Journal IV Launch

A large crowd gathered at the Christian Fellowship Church in Bantry last Monday night for the launch of our latest journal.

Representatives from Skibbereen Historical Society, from Beara Historical Society and from Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage were present. Our Journal was officially launched by the Mayor of County of Cork, Cllr. Danny Collins M.C.C. who praised the publication for its diverse range of subjects and the very high standard of research that was evident in each article.  This new volume contains many articles relating specifically to the local area of Bantry, while some are of national interest but also have components pertinent to Bantry.

Angela O’Donovan, in her opening remarks, said it was a great night for the society as it launched Volume IV of its journal. And she went on to say it was also a great night for the greater Bantry area as this new volume contained 18 expertly-researched and written articles on a diverse range of subjects relating to the local history of the greater Bantry area. She praised all the contributors to the new volume, who had given so generously of their time and their expertise in their respective subjects, in writing these articles for the journal.  She went on to say that such people who write for journals and edit journals, and give talks to the society are the life blood of the society. 

And Bantry Historical & Archaeological Society is truly indebted to those people, many of whom were present for the event. She outlined the original aims of the Society which are to research, make known and preserve the local history, folklore, culture and heritage of the local area.  She went on to remind the audience that the various talks organised by the Society and the production of journals were fulfilling that remit. 

“We are truly indebted to the contributors of these articles for supplying such lovely reading material, while revealing such inspiring history of this locality.”

Angela O’Donovan

The Mayor was high in his praise of the Society for all the great work it has done over the past 44 years in promoting local history and highlighting several areas of historical interest in the locality. He praised Angela O’Donovan, who had been Cathaoirleach, and earlier worked as Hon Secretary of the Society.  She had initiated and carried out this project of creating a new journal for the Society.  She had sourced 18 eminent speakers, many of whom had earlier come to Bantry and delivered brilliant lectures to the members of the Bantry-based Society.  Now, those speakers had agreed with Angela to write an article for this new journal.  The Mayor described Angela O’Donovan as a remarkable woman. She has a huge knowledge of local history, he said, and has worked tirelessly on it for several years and he recalled how he had encountered her several years ago when he was able to guide her regarding funding for a project she was undertaking at that time. 

The editor of the new journal is Colum Cronin of Coppeen, who was described by Angela as “the busiest man in West Cork”.  Being Chairman of the Coppeen Historical, Archaeological and Cultural Society, he is heavily involved in his local parish and other community events in his area. He has researched and written much about local history and he has edited a number of Journals for the Coppeen society.  He has mapped the Kinneagh graveyard, he made a film on the Kilmichael Ambush and gives talks on that subject.  He has restored old historical sites – truly a community man at heart. Colum spoke about each contributor to the journal and gave a very brief, though highly interesting, synopsis of their respective topics. He was high in his praise of the quality of the material in the new journal and the diversity of subject matter, thus giving the reader a great mix of educational and enjoyable subjects to savour. Angela O’Donovan said Colum Cronin was the saviour who rescued this project and made this journal into the beautiful book that it now is. He didn’t just deal with editing, but he also enhanced several photos that are used throughout the journal, and then he created a beautiful collage of images from the journal and overlaid that with excerpts from the various articles in the journal. All that is on the back cover, while the front cover has an aerial photo of Bantry, taken in 2002 by Colum Cronin.

The new journal is dedicated to the memory of the founding members of the society who took a great leap of faith in setting up BHAS in 1978, and to those dedicated followers who continued to work tirelessly and selflessly for the betterment of the Society.

“They left us a great base from which to continue the aims of the society to research, make known and preserve the history, culture and heritage of the greater Bantry area. We have a splendid collection of diverse topics in this issue” Angela said “and I confidently commend it to our readers.  Enjoy the read.”

Conor Nelligan, Heritage & Biodiversity Officer with Cork County Council spoke briefly about his long association with Angela O’Donovan, through her involvement in heritage and local history. He recalled the many projects that she was involved in under the Creative Ireland funding scheme and the huge work done for the centenary of 1916 in Bantry.  He pointed out how Bantry was always to the forefront in undertaking projects e.g. Culture & Creativity of Bantry, Project on The Four Valleys of Bantry, Bantry Through the Ages, and providing this website. He also commended the commemoration booklet published by the society in 2016 “Bantry Remembers 1916 to 1921” which has proved very popular ever since, with a number of reprints.

Larry Breen, Hon Secretary of the Federation of Local History Societies, spoke briefly and he encouraged local history societies to publish more material on the local history of their own areas. He himself had written an article for the new journal about Matilda Tone, wife of Wolfe Tone who entered Bantry Bay in 1796. He said Angela O’Donovan reminded him of Matilda Tone!

The event concluded with a complimentary cuppa and seasonal refreshments kindly supplied by Jim O’Keeffe and his team at SuperValu Bantry. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with friends and fellow historians. 

The Journal is for sale at Bantry Bookshop and SuperValu Bantry for €15 (a real bargain)! Find out more here.