Drone to document birr

Birr town is to be documented by drone mounted cameras thanks to funding from the Heritage Council.

It’s one of a number of Co Offaly projects being supported under the 2015 Heritage Grants Scheme.

Gary Hoctor was awarded €4,000 to use the latest drone mounted cameras to capture the Georgian architecture of Birr town from the air.

Mr Hoctor plans to expose the grandeur of the planned, tree-lined malls and the expansive streetscapes. The footage recorded by the drone will be coupled with sweeping Steadicam ground-level macro footage of the Georgian detail in Birr’s extensive catalogue of heritage buildings.

In Banagher, the local Tidy Town’s committee has been awarded €1,500 to save Banagher’s Swifts. This is a community led conservation project aimed at increasing the presence and awareness of Swifts, a migrant bird undergoing significant decline in the town.

Elsewhere, Pullough Residents’ Development Association were awarded €1,000 to gather an oral history from peat workers. This project will sketch the cultural memory of early industrial peat harvesting in Turraun, one of the first sites of its kind in Ireland.

Mucklagh Community Development Company Limited has been awarded €4,000 for their project on Lynally Medieval Church Conservation Method and Tender Documents. The aim of this project is to collate the fabric survey and condition report from 2003, re-examine and prepare a method statement to submit to the Dept AH&G for approval to proceed with works and for tender documents for contractors.