SLIGO LAUNCH

IHTA, no. 24, Sligo by Fióna Gallagher and Marie-Louise Legg was launched in Sligo City Hall on 24 February 2012. Mr Jimmy Deenihan, TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht formally launched the atlas commending the authors and project team ‘for another major contribution to urban history in Ireland’. Councillor Rosaleen O’Grady, Mayor of Sligo remarked on the perfect sense of timing for the publication since the atlas launch marks the first in a series of local events planned to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the charter for Sligo town. RIA President Luke Drury thanked the people of Sligo for the exceptionally warm welcome stating ‘it is a real pleasure to see a community taking such justified pride in its heritage and the Academy is delighted to support this through the IHTA project’. The launch was hosted by Sligo Borough Council and Sligo County Council.

The day following the launch, author Fióna Gallagher guided a walking tour of Sligo, which started at City Hall (the site Sligo’s medieval castle) and took in the Dominican priory (Sligo Abbey) and St John’s Church.

IHTA, no. 24, Sligo can be purchased here.

Photos from the launch and the walking Tour

Carlingford Launch

Irish Historic Towns Atlas no. 23 Carlingford by Harold O’Sullivan and Raymond Gillespie was officially launched in Carlingford Heritage Centre by Eileen Battersby on Thursday 16 June 2011. Professor Raymond Gillespie conducted a detailed walking tour of the town commenting on Carlingford’s medieval features such as the Tholsel, Taafe’s Castle, King John’s Castle, the Holy Trinity Church and the Dominican Priory.

Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust hosted the launch of Carlingford by Eileen Battersby, Irish Times, that evening in the Heritage Centre. Tributes were made by Raymond Gillespie and Jim O’Callaghan to Harold O’Sullivan who sadly passed away in 2009.

Irish Historic Towns Atlas no. 23, Carlingford by Harold O’Sullivan and Raymond Gillespie can be purchased online here

IHTA Seminar and Launch 2011

On Friday 20 May the Irish Historic Towns Atlas held the third in their three part annual seminar entitled Maps and Texts, exploring the Irish Historic Towns Atlas where themes including religion, trades and services were examined and the towns of Mullingar, Athlone and Longford, as well as the cities of Derry~Londonderry were compared. It was a lively day of discussion where the possibilities of the atlas were debated. We were also honoured to have the members of the International Commission for the History of Towns present on the day. The President, Michel Pauly, and Vice-President, Ferdinand Opll gave presentations during the day. The seminar concluded with a look to the future by Keith Lilley (QUB) in his plenary paper where he discussed digitisation and the implications for historic towns atlases.

The programme for the seminar is available here.
A podcast to the seminar will be posted here shortly.

Following the seminar Marjatta Hielata of the International Commission for the History of Towns launched four of the latest IHTA publications: Irish Historic Towns Atlas no. 23 Carlingford by Harold O’Sullivan and Raymnond Gillespie; Reading the maps: a guide to the Irish Historic Towns Atlas, by Jacinta Prunty and H.B. Clarke; Limerick c. 840 to c. 1900: Viking longphort to Victorian city by Eamon O’Flahery and Jennifer Moore; and John Rocque’s Dublin: a guide to the Georgian city by Colm Lennon and John Montague.

All IHTA publications are available here

Rocque book launch

On Wednesday evening, 24th November 2010 architect Niall McCullough launched the latest aniciallary publication from the Irish Historic Towns Atlas – John Rocque’s Dublin: a guide to the Georgian city by Colm Lennon and John Montague, published by the Royal Irish Academy in association with Dublin City Council. The book was launched in beautiful space at the Wood Quay Venue that include part of Dublin’s Hiberno-Norse town wall.

For more information, or to purchase the book please click here

Longford launch

Irish Historic Towns Atlas no. 22 Longford by Sarah Gearty, Martin Morris and Fergus O’Ferrall was officially launched to great celebration in the town on Thursday 17 June 2010. Martin Morris guided a public walking tour of the town passed features such as the barracks, water mills, market houses and the cathedral.

Longford Town Council and the County Longford Historical Society co-hosted the launch in the Longford Branch Library where it was launched by Mayor Councillor Brendan Gilmore.

IHTA Seminar
Maps & Texts
Exploring the Irish Historic Towns Atlas

The second of three annual seminars aimed at exploring the workings of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas took place in Academy House on Friday 21 May 2010. A large crowd attended the day and listened to papers examining various themes from the atlas including health, entertainment and manufacturing. A broader comparison of Kildare and Tuam and also Dublin and Galway revealed many interesting similarities among urban centres in Ireland. The plenary paper by Tadhg O’Keeffe teased out ideas about how the atlas could go beyond topographical information.

The final seminar in this series will take place in Academy House on 22 May 2011.

The seminar was followed by the launch, by Geraldine Ruane CEO of Ordnance Survey Ireland, of the two latest atlases, Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 21 Limerick by Eamon O’Flaherty and no. 22 Longford by Sarah Gearty, Martin Morris and Fergus O’Ferrall.
More details and programme

Recent Publication: Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 21, Limerick, by Eamon O’Flaherty (2010).

Limerick examines the topographical development of its three urban centres, from Viking, to Anglo-Norman to Georgian, depicting the strategic importance of the city on the Shannon for military and trading purposes from the 9th century. Histories of over 4,000 sites are documented with a rich collection of maps and illustrations from the 16th to the 21st centuries.

Click here for news about the launch

Click here to buy online

Download a free Limerick poster (pdf format)

IHTA Seminar 2009

IHTA Seminar 2009 (Maps and Texts: Working with the Irish Historic Towns Atlas) and the launch of IHTA no. 19 Dublin, part II, 1610 to 1756 by Colm Lennon and IHTA no. 20 Tuam by J.A. Claffey took place May 22 2009 in Academy House. Report from event

IHTA seminar 2008

New thinking in researching the
urban past: setting the scene

One-day conference, Friday 23 May 2008

Under the auspices of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas project, this one-day conference aimed to bring atlas contributors together with practitioners and postgraduate students in various fields - urban history, archaeology, historical geography, planning and surveying - to look at new research issues in these fields.

The IHTA, which now runs to eighteen published fascicles, each with its maps, essay and gazetteer of topographical information, now on CD as well as in the traditional paper format, is widely recognised as a treasure house for those researching the urban past. This conference aimed to move beyond methodologies or approaches to using the atlas in teaching and research towards deeper and more searching matters. It aimed to stimulate new thinking and to point towards new lines of inquiry; what new research questions are now deserving of exploration? Where has the inherited, accepted story been overturned? What innovations in methodology has the atlas made possible? On what bases might comparative research be constructed?