Book launch kicks off Offaly Annual Heritage Seminar

Today (Friday) sees the launch of the latest publication detailing the heritage of an Offaly site. “Clonmacnoise Marble, Limestone Quarrying in Clerhane (Clorhane) Shannonbridge, Co Offaly” by Declan Ryan describes the Clerhane townland and the surrounding areas.

The book features a foreword by John Feehan, who will also officially launch the book tonight.

According to Mr Feehan “of the many quarries that operated in Offaly during the centuries before stonecraft declined and almost ended with the arrival of modern concrete, few enjoyed greater prestige than Clerhane, whose crinoidal limestone is one of the most beautiful of Irish building stones”.

The book launch also marks the beginning of the Offaly Annual Heritage Seminar, which runs today and tomorrow.

The seminar begins this evening at 8pm with a welcome from Offaly County Council cathaoirleach Sinead Moylan-Ryan, before moving on to the launch of Mr Ryan's book.

Events tomorrow (Saturday) include a guided tour of the landscape of Clorhane by John Feehan from 9.30am, and a tour of Daingean Courthouse and St Carthage's Church of Ireland in Rahan by James Howley.

Afternoon sessions in Offaly Historical and Archaeology Society's Tullamore office on Bury Quay include a survey of ten follies in Offaly by James Howley, a guide to the Midlands Tourism App, a look at the Digby Estate Papers by Amanda Pedlow, the 2013 Engage with Architecture Programme, and a preview of “Rathrobbin House, the story behind the ruins of a Killoughey Estate”.