Richard Rothwell holds a place as Ireland’s foremost portrait painter of the 19th century but there has been much confusion about his identity owing to W.E. Strickland’s biography of him in ‘A Dictionary of Irish Painters’ (1913), which had him born in Athlone, a son of James Rothwell, and a descendent of the Rothwells of Co Meath, none of which was correct. This was repeated by other art historian and in a 1961 family history by his descendant Desmond Rothwell of Montreal, where Desmond wrote that Richard’s grandfather was Thomas Rothwell of Lisdaly, Co. Offaly, and that his father, James Rothwell, married Elizabeth Holmes and had seven children. He states that James fled Ireland in 1798, perhaps to America, after he allowed forces to rest overnight in his barns during the 1798 rebellion. This tradition, however, is not compatible another tradition recorded by Desmond of Richard supposedly being born in Athlone in 1800.
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Durrow Monastic Site and High Cross, County Offaly: Stopford Green, the OPW, the loss of public access, and the lost opportunities in endless delays. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 703, 22nd March 2025
Research by Angus Mitchell into the life and work of Alice Stopford Green (1847–1929), ‘the passionate historian’ as R.B. McDowell called her, brought Mitchell to Durrow, Tullamore, County Offaly in March 2024 to explore a monastic site that Green had visited in the company of the solicitor, antiquarian and nationalist, Francis Joseph Bigger (1863–1926) in September 1912. Green and Bigger would have shared cultural interests in the Celtic Revival. As the DIB contributor, Joseph McBrinn noted, Bigger saw his role as ‘promoting all things Irish including numerous processions, pageants, ceilidhs and feiseanna’. Angus Mitchell will be speaking on Durrow in 1914 at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore on Monday 24 March at 7 30 p.m. and you are welcome to attend. See his blog in this series earlier this week.
Today, 113 years on, the same story is playing out about Durrow and is ‘ongoing’ for the past 35 years. Now there is no access to Durrow high cross and neither is the public right of way to the site adhered to by the OPW and this after a spend of €5 million to protect and promote the monastic site.
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The Morrison family, jewellers, creative artists and photographers, Emmet Square, Birr – prominent members of the Birr Methodist community. By Michael Byrne. No 9 in the 2025 Anniversaries Series. Blog No 699, 8th March 2025
The Changing face of Birr in the 1900 to 1920 period will be the focus of a talk arranged by the Birr Historical Society for Monday 10 March at 8 p.m. in the County Arms Hotel. The illustrated lecture will focus on change in that period and the record of it provided by the early photographers and other sources. Once such was George Morrison son of Edward, both were jewellers and in addition George was a trained photographer who had opened a studio in his Birr jewellery shop in 1894. He was grandfather to the now acclaimed documentary artist George Morrison of Mise Éire (1959) fame. Another neighbour, Archie Wright of nearby Cumberland House, Birr, had also trained in photography and would assist his father in producing photographs weekly for the local King’s County Chronicle newspaper from 1885. At the time an innovation in the provincial press.
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Can town planning make Tullamore a better place? An opening debate on the upcoming ten-year Local Area Plan. By Fergal MacCabe. Blog No 689, 22nd Jan 2025
Can town planning make Tullamore a better place?
Fergal MacCabe: Can town planning make Tullamore a better place? An opening debate on the upcoming ten year-Local Area Plan. The talk is at 8 p.m. on Monday 27 Jan. and will be held after the AGM which commences at 7 p.m. An illustrated presentation by Fergal MacCabe architect and town planner at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore R35 Y5VO.
Since 1967 the growth of Tullamore has been guided by seven successive Development Plans which delivered the Bypass, the Town Park, the pedestrianisation of O’Connor Square and many other improvements. Though promised in 2021, no statutory plan which would identify future local projects like these has yet been revealed. The next opportunity would appear to lie in the upcoming 2027-37 County Offaly Development Plan which will hopefully promote a Tullamore Local Area Plan.
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The Offaly-born painter Robert James Enraght-Moony (1869-1946). By Gearoid O’Brien. No 1 in an intended series on artists from or associated with Co Offaly. Blog No 684, Dec 28th 2024
Robert James Enraght-Moony was a native of Doon, King’s County. His father owned a large estate and was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the county. The Moony family has enjoyed a continuous history, stretching back over a thousand years, in Doon.
According to a profile of the artist in The Westmeath Independent in 1909 the family went abroad when Robert was about five years old. They travelled on the Continent, firstly visiting Eisenach, in Thuringia, Germany, where they lived under the shadow of Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther was imprisoned. They then went to Dresden and stayed for about a year, and from there they went to Lausanne where Robert first began to take an interest in art. His mother, Angelina (nee Maunsell) used to take him with her when she went out sketching, and it was at her side that he received his first art lessons.
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