On Sunday last 21st August 2011, visitors once again flocked in their thousands to the stunning surroundings of St. Mary’s College Gardens in Youghal for the 5th Annual Youghal Medieval Festival. Events were planned to coincide with The Irish Walled Towns Network celebrations of National Heritage Week.

Official figures on the day saw in excess of 6,000 people visit the free annual event over the course of the day. The Heritage Council of Ireland undertook a series of surveys at the event, with initial results showing that there was a huge surge in people attending from outside the region.  “This year in particular we seem to have attracted visitors making their way from far and wide”, commented Clodagh Mahon who conducted the surveys.  “I interviewed visitors who had made their way from Carlow, Kilkenny and beyond, but also met with families from overseas, the UK in particular, who had actually planned their stay around the event, which in turn delivers a great spin-off for the town.”

Celebrations kicked off at 12.00 pm where the ‘Medieval Quarter’ played host to an abundance of performers, guests and festival goers all of whom came out in their droves. The renowned ‘Freelance Knights of Redemption’ from Cavan undertook a full fighting and weaponry display while elsewhere in the Medieval encampment visitors were huddled around the roasting ‘lamb on the spit’ to observe the wonderful styles of medieval cookery.  This year’s highlight proved to be the ‘have a go’ archery, which in keeping with the spirit of the day, was free.

It was a case of ‘back to basics’ for kids this year with a focus on arts and crafts and traditional games taking centre stage.   Speaking on behalf of the organising committee Catherine Desmond said: “Parents were delighted with the concept of ‘back to basics’ fun. Children were able to get involved and create their own medieval hats and colour their medieval shields which they could then wear and bring home as a souvenir. Each year the committee tries to incorporate a good balance of fun, education and heritage into the festival and I think it’s fair to say that we achieved just that.” said Catherine.

A range of quality food and craft stalls only added to the electric atmosphere of the gardens in ‘Maid Marion’s Food & Craft Fair’.  Traders recreated the colourful atmosphere of a noisy Medieval Marketplace and visitors were given the chance to purchase unique gifts and top quality food produce.

Local favourites The Youghal Pipe Band took centre stage at 2.00 pm with Community Radio Youghal broadcasting live throughout the day.

Cllr Mary Linehan Foley of Youghal Heritage Committee, the organisers of the event, thanked everyone for their support on the day: “The event was a tremendous success again this year, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank our many hard working volunteers who worked tirelessly before, during and after the event. Festivals like these rely heavily on volunteers and it’s great to see such community spirit.  The Councillor paid particular tribute to members of the Youghal Concerned Citizens who also gave of their time on the day.

Youghal Medieval Festival was organised by The Youghal Municipal Heritage Committee and was funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland and Youghal Town Council.  Marketing efforts were supported by South & East Cork Area Development.

Click on image to enlarge – Pics: John Hennessy

Chasing Footsteps in the snow, Footsteps that were made ninety years ago

Tom Crean & The Endurance Legacy

Illustrated Talk by Jerry Aherne

Date: Wednesday 24th August 2011        Time: 8pm to 9.30-pm

Venue: Council Chambers, County Hall, Cork County Council, Carrigrohane Straight Road, Cork Admission: Free
Contact: The Heritage Unit 021-4285863           www.heritageweek.ie

The Heritage Council assumed the role of coordinator of National Heritage Week from the Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government in 2005.  Since then the week has grown into a highly successful programme of over 1000 events which take place during the last week of August each year.

National Heritage Week 2011 will run from the 20th to the 28th of August.

On Sunday last 22nd August 2010, visitors flocked in their thousands to the stunning surroundings of St. Mary’s College Gardens in Youghal for the 4th Annual Youghal Medieval Festival. Events were planned to coincide with The Irish Walled Towns Network celebrations of National Heritage Week.
Photo: Michael Hussey www.youghalonline.com| Email: news@youghalonline.com

Official figures on the day saw in excess of 8,000 people visit the free annual event over the course of the day, a record number for the event. The glorious sunshine made the inclement weather of the event in 2009 a distant memory!

Celebrations kicked off at 12.00 pm where the ‘Medieval Village’ played host to an abundance of performers, guests and festival goers all of whom came out in support of the event. The renowned ‘Freelance Knights of Redemption’ from Co. Cavan undertook a full fighting and weaponry display while elsewhere in the Medieval encampment visitors were mesmerised by the archery display and huddled around the roasting ‘lamb on the spit’ to observe the wonderful styles of medieval cookery.

This year the ‘Kids Kingdom’ played host to some of the best activities seen at the festival to date. The ‘Mumbo Jumbo Circus Workshop’ was a flurry of excitement and activity as kids of all ages learned how to stilt walk or ride a unicycle. The bouncy castle area was a major attraction as children braved the obstacle course over and over again.

This year the ‘Kids Kingdom’ saw the re-introduction of traditional arts & crafts fun. Speaking on behalf of the organising committee Catherine Desmond said: “Parents were delighted with the concept of ‘back to basics’ fun. Children were able to get involved and create their own Medieval Hats and Shields which they could then wear and bring home as a souvenir. Each year the committee tries to incorporate a good balance of fun, education and heritage into the festival and I think it’s fair to say that we achieved just that. Not only did we organise a ‘FREE FAMILY EVENT’ but we also reopened the historic quarter of Youghal which has seen a huge facelift over the last few years”, commented Catherine.

This year more quality food and craft stalls only added to the electric atmosphere of the gardens in ‘Maid Marion’s Food & Craft Fair’.  Traders recreated the colourful atmosphere of a noisy Medieval Marketplace and visitors were given the chance to purchase unique gifts and top quality food produce ranging from homemade ice – cream to wood-fired pizza.

The ‘bandstand area’ featured lively performances from local band ‘Rannach’ followed by local favourites ‘Redmond & John’ culminating with the Youghal Pipe Band.  Community Radio Youghal was of course on hand throughout the entire day to report on proceedings throughout the afternoon.

Clodagh Mahon of Youghal Heritage said: “The event was a tremendous success and the support we’ve seen from the business community in the town deserves a huge acknowledgement. We received some fantastic spot prizes for our raffle and I would like to give them a big thank you on behalf of the committee. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our many hard working volunteers who worked tirelessly before, during and after the event. Festivals like these rely heavily on volunteers and it’s great to see such community spirit”.

Youghal Medieval Festival was organised by The Youghal Municipal Heritage Committee and was funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland and Youghal Town Council.
Click on image to enlarge. All photographs www.youghalonline.com. For high resolution image copy of any of the photos seen here please email to news@youghalonline.com with Attention to picturedesk

Key to photographs
91 Youghal Town Cryer Cliff Winser with Noel Curtin and sons Jack and Robbie
105 William and Morgan Joyce with ‘Captain Jack’ Kieran Groeger
107 Paula, TJ and Amy Rusk, Teresa and Sean Slattery with Mayor of Youghal Mary Linehan Foley
110 Ann marie Roe, Patrice Desmond and Stacey O’Leary
112 Carmel Murphy from Limerick
113 Derek Kenefick fundraising for the Haven for Haiti building programme
119 Susan and Shane Morgan with facepainter Clara Foley
120 Tina Molloy with her children enjoying the free festival
122 Rebecca Hanna and Coran McCarthy with doggy Kerry at the Medieval Festival
138 Tilly McCarthy and Patrick Walsh
140 Sean Donovan and Ann Power
159 Michelle Hennessy, Sheila Whyte and Sandra McLellan and child
184 James and Alavoine from Cork
187 Seth Lewis and Viki Nagy
190 Mervyn Scott and Noel Cronin from Youghal local radio CRYIssued by:

Youghal Heritage Committee

Tel: 024-81814

E: youghalheritage@mail.com or tourism@youghal.ie

An important archive of historical photographs of Youghal and surrounding areas has been donated to Cork County Library and Arts Service and is being made accessible to the public for the first time in Youghal Library. Photo: Michael Hussey www.youghalonline.com

This important collection of nearly nine hundred photographs was made by various members of the Horgan family who for many years ran a successful photographic business in Youghal and who also operated one of the cinemas in the town. Reaching back to the 1890’s, the Horgan Collection is a unique and invaluable collection of photographs which records the landscape, streetscape and social history of Youghal into the twentieth century

Speaking to a very large gathering of people in Youghal Library at the launch of the collection on Thursday evening, Cork County Librarian, Ruth Flanagan thanked the members of the Horgan family for their generosity in making the entire collection available to the public through the Library Service. She noted that the Horgan collection is a priceless historical document that depicts the town of Youghal, the Blackwater river, Ardmore and many other areas and its importance for its representation of the social and commercial life in the area, through vivid images of maritime, agricultural, leisure and tourism activities.

Jim Horgan talked about the beginnings of the Horgan family involvement in photography and film and showed a series of images giving an overview of the extent of the collection.  Frank Mills, Liam and Michael Coveney also spoke about the maritime heritage of Youghal and the Blackwater using photographs from the collection to illustrate their talks.

In accepting this donation Cork County Council have preserved and conserved all of the images in the collection.  These images have now been digitally recorded and will in due course be available for members of the public to view in Youghal Library

The collection is launched as part of National Heritage week celebrations.  During the week a selection of photographic prints will be on view as well as continuous slideshow of digitised images on a public access computer.

For further information contact 021 546499 or email arts@corkcoco.ie

Click on image to see who was at the launch of the Horgan Collection

Photo: Michael Hussey (YoughalOnline.com)

The stunning surroundings of St. Mary’s Gardens Youghal once again proved to be the location for the biggest and best of the country’s medieval celebrations of Heritage week. In excess of 5,000 visitors enjoyed the sunshine on Sunday 24th August in what has now become an annual event for Youghal.
The event organised by Youghal’s Municipal Heritage Committee was designed to ‘bring the heritage of Youghal to life,’ for The Irish Walled Towns Network’ celebration of National Heritage Week. The aim of the festival was to Read more