Mayo celebrates Heritage Week 2023 with a host of diverse events around the county

National Heritage Week 2023 starts this Saturday, August 12, and runs until Sunday, August 20. The much-loved annual event, which first began back in 2005, is a countrywide celebration of Ireland’s natural, built and cultural heritage. This year’s theme, ‘Living Heritage’, is an open invitation for everyone to explore the traditions and practices, knowledge and skills that have been passed down through generations, as well as the living heritage that is our wildlife and flora.

Mayo has never found itself wanting when it comes to Heritage Week, and once again its communities are pulling out all the stops, with an impressive 36 events taking pace around the county – including exhibitions, walks, talks, workshops and more.

Walls, weather and words

Few things are more symbolic of the west than the drystone walls that delineate our fields. To the uneducated, they might look simple, but as anyone who’s ever built one will know, there’s real skill involved in their construction. If you’ve ever wondered at the special technique, you might fancy joining conservation stonemason Dominic Keogh for a two-day workshop in Kilmovee Community Centre.

Maybe this infernal eternal rain has been getting you down? Well throw your umbrella under your arm and head straight to Straide. Guides at Michael Davitt Museum will be demonstrating how traditional instruments can be used to record climatological data and discussing how the knowledge of our forebears can yield valuable insights into climate patterns and sustainable solutions.

The contribution that our rich oral tradition has made to our heritage cannot be overstated, from the passing on of skills to the social history contained in firsthand accounts of everyday life. Since 2018, Achill Oral Histories has been recording and archiving life on Achill Island as told by its people past and present – and those involved in this community initiative will be exhibiting their work and offering insights into how to get involved in a special showcase event.

Crafting, trading and culture

In Killala, Annie Gambrill of Killala Woolcraft will be running workshops and demonstrations on turning raw Irish sheep’s fleece it into a shawl, while local sheep-wool traditions and practices will also be explored and demonstrated in Killeen Community Centre near Louisburgh. Several other making traditions will be showcased at Westport House, including basketweaving with master weaver Tom Delaney, woodwork with the acclaimed Eoin Reardon, stonemasonry with expert John Dunne, and rope making and crafting with Steffi Otto.

Louisburgh Area Men’s Shed and Louisburgh Killeen Heritage recently joined forces for a new project, Traders on the Reek, documenting how local people who over the years provided refreshments to people climbing Croagh Patrick during the annual pilgrimage. They will be giving a presentation on this important aspect of local heritage in Staunton’s Pub, Lecanvey.

Those in the mood for an educational stroll can join local historian John Lyons for a walking tour of Louisburgh, during which he will delve into the town’s foundation as a market town in the late 18th century, its important buildings and different people of note who lived there across the centuries.

Irishtown will also be celebrating people of the past, but they will focus on one in particular – Brooklyn-based Uilleann Piper Michael Carney (1872–1938), a native of Irishtown, who was one of the most popular musicians of his era in New York. The day, dedicated to his memory, will include a ‘Try the Pipes’ event presented by Na Píobairí Uilleann, as well as performances by guest musicians, the unveiling of a plaque, the launch of a booklet and a video screening.

Graveyards and dark skies

Graveyards have always held a special fascination for anyone interested in history and geneaology. In Claremorris, local craftsman Eamonn Hughes, a third-generation stonemason, will tell the story of his family’s long-running business and talk about the variety of styles seen in newly uncovered headstones in the historic graveyard of St John’s Church (now the town’s library). There’ll also be a visit to the cemetery, as well as other talks on those buried in the graveyard and work to preserve and encourage biodiversity at the site.

Back in Westport, another event looks certain to stir the spirits – a ‘Twilight Ghostly Tour of Westport Town’ will explore the darker side of the town’s history, from murders to executions to riots. Speaking of dark, the Friends of Mayo Dark Skies will be at the town’s W Cinema, where they will screen a short film, host a talk by historian and astronomer Brian MacGabhann and launch the programme for the Mayo Dark Sky Festival in November.

Museum of country life

The Museum of Country Life, Turlough Park, has always been a huge supporter of Heritage week, and this year its events include a guided tour of the museum, as well as Turlough Park House and Gardens; guided nature tours of the Turlough Park grounds; and talks on Irish midwives and midwifery from the 1800s to the present day.

And of course no Mayo Heritage Week would be complete without the venue’s annual Horse and Donkey Day, with exhibitions by the Donkey Welfare Organisation, Kiltimagh; shire breeder Colman Cogan with his gentle giants Ned and Ted; Sugan maker and craftsman Pat Broderick; horse breeder and master farrier, Mark Hester; and Castlebar Men’s Shed, members of which have been restoring of a traditional block wheel cart on the grounds of the museum.

Natural heritage

Our natural heritage will be to the fore this year, with a host of engaging events planned. In Ballyhaunis, Aengus Kennedy from NatureNorthWest will lead a tour of the area’s natural wonders and talk about how to protect them, including a walk through the park and along the river in the centre of the town. There’ll be a bumblebee heritage walk in Belmullet, whale watching at Ashleem on Achill Island and at Broadhaven Bay’s Benwee Head, a guided nature walk of Newtown Forest Trail, and a nighttime bat-spotting event at Moorehall on the shores of Lough Carra.

Meanwhile, Moorehall’s wildflowers and insect life will form part of a ‘Wild Flowers, Wild Bees and Citizen Scientists’ event that begins with an orientation session at Carnacon Community Hall.

A few days before that, also in Carnacon Community Hall, the Lough Carra Catchment Association will be providing an update on The Lough Carra Life Project, as well as a presentation by Dr Philip Doddy about the important project that is monitoring the state of the marl crust of Lough Carra.

Down in Cong, the Crossroads Community Centre will host ‘Holes in the Ground: The Karst Landscape of JCWL Geopark’ – a series of talks by national and local experts on what makes the limestone part of the Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark region so special. A new animated video on the development of local springs and holy wells, caves, limestone pavement, the marl lake at Lough Carra as well as local turloughs has been produced by the geopark team thanks to Geological Survey of Ireland funding.

Other highlights

Other sure-to-be fascinating Mayo Heritage Week events include a presentation on local ways of life, pastimes and folk medicine by Keelogues Heritage Group’s Lauren Mullaney at Ballyvary Central National School, a commemoration in Ceathrú Thaidhg of members of the US Merchant Navy Crew from SS Rochester Drowned during World War I, an exhibition of photographs gathered from the Ballyglass area spanning 100 years of local heritage and culture, and a talk by Professor Terence Dooley in the County Library, Castlebar, on the history of the burning of hundreds ‘big houses’ in Ireland.

• For the full programme of Heritage Week events in Mayo, including dates and times, see www.heritageweek.ie.