Ballymoon Castle has long been viewed as unique among Irish castles. Its location, layout, and features do not appear to be suited to the times in which it was built. Who built it and why is unknown. Whether it was finished or not remains a discussion point. The view
Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society are now accepting papers for inclusion in the next edition of our yearly journal, Carloviana 2024, which will be launched in November 2023. The Society welcomes the submission of original papers for publication from both members and non-members. Papers should be related
The premise of this talk is that thousands of church buildings across Ireland are an underused resource for Irish social history. Many of us with interest in Ireland’s past know the value of church archives – parish registers, especially – for uncovering aspects of the lives of
The Grace Mausoleum in Arles cemetery is a distinctive feature, visible when passing through the village. Despite its small appearance, this is a unique and important structure for several reasons. Its design and appearance is a highly unusual features in an Irish cemetery. It is also extraordinary, that over the
Cillíní (unconsecrated children’s burial grounds) were an unfortunate outcome of the Roman Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation (1545-1648 AD/CE). During the Counter-Reformation, the Church went back to and promoted their older theological teachings, including those of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD/CE), who had proposed that unbaptised
While the Penal Laws ‘are a standard set piece in textbook accounts of the eighteenth century’, it is only relatively recently that Catholics have ‘emerge[d] … not as an amorphous mass of down-trodden victims whose destiny was to endure, but as a group of socially-mobile individuals who struggle[d] … against
The launch of Carloviana 2023, the annual journal of the Carlow Archaeological and Historical Society (CHAS), will take place on Thursday next, December 15 in The Talbot Hotel at 8 pm. The journal, published annually since 1947, will be launched by our great friend Sean
Isabella Mulhall is an Assistant Keeper in the Irish Antiquities Division (IAD) of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) – Archaeology, where she has curatorial responsibility for the Irish Iron Age collection, the Egyptian collection and elements of the early medieval collection. She has a strong
Former CHAS President and Carloviana editor and contributor Jim Shannon has published a comprehensive history of his home area of Hacketstown. Spanning from the Stone age to the Modern day this publication is sure to be the definitive history of East Carlow. Covering topics such as archaeology,
Paul Curran, Secretary of Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society (CHAS) and a long-serving member of the Emergency Services in Carlow will deliver a presentation on the history of the Garda Siochana in County Carlow over the last one hundred years on the 21st September 2022 at 8pm in the Seven