The big picture – An Irishman’s Diary about Roscrea’s community portrait and Kilmainham’s ‘Great Book’

Never mind the group selfie. The townspeople of Roscrea, Co Tipperary, may set off a whole new trend in communal photography tomorrow when they pose for a mass portrait in the grounds of their local castle.

If they all turn up, there’ll be more than 5,000. So getting somebody to hold a camera at the end of a very long stick wasn’t an option. Instead the job is being devolved to two actual photographers, who will climb the ramparts of the 13th-century castle to make sure everyone is in the frame.

The idea for the portrait came from James Williams, a Wicklow man who moved to Roscrea only in 2006 but has already formed a deep affection for the place. In fact he has been at times frustrated by what he saw as the “bad press” the town seemed to get.

The locals are “a good bunch”, he insists. And he’s hoping that, if not the full 5,400, as many of the bunch as possible will crowd into the castle yard at 11am tomorrow to show off Roscrea’s best side. With the photographers soaring above them, it’ll be the picture of a town looking up, in more ways than one.

Williams’s feelings for Roscrea inform the name of an online journal he edits (with a paper edition once a month). When something is good in rural Ireland, he’s noticed, it’s always declared “the finest”. So that’s what he called the journal (thefinest.ie).

With luck and good weather, he expects Brian Redmond’s main picture and the time-lapse video being taken by Noel O’Mara to fall into this category too.

Thereafter, the idea is that the results may take their place among the many historical artefacts of what is one of Ireland’s oldest towns.

The most famous of those artefacts, probably, is one that dates from before there even was a town. The 8th-century Book of Dimma is a pocket-sized copy of the gospels, made at Roscrea Abbey (although now in Trinity College). It is so named because the monk who created it, Dimma MacNathi, took the trouble of signing it in several places.

He was an early master of self-promotion, obviously. And he may also have invented the concept of what is now called flexi-time. At any rate, according to tradition, his superior – St Crónán – insisted he finish the book in a single day, which should have been impossible.

But working ceaselessly and without food, he did indeed complete it before darkness. Then he learned that, elsewhere, 40 days had elapsed since he started, and that the continuous sunshine he’d enjoyed was a local miracle.

Unlike the Book of Dimma, The Great Book of Kilmainham is not designed for pockets. Nor, unlike the Roscrea mass portrait, is it intended to be a picture of the eponymous Dublin suburb as it is now.

The plan instead was to gather extracts of the many historic books and documents about Kilmainham between one set of covers, handsome leather-bound ones with gold-block lettering.

In which form, the finished work was officially launched yesterday evening in Kilmainham Gaol.

The compiler in this case, Michael O’Flanagan, is not a monk. He is, however, prominent in both the Kilmainham-Inchicore Heritage Group and the Inchicore Ledwidge Society. So he was well qualified to be the book’s “curator”, as he terms it himself.

Kilmainham and Roscrea have at least two things in common –very long histories and saintly origins. The 7th-century Saint Maighnean, who gave the Dublin village its name, is said to have kept a fire continuously lit there for 35 years. This was both symbolic – like St Patrick’s Paschal fire – and practical. When locals needed a light, that’s where they went.

In later centuries, Kilmainham was headquarters of the crusading Knights Templar, in a castle built by Strongbow. This same castle was the seat of English rule in Ireland until Elizabethan times, when Dublin Castle took over.

A century after that, the Royal Hospital was built on the site – modelled on Les Invalides in Paris – just in time to house war-wounded Williamites from the Battle of the Boyne. Unlike its last military inmates, who paraded in their redcoats until the early 1920s, it still stands today.

And then there's Kilmainham Gaol, a generous contributor of material to O'Flanagan's collection. The Great Book was formally released there last night and is now out on bail,which, considering the high-quality binding, has been set at €50. Concerned parties can free copies permanently for this amount from Riposte Books (msriposte@gmail.com) or by order through shops.

@FrankmcnallyIT