The East Galway Family History Society in Woodford is hosting a unique cross border event looking at County Galway’s Ulster heritage.

This two-day event, organised with assistance from the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies in Omagh and Irish World Ltd, Coalisland – all members of the Irish Family History Foundation – will involve a field trip commencing at 4pm on Friday, September 6, at the Heritage Centre and a full day conference that Saturday, commencing at 9am in the Youth Hall adjacent to the Heritage Centre.

Speakers on Saturday include Dr Paddy Fitzgerald from the Mellon Centre, Willie O’Kane from Irish World Ltd., Stephen Connolly from Dunmore, Noel Murphy, east Clare and locally based contributors Noel Larkin, Geert Janssen and Monica Hynes.

Stephen Connolly’s talk looks at the Settlement in Dunmore and how Ulster migrants embedded themselves with the local populace over time. Noel Murphy will talk on ‘Religion and identity in and around an eighteenth-century linen village in Southeast Galway’.

Noel Larkin discusses farming practices on the Sliabh Aughty uplands 1750-1850, with an emphasis on lime production and poteen making – and Monica Hynes’s talk is entitled ‘From Monaghan to Woodford, the family story of an Ulster migrant’.

The aim of this event is to encourage further in-depth research into the mass migration that took place after the Battle of the Diamond in 1795 and the resultant legacy that is evident throughout county Galway today.

This research will investigate the circumstances prior to 1795 and aspects such as family names, settlement, household composition, farming practices, folklore, language, culture, music, archaeology, religion, architecture, identity, how and when these migrants integrated with the local populace in Galway.

The Society in Woodford expect to work in a collaborative manner with historians and researchers from Ulster and throughout Ireland over the coming months with the intention of publishing a multi-disciplinary book on this unique aspect of our shared history.

This is a free event, sponsored by Naomh Breandan Credit Union Loughrea and Galway County Council – but for operational purposes the organisers want those wishing to attend to email galwayroots@gmail.com or telephone 090 9749309 (office hours).

Pictured: Topic…the ancient lime kiln in Killeenadeema.