Published volumes

The first volume of ‘Irish Heritage Studies’ was published in hardcopy in spring 2025; it is available from OPW heritage sites, bookshops and for purchase via Government Publications or directly from the co-publisher Gandon Editions. An e-book version of each volume will be released at a later date, and the whole volume published in a free electronic version online after an embargo of three years.

Volume 1 (2025)

Theology and politics in Cormac’s Chapel: renewal, reform and reimagination in the twelfth century
Thomas P. Nelligan

This paper seeks to explore the relationship between theology and politics as expressed in Cormac’s Chapel at the Rock of Cashel in the twelfth century. Cormac’s Chapel was a physical expression of Mac Carthaig power, the ruling kings of Munster. However, the chapel interior was transformed in the later twelfth century by the addition of fresco paintings, the context of which was the English conquest and the arrival of Henry II into Ireland. The surviving mural paintings show a range of episodes from the New Testament. It is argued in this paper that these scenes were deliberately chosen to carry strong political messages presenting Henry’s rule as divinely ordained, and legitimising his lordship of Ireland.

The carved stonework of Holycross Abbey: shrines or sepulchres?
Niamh Flood

The built environment of Holycross Abbey contains an intriguing fifteenth-century microarchitectural composition that was subtractively carved out of an extant pier wall between two side chapels in the south transept. During OPW restoration work in the 1970s, fragments of carved stonework with similar architectural features were provisionally recreated and photographed but not positioned within the abbey; rather these fragments were deposited and now remain in the OPW-managed Stone Stores in the ruins of what were once the infirmary of the abbey. This paper will explore the possible transmuting functions of these pieces, from shrine to sepulchre, that potentially echoed the evolving nature of pilgrimage and worship in medieval Ireland.

Did a Dutch architect influence the design of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham?
Frederick O’Dwyer

While the Royal Hospital Kilmainham – designed by William Robinson, surveyor general, and erected by James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond – is regarded as being the first great classical building in Ireland, the sources of its plan and its quirky design details, with Gothic and Mannerist elements, have never been clear. This paper sets out to explore the apparent influences of the Amsterdam architect Hendrick de Keyser (1565–1621) and the posthumously published book of his designs Architectura Moderna (1631) and to examine the possibility that members of his family, known to Ormond, may have been involved in its design and construction.

The evolution of Doneraile Demesne, co. Cork – part 1
Michael O’Sullivan

Doneraile Court and demesne has been in the stewardship of the State since 1969. Prior to that it was the longtime home of the St Leger family (Viscounts Doneraile from 1703) between 1630 and 1969. A close analysis of the garden and demesne features at Doneraile has not been attempted before. A multidisciplinary approach is taken to form an overview of the early evolution of the demesne for the first time. Close links with the Stuart royal court and the influences of French garden designers are explored in the context of its seventeenth-century garden spaces. The contribution of Irish and English family associations with the Burlington and Prince Frederick circles in the eighteenth century are also considered.

‘Patriotic’ Palace: visualising Katherine Conolly’s legacy at Castletown House, co. Kildare
Priscilla Sonnier

This thematic case study reconsiders the significance of gendered ‘improvement’, social identity and familial legacy within the eighteenth-century social interiors of Castletown House, co. Kildare. In particular, the impact of Katherine Conolly née Conyngham, whose status as an independently wealthy widow afforded her the agency to finish Ireland’s largest Palladian home with commissions that reflected her role as a ‘woman of quality’, and astutely capitalised on the Conolly family’s reputation as ‘patriots’ and improvers among the Irish elite. By recognising Katherine’s formative influences on Castletown’s collections, this paper reflects upon her often-overlooked roles in Castletown’s history to enrich our understanding of Anglo-Irish gendered identity and women’s active roles in shaping visitors’ experiences within the domestic space through visual and material culture.

St Audoen’s Church, Dublin: a century in limbo
Neil Moxham

St Audoen’s Church, Dublin, has the unusual status of being of a single building shared by the Office of Public Works and the Church of Ireland. The designation of the ruined sections of the church as a National Monument in OPW care in 1877 presented a range of distinct challenges. Site access and maintenance were reliant on cooperation with the parish church and Dublin Corporation, but the first decades were marked by considerable acrimony. This paper examines how these early disputes played out, and how, over the course of a century, they were eventually brought to a successful resolution.

The study of Tara by R.A.S. Macalister (1870–1950), antiquarian and Professor of Celtic Archaeology
Mairéad Carew

Tara is an important prehistoric burial site in co. Meath and the traditional seat of the High Kings of Ireland. It was studied by R.A.S. Macalister during his tenure as Professor of Celtic Archaeology at UCD, 1909–43. During that period, Macalister was the only academic archaeologist in Ireland writing about Tara. However, his place within the archaeological historiography of Tara has not been explored. This paper examines his contribution to the study of Tara and traces the influence of his ideas on archaeological thinking up to modern times.

‘I find it hard to believe that Madame would glue newspaper cuttings to her prayer-book’: Constance Markievicz’s creation of a War of Independence memorial in the pages of her prison prayer book
Brian Crowley

In 1963 a prayer book was presented to the museum in Kilmainham Gaol which had been with Countess Markievicz during her War of Independence imprisonment in Cork Jail in 1919, and again in Mountjoy Prison from September 1920 to May 1921. Over the course of her incarceration, Markievicz used the prayer book to record the deaths of friends and comrades killed in the struggle for Irish independence by cutting images, articles and poems from cotemporary newspapers and pasting them onto the pages of her prayer book, creating a unique, and deeply personal, memorial to the dead. This article explores the history of this fascinating artefact and the unique insight it offers into Markievicz’s very individual brand of Irish Catholicism.

Decolonising and reinterpreting national collections: the case for the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin
Audrey Walshe

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, many institutions worldwide have been galvanised to examine the inherent biases and inequalities within their organisational structure. Museums, heritage sites and public collections are increasingly engaging with this work, interrogating their founding ethos, practices and material culture. Broadly, there is a greater willingness to discuss and implement plans to conserve, preserve and display cultural heritage practices in a more inclusive way. This paper examines the possibility of decolonising the Irish national botanical collection, in relation to natural history and material culture currently housed in the National Botanic Gardens and Herbarium in Glasnevin, Dublin. This paper argues for a cross-disciplinary research project, applying humanities questions to a scientific institution, and asking if the collection could do more to acknowledge the cultural significance of its origins.