Heritage Tierworker is a long-term undertaking sponsored by the DonnellyCanada Cooperative to record stories, publish old photographs, and preserve other memorabilia about Tierworker and the surrounding townlands of County Meath and County Cavan The area of primary interest is bounded by lines connecting Bailieborough, Shercock, Kingscourt, and Moynalty.
Invitation
If you have roots in this region of County Meath or County Cavan, please contribute your piece of history. Write your personal memoir and share it with others.
The Vision
Heritage Tierworker will take shape over a period of years through increments consisting of:
Articles – some long, some short – contributed by members of the DonnellyCanada Cooperative using any of the following three (3) media:
- The Feedback Form in the Contacts page
- An email message, via the email address on the Contacts page
- Contributing to Philip Donnelly’s Blog on this website.
The production of Articles is an on-going activity, driven mainly by members who contribute materials for publication using the three (3) media listed above.
Projects – these are organized initiatives with a goal of researching some part of the heritage of Tierworker to produce a record in the form of a series of articles, a photo collection, a video, a book, a specialized Database & Website such as Ancestral Homes , or other. The next paragraphs below identifies two such projects:
First completed project
THE EYES THAT SHONE: From Ireland to Canada in the 1950s (978-1-897508-67-1, 304 pp.) by Philip Donnelly was published in 2010 by General Store Publishing House, Renfrew, Ontario, Canada, and retails for $29.95.
The next project –
ANCESTRAL HOMES
These old walls: the homes of our great-grandparents
GOOD NEWS! As of Summer 2019, the website and database is up and running, thanks to a partnership between DonnellyCanada and the Irish Society of the National Capital Region (Ottawa, Canada) with a financial grant from the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (Canada).
A small sample of test data for ancestral homes in Ireland and Canada has been entered in the Ancestral Homes Database.
With reference to Ireland, and more specifically the Parish of Tierworker, there is an urgent need for a heritage institution, such as the Cavan County Museum (or the Moybologue Historical Society), to make a record – linked to the 1901 and 1911 Census – of the ruins that were once the homes of the families around Tierworker in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Indeed, there is a need to undertake such an All-Ireland Heritage Project for all of the four provinces of Ireland.
Since the record must be produced, and archived, in accordance with the generally accepted standards of a national museum, it is necessary that the project be under the direction of a qualified researcher (‘project manager’) – perhaps a local amateur historian, a retired teacher, or a professor at one of Ireland’s universities.
From an operational point of view, the records of these old ruins could be produced at very reasonable cost by a combination of local volunteers and a well-trained team of two or three highly motivated students working under the guidance of the ‘project manager’ – supported by a few “old folks” who still have the memories of the people that once inhabited those houses.
To make the record of THESE OLD WALLS, the team would require transportation and a smart phone (ideally, an Android smart phone with the Ancestral Homes app, which can be downloaded free) equipped with digital camera, memo recording, GPS, and Internet access. At each ruin, the team would:
- Validate the link to the 1901 or 1911 census
- Record the location by GPS coordinates
- Take photos
- Record a short story about the people who once lived there (based on the memory of the accompanying “old folk”), and
- Upload the data to the Ancestral Homes website
The two photos below are some examples of THESE OLD WALLS! Where exactly are they? Who used to live there? And where are their descendants today?
It can be done! Let’s do it!
Brief history of the Ancestral Homes (Old Walls) project
Initial documentation for The Old Walls Project was prepared on November 17, 2009, by Philip Donnelly, and a proposal to the Heritage Council of Ireland for funding was submitted, but that proposal was not successful.
The following links provide more information:
- Letter by Philip Donnelly to the Editor of The Anglo-Celt newspaper
- Summary Description of Project
- Invitation to Ireland’s President, Mary McAleese, to serve as ‘Honorary Patron’
- RTE program on Irish Genealogy of President Obama, including a section on ‘Ireland Reaching Out’
Heritage Tierworker and the Moybologue Historical Society can make it happen, with your support.
