Horizons

A roundup of this week's other heritage & habitat news in brief

Towns and their walls

Continuing as part of Heritage Week, tomorrow is Irish Walled Towns Day, and events are taking place nationwide, from puppet shows to medieval pageants. The city of Derry has developed a “drama-filled extravaganza” today and tomorrow from 1pm to 5pm, telling the story of perhaps Ireland’s most famous walled city. Next Saturday and Sunday the town of Clonmel is combining a celebration of its medieval heritage with a focus on traditional food and farming. Wexford is hosting a week-long exhibition on the history of the town’s walls, starting on Monday at the public library. See heritageweek.ie.

Merrion Square opens

Next Saturday from 10am to 5pm, the annual Merrion Square open day takes place. There will be access to properties normally off limits, plus music and literary readings. Highlights include guided tours of the residence of Daniel O’Connell (right) at 58 Merrion Square, a restored stable house on Fitzwilliam Lane and a lecture on Georgian Dublin by Ruth McManus of St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra. Chamber music recitals will be held in St Stephen’s “Pepper Canister” Church on Mount Street. Events are free, but booking is required in some instances. See esb.ie/29.

Talking maps at RIA

This Tuesday lunchtime Sarah Gearty will give a lecture at the Royal Irish Academy, Comparing Urban Ireland with maps: the Irish Historic Towns’ Atlas. The paper will discuss the types of maps used and published by the project. Gearty’s talk will touch on Ordnance Survey town plans, illustrative manuscript maps dating from the 16th century and town plans from the 18th and 19th centuries. Comparisons will be drawn using samples of Irish historic town atlases, including those for Longford, Limerick, Carrickfergus, Tuam, Armagh, Dublin, Kilkenny, Maynooth and Belfast. See ria.ie..

Ecoweb

heritageweek.ie and irishhistorypodcast.ie

The first of a three-part audio series is available to download. Episode 1 looks at the story behind the Spanish armada. More will be made available online over the coming weeks.