Throughout Heritage Week 2023, explore the traditions and practices, knowledge and skills passed down through generations on the West Cork islands.
National Heritage Week, an initiative by the Heritage Council, celebrates every aspect of Ireland’s past from its military history to its everyday traditions. The West Cork islands have a unique heritage of island living and a wealth of unspoilt natural heritage to share.
So, why not head to the islands this August, and discover the often-surprising stories of our islands and Ireland’s past with the help of local guides, artists, and expert historians?
BERE ISLAND
Bere Island Projects Group has programmed the following events for Heritage Week Bere Island
Bere Island Scanning Day
Tuesday 15th August 9am to 5pm
Location: Bere Island Community Centre
In 2023 Bere Island Projects launched their Community Archive as part of the Irish Community Archive Network. We are asking for your help to share any old photos or documents you have relating to Bere Island so that we can share them on our community archive in order to protect our island heritage for future generations. We will also provide you with digitised copies for your own family records.
Bring your documents and photos to the Bere Island Projects Group office to be scanned and digitised.
Antique and Vintage Bottle Collection
18th August 6.30pm to 7.30pm
Location: Bere Island Heritage Centre
Chris Sullivan will display his collection of antique bottles which he has mostly collected on the East End of Bere Island over a period of almost 50 years.
The bottles are mainly domestic, medicinal and alcoholic containers and are principally the product of the British Admiralty’s occupation of Berehaven, as a Treaty Port, up until 1938. They are mainly Victorian in origin and most probably date from the 1830s to the 1930s.
Chris will give a talk on his own collection, and will give advice on how to identify and date old bottles. If anybody has an old or rare bottle bring them along and Chris will help you identify them. He will also give advice on starting collection of old artefacts, which will be particularly aimed at children to encourage them to start a historical collection of their own.
The Defences of Lonehort Bere Island: Vikings, Martello Towers & a World War One gun battery
19th August 1-3pm
Location: Lonehort Battery Main Gate
Join us to celebrate National Heritage Week’s Wild Child Day and hear about the defences of Lonehort, Bere Island. From a Viking Harbour to a Martello Tower and the later World War One Fortifications. we look at how the Vikings made their way around the Irish coastline
They used the sheltered harbour at Lonehort to repair their longboats, building a breakwater to protect them from the Atlantic seas. In later years following the attempted French invasion of Bantry Bay in 1796, four Martello Towers were constructed on Bere Island, including one at Lonehort. Over the years the defences on the island were strengthened to include seven gun batteries, the largest of these is Lonehort Battery which is surrounded by a deep moat and contains 2 large artillery guns.
Local historian Barry Hanley, a licensed tour guide, will start the tour at the Viking Harbour. As we walk the short distance to Lonehort Battery, he will tell the extraordinary history of how a small island came to be one of the most defended places in Europe. Come dressed in costume, either as a Viking, a Napoleonic era soldier or from the battlefields of World War One!
Parking is available outside Lonehort Battery. Please proceed to the seating area south west of the battery for the start of the tour, follow directions and look for the flags!
Booking is essential – Call 027 75099 or email bipginfo@gmail.com for more details.
SHERKIN ISLAND
Medicinal Plant Walk
12 August 2023
Meet at Sherkin Library
Take a Medicinal Plant Walk with Eoin Marshall to learn about the medical uses of the plants to be found across Sherkin Island.
It’s a lovely opportunity to discover more about the biodiversity of the island, as well as the ways in which people’s knowledge of plants and their properties shaped life in the past.
The hour-long walk is organised as part of Heritage Week 2023.
Meet Eoin at Sherkin Library to join the walk.
Find out how to get to Sherkin here.
WHIDDY ISLAND
In conjunction with the Ellen Hutchins Festival, the following events will take place on Whiddy Island during Heritage Week to celebrate the island’s natural heritage.
Ellen Hutchins was Ireland’s first celebrated female botanist, and the Ballylickey scientist had a strong connection with Whiddy Island where she spent time identifying and sketching previously uncatalogued plants.
This year’s Heritage Week events on Whiddy Island will give you an opportunity to explore in a natural and artistic setting the seaweeds found on Whiddy’s shores.
Seaweed & Lichen Event [Ellen Hutchins Festival]
20 August, 1 – 4pm
Location: Event begins on the strand by Whiddy Island’s pier at low tide
Visit Whiddy Island to explore the seashore and learn more about the seaweeds and lichens that grow there at the Ellen Hutchins Festival Seaweed and Litchen event.
After the shore session, there will be a chance to make your own ‘work-of-art’ seaweed specimen and to see the beauty of lichens under the microscope.
The Event Leaders
Frances Gallagher (aquatic biologist) will share her knowledge of seaweeds, including how to identify them and their uses. She will then show you how to float a seaweed specimen onto paper and preserve it as a beautiful keepsake.
Paul Whelan (lichenologist) will help reveal the often hidden world of lichens that can thrive almost anywhere, including the harsh salty environment of the shore. Hand lenses will be available for use by participants.
Arrangements
Free event (except cost of ferry). No booking required. Ferries leave Bantry’s Main Pier at 1pm (or 11am if you wish to spend more time exploring the island), returning at 16:15pm – €7.50 return.
Book at ellenhutchins.com
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