Tipperary People & Places Lecture series returns to Tipperary Studies, The Source, Thurles

The lectures take place on the third Tuesday of each month from October 2024 to March 2025, commencing at 7.00pm.

As usual, a great mix of subjects and speakers to ensure that there is something for everybody to enjoy.

Admission Free – All Welcome

Further details contact (052) 6166123

E-mail studies@tipperarycoco.ie

www.tipperarystudies.ie

To see the full brochure click here

2026 LISTING

OCTOBER 20TH _ JOHN FLANNERY

‘Might be Better Designated Slaughterhouse’: Auxiliary Workhouses in Ireland

Using reports from the Tipperary Vindicator of 1849, this talk looks at the Workhouse system and the conditions which prevailed in this ‘receptacle of woe’ – a description it applied to the Brewery Auxiliary Workhouse, Nenagh in 1849.

Examining the type of buildings employed as Auxiliary Workhouses and how they were selected it utilises reportage in the Limerick Chronicle of two tragedies in Killarney and Limerick, which resulted in the deaths of fifty-six young girls and women the following year.

BIO: John Flannery is local historian with interest in Irish Land Agitation, Encumbered Estates, Irish Landed Estates and Irish Revolutionary History. He has a MA in History of Family from University of Limerick, is a former President of Ormond Historical Society, Nenagh and founder member of Tipperary in the Decade of Revolution – a group of local historians dedicated to documenting and preserving the history of Tipperary in the period 1913-23 in an impartial and open manner, respecting the differing viewpoints and perspectives pertaining to the period. John has presented extensively to Historical Societies throughout Ireland, including The Irish Georgian Society – Westport 250th Anniversary, Michael Collins 100th Anniversary, Clonakilty, History Ireland Hedge School Contributor.

He has also acted as a consultant for TV programmes Who Do You Think You Are and Cheol Chogadh na Saoirse. He was an advisor and contributor to Tipperary Museum of Hidden History Civil War exhibition in 2023 and is currently a member of the County Tipperary Heritage Forum. John was recently awarded a research bursary by the Royal Irish Academy to fund a research project he is currently undertaking on Tipperary in the period 1921-26.

NOVEMBER 17TH _ DR CAITLIN WHITE

‘A complete act of self-government’: The 1926 Census and Tipperary in 1926

The release of the 1926 Census on 18 April 2026 opened unprecedented access to the earliest demographic record of the Irish Free State. Free to access and fully searchable through the National Archives of Ireland’s new online platform, it presents over 700,000 digitised household returns documenting the lives of almost three million people.

This talk will place the census in its historical context: a state only four years old, emerging from revolution and civil war, and defining its administrative and social priorities. It will explore what the census reveals about housing, work, language, migration, and public health, offering a detailed snapshot of a society in transition. It will also examine census records from the local area to consider what it can tell us about Tipperary 100 years ago.

BIO: Dr Caitlin White is a public historian with a PhD in History from Trinity College Dublin. She has worked in roles across history and education, including as Historian in Residence for Dublin City Council, education and outreach coordinator for the 1926 Census Programme at the National Archives, curator and researcher for exhibitions (Clerys: The Archives and the National Archives Society & State: Ireland Through its Records), and has appeared on documentaries and podcasts on history. Her publications include chapters in Space in Public History (Routledge, 2024) and Cathal Brugha Remembered (Military Archives, 2026).

THIS LECTURE IS PART OF A PROGRAMME OF EVENTS TO ACCOMPANY THE CENSUS 1926 NATIONAL TOURING EXHIBITION IN THURLES LIBRARY FROM NOVEMBER 2 TO NOVEMBER 21.

DECEMBER 15TH _ DR DENIS G. MARNANE

‘Another Landlord Shot’: Peter Gill and the Tipperary Advocate

Peter Gill (1822-92) known as ‘The General’ was from a remarkable Nenagh family. From the early 1850s Gill used his newspaper to support tenants against landlords, for which activity he was jailed. Several times he stood for parliament – unsuccessfully. He was one of the great ‘characters’ in nineteenth century Tipperary.

BIO: Des Marnane, a noted author and historian is a regular speaker at the lecture series. He is also editor of the Tipperary Historical Journal.

JANUARY 19TH _ LOUISE NUGENT

‘Stone faces, cats with two tails and saints’: a discussion of 19th Century Folk Art in Co Tipperary

This talk will discuss an interesting group of stone carvings created by amateur and professional stone masons in the 19th century. The carvings include a diverse group of stone heads incorporated into farm buildings and cats with two tailed inspired by folklore of the Gobán Soar and a unique carving of St Brigid at St Brigid graveyard in Thurles.

BIO: Louise Nugent is an archaeologist, researcher and author. Her main research interests are medieval pilgrimage and Irish folk art. In 2010 she completed a doctoral thesis Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland AD 600-1600 at the school of Archaeology at University College Dublin. She curates the blog pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland and the Irish folk art project.

FEBRUARY 16TH _ TOM DUFFY

‘Between Two Capitals’: The Art of Rose Maynard Barton (1856-1929)

Though celebrated as the premier visual chronicler of late Victorian and Edwardian Dublin and London, pioneering watercolourist Rose Maynard Barton RWS (1856–1929) carried a deep ancestral connection to County Tipperary.

Born in Dublin, she was the daughter of Augustine Hugh Barton, a prominent solicitor and country gentleman from Rochestown, Co. Tipperary. Barton broke rigid societal boundaries to become a successful professional woman artist. This lecture explores her fascinating career, her exceptional atmospheric painting techniques, and her importance in the story of Irish Art.

BIO: Tom Duffy is an art historian, author, and retired lecturer with over thirty-eight years of experience teaching art history at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), Dún Laoghaire. A graduate of the Limerick School of Art, Trinity College Dublin, and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), he has dedicated his career to researching and lecturing on Irish art history. He is the author of the 2024 biography on Barton’s close contemporary, Mildred Anne Butler: Lady of the Peacocks, and has contributed extensively to local historical journals and national publications.

Most recently, his feature article on Rose Barton, “Through the Mist,” was published in the Autumn 2026 edition of the Irish Arts Review. He is delighted to bring his expertise to Thurles to explore the Tipperary lineage and groundbreaking career of Rose Maynard Barton.

MARCH 16TH _ TARA O’FAOLÁIN

Ritual use of antler & bone pins in Knockroe Passage Tomb

Archaeologist Tara O’Faoláin will speak about passage tombs and about the post-excavation of bone and antler pins from Knockroe Passage Tomb in Co. Kilkenny. These small objects offer great insight into the mysterious ritual practices that may have taken place thousands of years ago in Irish passage tombs.

BIO: Tara O’Faoláin is an archaeologist and researcher for Abarta Heritage, based in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Previously, she has worked in post-excavation on a number of interesting sites, including Knockroe Passage Tomb.

Recent News

2026-27 Lecture Series coming soon