The Kilkenny Archaeological Society has just released volume 71 of its journal, the Old Kilkenny Review. For enquiries, or to purchase (available at €20 incl p & p), email: reception@rothehouse.com Or write to: K.A.S., Rothe House, Parliament Street, Kilkenny.
The contents include eight articles of local interest on a wide range of topics. These cover everything from party allegiance and local government in elections in 1920, to compensation claims resulting from the Civil War, to archaeological excavations in Inistioge. A landscape study of Newtown Kells explores the importance of place and power, while an article on Swiftsheath uncovers the story of a series of portraits of the Swift family that were thought lost for years. The story of Margaret Sherlock explores the tension in her marriage to Sir Richard Shee. The life of Jonas Wheeler, Bishop of Ossory, in the early seventeenth century, is brought vividly to life while the history of Granny Castle is wonderfully explored and illustrated.
The Old Kilkenny Review also contains a number of book reviews, mostly of Kilkenny interest, that cover aspects of Freshford, Ballyfoyle, Callan and Johnstown. Other reviews examine books on Lady Desart and Talbot’s Inch, the Lives of 99 Kilkenny men and women, Loreto Secondary School and a fascinating work of fiction by Ann Murtagh set in early 1919. The usual records of the Society are presented together with the activities for 2019-2020. The final section includes reports from the curator, librarian, conservation committee and the Callan Heritage Society. Short obituaries are also included for those members who have sadly passed away in the last two years.
The editor, Fergal Donoghue, can be contacted at editor.okr@gmail.com
Further information, contact Ann Tierney 086 3388141
Rich historical lore in Old Kilkenny Review
