Kilkenny County Council
Athrú Project
Recording the impact of Climate Change on Kilkenny’s Living Heritage
Athrú, an exciting new project, funded by Creative Ireland and run jointly by County Kilkenny Heritage Office and University College Dublin’s School of Geography, is working to record and preserve Kilkenny’s living heritage, and we need your help!
Over the next few weeks four community conversations will be held across Kilkenny to better understand the aspects of Kilkenny’s living heritage that are important to the people and communities. Living heritage can be defined as the practices, traditions, skills, crafts and knowledge of our County. This heritage is not found in books, it comes from individuals and communities and is passed down across generations, often over centuries.
From farming, fishing and turf-cutting, to crafts, cures and pastimes there is a wealth of living heritage in our communities. However, recent changes in climate and lifestyle have put aspects of our unique heritage at risk of being forgotten and lost forever. Machinery and technology are changing everyday tasks, opportunities for story-telling and handing on skills and traditions are fewer, and the urgent need to protect our declining species of flora, fauna and their habitats requires important changes to traditional practices.
Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council, Mary Hilda Cavanagh commented ‘This is an important opportunity to document and preserve the wealth of living heritage that survives across the County. Aspects of living heritage differ from one area to the next, reflecting our rich history, landscape, economy and society. I would encourage everyone to come along to an event and make sure their communities' stories and experiences are preserved.’
Regina Fitzpatrick, County Kilkenny Heritage Officer, is encouraging everyone with an interest in any aspect of our living heritage to attend one of the upcoming community conversations: ‘We have a short window of opportunity to document and preserve these once ordinary features of everyday life before they disappear from memory. We are inviting everyone to attend one of our community conversations to ensure that the practices and traditions from their areas are included in a county-wide database of living heritage.’
Events will take across the county this summer. Extracts from the Schools’ Folklore Collection highlighting local aspects of Kilkenny’s living heritage collected in the 1930s will be presented at each event and attendees will be invited to share their memories, stories and experiences with members of the project team from UCD. A survey will also be circulate and we encourage all to take a couple of minutes to complete this and have your say.
Please come along to one of these community conversations and make sure that the parts of your heritage that you practice or know about are included!
Survey:
We are asking members of the public to complete the survey below on our living heritage.
For more details and further information:
Contact heritage@kilkennycoco.ie or UCD researcher, Matthew O’Brien, matthew.obrien@ucd.ie
