The Place Where Your Face is Known: Recent Episodes
Oliver Corr Craic Theatre
A podcast about the Townland and Placenames of Coalisland County Tyrone and it's hinterland on the south west shore of Lough Neagh. This is part of the Coalisland & East Tyrone – Great Place Scheme supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and curated by Lough Neagh Partnership.
Professor Mícheál Ó Mainnín is a lecturer in Irish and Celtic Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast. He is Director of the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project and chair of the Ulster Place-Name Society. His broad research interest is in Irish and Scottish Gaelic language and literature, and he has a particular interest in language in society, Irish-Scottish connections, dialectology, and name studies.
Dr Frances Kane is a researcher in Queen’s University, Belfast, where she works on The Northern Ireland Place-Name Project. She is also the secretary of the Ulster Place-Name Society, also based at Queen's. Her background is in Irish and linguistics, and she has a particular interest in what place can tell us about
Dr Pat McKay and Dr Sharon Arbuthnot talk about the the traditions, mythology and place names of Lough Neagh.
Dr Pat McKay is a native of Creggan outside Randalstown, on the north shore of Lough Neagh.in Co. Antrim. He was awarded a Ph D by the University of Ulster for his thesis on the place-names of the baronies of Toome, after which he spent eighteen years as a research fellow in the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project in Queen's University. He is author of A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names and joint author of Lough Neagh Places and he has written two volumes in the Place-Names of Northern Ireland series, The Baronies of Toome, Co. Antrim and Lisnaskea and District: the Parish of Aghalurcher, Co. Fermanagh. He was Secretary of the Ulster Place-Name Society for twelve years and is currently Publicity Officer for the Society. Recently he has been involved with advising on Irish-language versions of road names for Mid-Ulster Council's road-signage project.
Dr Sharon Arbuthnot specialises in medieval Irish language and literature. For most of the past decade, she was a researcher and editor of the historical dictionary of Irish. She now works on the dictionary of Scottish Gaelic and devotes some of her time to a public-engagement project called 'Spreading the Words', which is based at the University of Cambridge. She has published widely on medieval Irish words, texts and manuscripts and writes also for a more general audience. She is one of the authors of 'A History of Ireland in 100 Words', published by the Royal Irish Academy in 2019, and has written also a short book entitled 'Wonders and Legends of Lough Neagh' which will be released very soon.
In this episode we chat with Eve Campbell and Liam Campbell (no relation) Eve is an archaeologist and researcher and Liam is the Built and Heritage officer with Lough Neagh Partnership.
An extract from the stage play Grafted, Crafted Woven and Spun. Coalisland Tales by Mark Shields produced by Oliver Corr for the Craic Theatre in association with Lough Neagh Partnership under the Great Places Heritage Lottery Project
Cast
Tommy McIlvenna
Patrick McLernon
Stacey Hetherington
Ronan Hamill
Liam McIlvenna
Tracy Timlin
Aoife Corr
Decky Kelly
Tony Gervin
Declan McGrath
Ronan Johnson
Claire McCrory
Shane Coleman
Holly Foy
Frank Fee
Malachy Quinn
Directed & Written by Mark Shields
Produced by Oliver Corr
Music by Cuig, Blackwater Ceili Band, Lee Lynch, and Micheál Ó Súilleabháin
This episode of The Place Where Your Face is Known is a reading of a brief memoir from James Brown 1823-1907 from Donaghmore Co Tyrone as dictated to his daughter Nora Brown in 1904. His account mentions everything from Famine to breweries and illicit stills, and it offers us a wonderful insight into the day-to-day lives of our ancestors.
James Brown's father had been a weaver, before opening a bakery and later a successful soap and candle making business. As the family prospered, James also bought a large farm and became a leading figure in the promotion of modern agricultural techniques. He was active in local government and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1879. James ran the family soap making business until his last days and he died on 17 August 1907 aged 84. The memoir is read by actor Conor Begley
The source material for this podcast comes from The Public Record Office for Northern Ireland (PRONI) and is reproduced with their kind permission.
Deaglan O'Doibhlin is the Irish language officer with Mid Ulster Council and Dr Paul Logue is Senior Archaeologist, Historic Environment Division with the Department for Communities. (DfC)
Damian Ó Néill from Cairde Uí Néill and Keith Beattie talk about the townlands that surround Coalisland
Dr Liam Campbell Build and heritage Cultural Officer with Lough Neagh Partnership and Keith Beattie Industrial Heritage Officer Lough Neagh Partnership. Liam & Keith discuss the importance of townland names and their role in persevering local culture and history.