclaimed ‘The Dead of the Irish Revolution’, which is the first comprehensive account to record and analyse all deaths arising from the Irish Revolution.

The book is a must read for anyone interested in this defining moment in our history and Prof O’Halpin will look at the major events which occurred in the midlands during this struggle.

The second lecture, on February 10, will be given by French historian Dr Amelia Dochy, whose PhD is on the famous Scottish painter Erskine Nicol, who spent considerable time in Westmeath during the 1860s.

He completed some famous depictions of people and places here during this disturbed period when the infamous Westmeath Act was passed to suppress outrages linked to agrarian unrest. Nicol had an artist’s studio at Clonave Island in Lough Derravaragh.

Our final speaker in this series is archaeologist Colm Flynn, who excavated a Bronze Age burial chamber during works on realigning the N52 at Tevrin, close to Delvin. The excavations on the Cist grave took place in August 2019 and reveal clues about life in this area during the Bronze Age.

All of the lectures will be hosted on the Zoom platform and the link will be available on the society’s website, at whahs.ie. All lectures are free to view, and all are most welcome.