Launch of Tipperary archive a huge success thanks to local historical groups

The launch of a new website, Heritage Tipperary, containing archives of historical documents relating to Tipperary, took place in The Horse & Jockey Hotel on Tuesday March 18.

Speaking at the launch was Tipperary County Council Heritage Officer, Róisín O'Grady.

“The launch of this new Heritage Tipperary Portal is so important in terms of preserving our heritage. I’d like to thank the iCAN team and of course all of the local groups for all their hard work. There were five groups that came on board to help create these archives, it was a long process and there’s tremendous thanks due to all of those involved. I even looked at the website this morning after it went live and what’s on it is fantastic. I was moved by what I saw.”

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Lorna Elms, who is the iCAN Development Officer, was introduced as the lady that started it all. “iCAN have spent the last 16 years supporting digital archives in Ireland. We give groups a platform where they can share their archives with the rest of the world and it’s wonderful to see the passion shown by our volunteers. I’d like to thank Chris Reina, Cara O’Mahoney and Hasan for supporting all the volunteer’s work.”

The website will give visitors a chance to explore local history collections and discover unique articles, photographs, documents, oral histories and personal stories.

The five groups that took part in creating the archives on Heritage Tipperary were Borrisoleigh Historical Society, Cahir Social and Historical Society, Ormond Historical Society, Our Slieveardagh Hills Community Archive and Tipperary in the Decade of Revolution.

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There were some amazing presentations given by members of these groups on the night, which highlighted their hard work and dedication to the project over the past year.

Sean Hogan from Nenagh, who gave a presentation for Tipperary in the Decade of Revolution historical society, started by saying that the launch of the new archives on the Heritage Tipperary website was perfect timing for the group.

“When we got involved in the website, it was perfect timing for us because our decade was coming to an end. We got trained in the system by Chris and Hasan, they gave us fantastic support. It must be daunting to look at a group of people and think ‘This is going to take awhile.’ I’m sorry we didn’t have this years ago, it’s a wonderful resource to the public. Internationally, it’s great too to see its reach. Chris showed me the analytics today and someone from Vienna had been on the new site, it’s amazing.”

Katy Goodhue who is a member of the Our Slieveardagh Hills Community Archive group addressed the launch by explaining what her group had added to the website archives. Slieveardagh Hills is a rural farming area on the Tipperary Kilkenny border which historically had a coal mine which closed down in the 1980s. Katy said that the group has many things online about the local museum, school projects she has run and a stop motion video made by her husband about the coal mines.

John Flannery from the Ormond historical society spoke to the crowd about how great the experience has been for him and his fellow members. “The past few months have been tremendous, it’s been great to get involved with iCAN. The help we have gotten has been amazing. I put something up this week about Tipperary woman Julia O’Brien, who was imprisoned in 1923 and part of the nationalist movement at the time. I put it on the website and posted that to Facebook, and within two hours I got a message from a man in Australia who had photos of Julia O’Brien’s prison cell. He sent me the five photos and I added them to the archive. It was amazing to see that my post had reached from Tipperary to Australia in just a few hours. If we can achieve that in the space of a few hours, the world is our oyster from here on.”

PJ O’Meara from Cahir Social and Historical Society said that one thing his group hadn’t done well in the past was social media, and now with the archives on Tipperary Heritage more people will be able to access information about the history of Cahir. The group was founded in 1996 and currently has 60 members. PJ told the room about the rich history that Cahir has, from having a British army base in the past, to The White Star Line opening up an office and selling tickets for the ill-fated Titanic. PJ also spoke about the social side of things at the society, saying that the group holds their meetings in a pub in Cahir. “The social side is amazing, it’s really important for members.” said PJ. He spoke about the things that his group have posted to the new archives on Heritage Tipperary. “We look after the old Quaker burial ground in Cahir, we cleaned it up when it was overgrown and took good care of it. We also posted what we think is the first photo of a tri-colour flag flying in Cahir, during an anti-conscription rally held in the town in 1918.”

The last speaker on the night was John Connors who is from Borrisoleigh, and a member of the Borrisoleigh Historical Society. John told the room how he got into history in the first place. “I got my great love of history from my father, who was a postman. He had stories about everyone in the town and loved history.” John Connors loves history so much he told the room “If you are trying to find me in Borrisoleigh, you’ll probably find me in the graveyard.”

Mr Connors was amazed at the technology used for the archives and how easy they are for people to access. “This is something I have been waiting for to come along, now our work is preserved.” John also spoke about the group's various projects which are in the archives on the website. One project titled “The Derelict Homestead Project” aims to photograph the ruins of old homesteads throughout the parish of Borrisoleigh and where possible, find a link to a civil record like a census, or birth or death registrations.

Heritage officer Róisín O’Grady ended the event by saying: “I really appreciate the groups coming on board and the work that they have put in over the year on their own sites and in developing the logo and design of the Tipperary network is hugely appreciated.

"Huge thanks to the iCAN team for their encouragement and support and the fantastic training provided to us all that got us to the point of developing websites. Community Archives are by the people for the people, they help us preserve and protect vulnerable material in our communities, they support the work of groups that are championing their heritage and they allow us to connect with the diaspora all over the world.

"I am looking forward to working with these groups within the Tipperary network and to hopefully expanding the network in the county in 2026."

If you have any old photos that could be useful to the Heritage Tipperary archives, please visit the website on https://heritagetipperary.org/.