Upcoming Lecture on 24/04/26 : Early medieval carved stones in southeast Ireland: expressions of ecclesiastical power, identity and commemoration by Kate Colbert

The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society 2025 – 2026 lecture series continues at 8 pm on Friday, April 24th, when Dr Kate Colbert, will deliver a talk titled ‘Early medieval carved stones in southeast Ireland: expressions of ecclesiastical power, identity and commemoration’, in St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Waterford (Eircode X91 YX61).

Southeast Ireland has a rich and varied early medieval sculpture tradition, reflecting both the presence of a well-educated Christian elite, as well as the continuum of artistic exchange that existed between Ireland, Britain, and the wider early medieval world. However, there is a striking disparity between the distribution of early medieval carved stones in the region and the importance of the ecclesiastical sites at which they are found. Such lacunae are significant as they do not fit with patterns seen at many major sites elsewhere, in which sculpture plays a key role in expressing hierarchies of power. While undoubtedly important, the patronage of powerful elites was not always the primary factor driving the production of stone sculpture in this region. In her talk Kate will provide an overview of the corpus of early medieval cross-carved stones in the southeast, including Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary. Using a combination of historical sources and archaeological evidence, Dr Colbert will tease out why some sites invested in sculpture while others did not, why sculpture was produced at certain times during the life of a site and not others, and what the early medieval carved stones of this region can tell us about the priorities and socio-political identities of their communities.

 

Kate earned her PhD in archaeology from University College Cork in 2020. Her doctoral thesis, ‘Early Medieval Sculpture in Southeast Ireland: Identities, Landscape and Memory’, applied a combination of digital and established archaeological recording techniques to the systematic survey and analysis of early medieval carved stones, examining them as commemorative technologies and agents of cultural transmission. From 2021 to 2024, Kate held a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Galway, funded by the Irish Research Council. Her project, ‘Building a Framework for Recording Carved Stones in Ireland’, set out to establish standardised recording methods and terminology for Irish early medieval carved stone monuments (c. AD 500–1200), with input from leading experts in Ireland and the UK across the disciplines of archaeology, cultural heritage, digital humanities and art history, as well as with representatives of the National Monuments Service. During her fellowship, she also collaborated as a Project Partner on the Digital Atlas of Early Irish Carved Stone (DAEICS) project before joining the team full-time in April 2024. Kate’s research interests include stone sculpture, early medieval archaeology, landscape archaeology, art history, Irish folklore and early Irish literature.

 

Upcoming Lecture : Upstairs, Downstairs: A Bird’s-eye View of the Chavasse Servants at Whitfield Court, Kilmeaden, from 1898 to 1913 by Dr Rachel Finnegan on 27/03/26

The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society 2025 – 2026 lecture series continues at 8 pm on Friday, March 27th, when Dr Rachel Finnegan, will deliver a talk titled Upstairs, Downstairs: A Bird’s-eye View of the Chavasse Servants at Whitfield Court, Kilmeaden, from 1898 to 1913, in The Parnell Room, Granville Hotel, Meagher’s Quay, Waterford (Eircode X91 XH5R).

 

This lecture gives a brief account of the background to the Chavasse family – Judith Chavasse, née Fleming (1867-1935) of Newcourt House, Skibbereen, and Major Henry (Hal) Chavasse (1863-1943), who was born in Edgbaston but spent much of his childhood in Castletownshend, West Cork, and his early adulthood in South Wales.  It then outlines the sources for our knowledge of the family, including a large collection of Judith's diaries that came to light in Co. Waterford in the 1980s, covering her life from her early twenties to her death at Seafield House, Castletownshend, where they settled in 1913 after leaving Whitfield Court, Kilmeaden; a single diary of Hal's for the year in which they moved to Whitfield; and more importantly for this lecture, Judith's "Record of Servants". The introductory section also describes Whitfield Court itself, including the circumstances in which the Chavasses found themselves living there. Having thus set the scene, the lecture discusses the relatively small staff of domestic and other servants engaged to work on the Whitfield estate between 1898 and 1913, namely the women and girls who worked for Judith in the kitchen, the dining room, the nursery, the schoolroom and more generally around the house; and the men and boys who worked for Hal in the grounds and on his model farm, as well as those he hired as coachmen and chauffeurs. It is fortunate that the Chavasse’s time at Whitfield coincided with the census of 1911, which provides important information on their resident servants for that period and allows us to compare the composition of their staff with that of other local gentry houses. However, they were not resident in Waterford for the 1901 census, as Hal was serving in the Boer War and Judith was staying in West Cork with her first child, Claude, and three domestic servants. The lecture is illustrated with photographs and portraits from the family collection and other relevant material.

Rachel Finnegan was educated at Trinity College Dublin, St Patrick’s College Maynooth, and the British School of at Athens. Her first job was at the Royal Irish Academy, after which she lectured for 20 years in Arts & Heritage Management at WIT (now SETU). At the end of 2014 she retrained to become a freelance academic editor and runs a company called Irish Academic Editing. She has written 11 academic books, mainly on 18th-century voyages to the Eastern Mediterranean, including 3 volumes on the travel correspondence of Bishop Richard Pococke, a nephew of Thomas Milles, Bishop of Waterford & Lismore. Her two most recent books are related to Judith Chavasse, the subject of her forthcoming lecture. The first (2024) is a biography based on Judith's diaries and the second (2025) is a collection of childhood memoirs composed by Judith and two of her sisters, Sue Fitzgerald and Henrietta Haythornthwaite. In her forthcoming book (2026), Rachel has returned to the subject of Eastern travels with a new edition of Lord Charlemont’s Turkish and Greek Essays.

Upcoming Lecture: The Irish Dominican Friars: Eight Centuries in Eight Objects by Fr Conor McDonough OP 27/02/26

The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society 2025 – 2026 lecture series continues at 8 pm on Friday, February 27th when Fr Conor McDonough, will deliver a talk titled The Irish Dominican Friars: Eight Centuries in Eight Objects, in St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Waterford (Eircode X91 YX61).

How to tell a story that lasts eight centuries? The Dominican friars have been in Ireland since 1224, in all sorts of situations and settings. This lecture will tell their story by means of eight objects, one associated with each century. There'll be a half-buried dragon, a manuscript full of legends, an intricate work of embroidery, a letter sent from Lisbon, and more, including, of course, a treasure associated with Waterford.

Fr Conor McDonough, a native of Galway, is a Dominican friar of the Irish Province. Ordained to the priesthood in 2016, he has taught theology in the Dominican Studium, Dublin, and is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Classics, University of Galway..

**************** FORTHCOMING LECTURES *****************

27/03/2026 Dr Rachel Finnegan Upstairs, Downstairs: A bird’s-eye view of the Chavasse servants at Whitfield Court, Kilmeaden, from 1898 to 1913

Change of Venue: Parnell Room, Granville Hotel, Meagher’s Quay, Waterford

24/04/2026 Dr Kate Colbert Early medieval carved stones in southeast Ireland: expressions of ecclesiastical power, identity and commemoration

Upcoming Lecture on 30/01/26 :Planes, Ships and Mines – World War 2 incidents in Waterford and Wexford 1940-1945 by Dr Pat McCarthy

A lecture by Dr Pat McCarthy to the Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society

The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society 2025 – 2026 lecture series continues at 8 pm on Friday, January 30th, when Dr Pat McCarthy, will deliver a talk titled Planes, Ships and Mines – World War 2 incidents in Waterford and Wexford 1940-1945, in St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Waterford (Eircode X91 YX61).

The SS Lady Belle, a Dungarvan-owned vessel, putting into Waterford, after it was damaged in an attack by German aircraft     Gardaí examining the wreckage of a German aircraft that crashed in County Waterford in 1941

(Images provided by Dr. Pat McCarthy)

The opening months of World War 2, September 1939 – May 1940, seemed to confirm that Ireland’s geographical location and its declared policy of neutrality would protect the country from the war. All that had changed by June 1940. The belligerents had shown no respect for neutrality and had invaded such countries when and if it suited them and the German conquest of France had brought their forces within range of Ireland. The counties of Waterford and Wexford were now the Irish frontline, and it was inevitable that the war would impact on this country, especially those two counties. This lecture will look at some of these impacts and put them in the context of the war. Both Allied and German planes overflew with impunity and sometimes engaged in combat in Irish skies, ships both Irish and British, trading with the ports of Waterford and Rosslare, were attacked by German aircraft. Another hazard was the prevalence of mines in the offshore Irish waters. German infringements of Irish neutrality also included the dropping of bombs and the delivery of German agents to this country. All such aspects will be covered in this talk.

Pat McCarthy, a native of Waterford city and a past pupil of Mount Sion, holds a PhD and an MBA from UCD and worked for many years in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. He is the author of The Irish Revolution 1912-23, Waterford (Four Courts Press, 2015), Waterford and the 1916 Rising (Waterford city and county council, 2016), The Redmonds and Waterford, a political dynasty 1891-1952 (Four Courts Press, 2018), A History of the Irish Pharmaceutical Industry (Four Courts Press, 2021), a study of the East Waterford Brigade and its contribution to the War of Independence. – Waterford City, The East Waterford Brigade and the Struggle for Independence 1912-1921 (Waterford City and County Council, 2021) and most recently, Waterford’s Two Civil Wars, Armed Conflict and Social Strife in Waterford 1922-24. He is currently assisting Military Archives in the preparation of the files on aircraft crashes and landings in Ireland during World War 2 for digitization. He has lectured widely and published extensively in the Irish Sword, in Decies, and other journals.

Upcoming Lecture on 17/10/25: Waterford Gravestones, Waterford Families by John Tierney

The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society 2025 – 2026 lecture series continues at 8 pm on Friday, October 17th, when John Tierney, will deliver a talk titled ‘Waterford Gravestones, Waterford Families’, in St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Waterford (Eircode X91 YX61).

   

Gravestones in Waterford are historic documents carved in stone and situated in the cultural landscapes of burial grounds used by communities for centuries. There are 100 registered historic graveyards in the county, and many more cemeteries, each parish contains at least one historic burial ground.

Since 2010 the Historic Graves team, based in west Waterford, have been working with communities around Ireland to survey historic graveyards and publish the results online. In recent years our work in Waterford has focused on Ardmore, Kilgobnet and Mothel graveyards. Ardmore, the team's ‘home’ graveyard, is the laboratory for testing different methods of recording and analysis. This lecture addresses the use of modern technology to explore how recording historic headstones has allowed us develop an archaeology of families.

The talk will demonstrate how different low tech and high tech tools have been developed and used to record and analyse these carved stone ‘documents’. The Historic Graves team have been using AI tools to read field record sheets since Covid days, more recently they have had success using AI to ‘read’ inscriptions on 20th century headstones directly. In this lecture John will explore the potential of headstones recorded by the Historic Graves project to document and trace family fortunes since the early modern period, and perhaps even further back in time.

John Tierney is a field archaeologist who qualified from UCC in 1988. John has been director of the Historic Graves Project since 2010. The project has surveyed over 900 Irish historic graveyards and cemeteries, urban and rural, and published them online, in collaboration with local communities. Since 2016 John and the Historic Graves Project team have been involved in the investigation of a number of institutional burial grounds and associated burial practices such as Bessborough in Cork, Tuam, and St. Loman’s in Mullingar.

Find out more on Historic Graves Project 

Upcoming Lecture : on 26/09/25 Loyal Waterford - The Orangemen, Unionists and Loyalists of the Crystal County by Quincey Dougan

 The first talk of the Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society's 2025 - 2026 season will be given by historian Quincey Dougan who will deliver a lecture titled

 'Loyal Waterford - The Orangemen, Unionists and Loyalists of the Crystal County' at 8 pm, Friday 26th of September, in St Patrick's Gateway Centre, Waterford.

This presentation will look at the inception and activities of Orange Lodges and related organisations of 'Loyal Ireland' in County Waterford, the personalities that drove them, pivotal events, and the reception given by Nationalist and Catholic Waterford.

Quincey Dougan hails from a rural area not far from the town of Markethill on the fringes of South Armagh. An Orangeman, Unionist and self-proclaimed Ulster Loyalist, his keen interest in history and a maternal family lineage from the Republic of Ireland, has seen him take a deep interest in the Orange, Unionist and Irish Loyalist heritage of Ireland outside Ulster. He produced the first published work on the Great War in County Leitrim, and has authored over 80 booklets and pamphlets on subject matter pertaining to Loyal Ireland. His work has featured in several issues of History Ireland, numerous regional newspapers, and he is a former columnist in the Belfast Newsletter. Quincey's motivation is to take the interest in and the complexities of Irish history beyond the academic stage, and focuses on speaking directly to groups. 

Upcoming : Summer Outing, Ormond Castle 10/08/25

 

Ormond Castle has been described as a gem of Tudor architecture in Ireland. Built on a prominent site on the banks of the River Suir at the east side of Carrick-on-Suir, it is considered the finest example of an Elizabethan manor house in Ireland. Thomas 'Black Tom' Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, built it in 1565 to honour his distant cousin Queen Elizabeth. The magnificent great hall, which stretches almost the whole length of the building is decorated with some of the finest 16th century stucco plasterwork in the country. The plasterwork features portraits of Queen Elizabeth and her brother Edward VI and many motifs and emblems associated with the Tudor monarchy.

Ormond Castle has recently re-opened following an extensive conservation programme which was featured in RTE's 'Great Irish Interiors' TV programme. We will be shown around the Castle by an OPW guide.

Please note that there is an entry fee of €4, which should be paid individually.

The final WAHS outing of Summer 2025 is a visit on Sunday August 31st to the restored nineteenth century Phelan's Mill in Mullinavat.