Collecting memories is an integral part of the heritage and history of Westmeath. With thanks to Creative Ireland funding Westmeath Heritage offered a training course to assist individuals and communities in their collection of oral histories. with the assistance of Tomás Mac Conmara, participants were given insights in how to conduct and preserve recordings and […]
The first focused survey of Barn Owls in Westmeath was carried out by BirdWatch Ireland in 2021, with funding from the National Biodiversity Action Plan Grant Scheme from National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage and Westmeath County Council. The survey identified fourteen sites occupied by Barn Owls and six […]
Industrial heritage reflects the connection between the cultural and natural environment and is part of our social history. In 2019 a project to record the Industrial Heritage of Westmeath was carried out under Action 2.1 of The Westmeath Heritage Plan; addressing gaps in existing datasets (few industrial heritage sites are recorded in National Inventory of […]
In 2020 Blackthorn Ecology was engaged to survey 12 of the sites that were identified as wetlands of County Value in the desktop study. Field survey was funded by NPWS, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, under their National Biodiversity Action Plan Grant Scheme, with support from Westmeath County Council. Of the 12 sites […]
The names of fields can tell us much about our local area; how people related to the landscape, as well as the history and traditions of the area. Since 2018, several community groups across Westmeath have taken part in the Westmeath Field Names Recording Project to collect field names in their area. All of the […]
A desktop survey was carried out under Westmeath Heritage Plan 2018-2023; Action 2.1 ‘Address knowledge gap in existing survey of heritage by implementing a programme of research and surveys…’ and the Westmeath Biodiversity Action Plan 2014-2020 Priority Actions: 1. ‘Identify core Nature Conservation Sites’, 2. ‘Identify Nature Development Areas where opportunity for habitat improvement exists’ […]
An audit of Geological Heritage Sites in Westmeath was carried out by Geologists Robert Meehan, Ronan Hennessy, Matthew Parkes and Siobhan Power, funded by the Heritage Council with support from Westmeath County Council. A desktop study of the County Geological sites (CGS) informed a programme of field work, during which the Geologists visited each CGS […]
Barrows are prehistoric burial sites, typically defined by a circular ditch surrounding a mound and/or a bank. They date from the Bronze Age (c.2,5000 -700 BC) through to the Iron Age (c.700 BC – AD 400) (i.e. c. 4,500 – 1,500 years ago). County Westmeath has one of the largest concentrations of barrows in Ireland […]
BirdWatch Ireland was contracted to undertake a survey of the swift population in the county in the summer of 2018. Swifts are a migratory bird that are of significant conservation concern in Ireland and elsewhere. The survey was funded by the Westmeath Heritage Office with help from the Heritage Council and the Local Agenda 21 […]