Dates for your Diary
28th 29th 30th July 2017.
These dates mark the birth of West Cork History Festival at “Rosebank”, Russagh, Skibbereen, County Cork. I was born across the fields from “Rosebank” which was in clear view in those days from our home “Ross House” as it was then known. My birth could hardly be called an historic moment, save on a personal level, however my tenure ended a short time later and I was replaced by a notable person in the history of West Cork, one William J, (Willie) Kingston who with his dear wife Ella made it their home for many years. Now Rosebank in the ownership of Simon and Victoria Kingston who host this first West Cork History Festival. 
They are opening their beautiful and historic home to all to enjoy an array of learned speakers speaking on divers subjects of interest and illumination. We are all invited to this “history lover’s paradise in the rolling hills of West Cork – our festival hub is open to all. Enjoy local food and drink and a selection of stalls for book lovers and historians. Between the talks, debates and film screenings there will be a chance to enjoy Rosebank and the neighbouring Liss Ard estate.”
The festival website continue “Our programme – entertaining, erudite and engaging – brings together historians, journalists, commentators and opinion formers for a festival of intellectual delights. Some of our sessions have a particular theme, while others juxtapose local, national and international history and different eras to provide some surprising contrasts.”
In a break from tradition The Skibbereen and District Historical Society’s Journal 2017 will be launched at 13:00 in The Arena – no ticket is required for this event and all are welcome.
Please browse the programme details below and visit the Tickets page on the Website, to join the party. West Cork History Festival
email West Cork History Festival
for “sat-nav” the Rosebank Eircode is P81 HF61
West Cork History Festival Programme.
Session 1 (The Arena & The Secret Garden): Friday 28th July 2017, 18:30-23:00
The West Cork History Festival opens with a keynote address by Roy Foster, authorised biographer of Yeats and the leading Irish historian of his generation. The Festival opens at 18:30, with Roy Foster’s lecture beginning an hour later.
19:30-20:30 – Introductory lecture by Professor Roy Foster (The Arena) on ‘”A Fair People”: antagonism and conflict in Irish history’
21:00-23:00 – Screening of the film Rebel Rossa, the recent biopic of O’Donovan Rossa (The Secret Garden)
Session 2 (The Arena): Saturday 29th July 2017, 10:00-13:00
10:00-11:00 – Dr William Sheehan on lessons in counter-insurgency from Ireland
11:00-12:00 – Dr Eve Morrison on ‘Cork Ghosts of the Irish Revolution’
12:00-13:00 – HE Ambassador Dan Mulhall ‘War & Peace: two Irish writers in 1917, Francis Ledwidge and AE’
The Skibbereen and District Historical Society’s Journal 2017 will be launched at 13:00 in The Arena – no ticket is required for this event and all are welcome.
Session 2 (The Secret Garden): Saturday 29th July 2017, 10:00-13:00
10:00-11:00 – Dr David Edwards on the Great Earl of Cork.
11:00-12:00 – Dr Patrick Little on the second earl of Cork and his children.
12:00-13:00 – Screening of the film An Tost Fada (The Long Silence) and post-screening discussion with Eoghan Harris, the writer and narrator.
Session 3 (The Arena): Saturday 29th July, 14:00-17:00
14:00-15:00 – Dr Andy Bielenberg on spies and informers in Cork in the War of Independence.
15:30-17:00 – Professor David Fitzpatrick on ‘Protestant depopulation and the Irish Revolution’.
Session 3 (The Secret Garden): Saturday 29th July, 14:00-17:00
14:00-15:00 – Dr Terry Barry on Tower Houses in Ireland.
15:00-16:00 – with a local dimension provided by Finola Finlay on Tower Houses in West Cork.
16:00-17:00 – and in contrast Richard Butler on the architecture of Bishop Lucey’s churches in Cork.
Session 4 (The Arena): Saturday 29th July, 17:30-19:00
Panel discussion on the War of Independence, chaired by Mark Hennessy of The Irish Times. Panel: David Fitzpatrick, Andy Bielenberg, Eve Morrison, William Sheehan, and Kevin Myers.
Session 4 (The Secret Garden): Saturday 29th July, 17:30-19:45
17:30-18:30 – Dr Dominic Selwood – The Knights Templar and Ireland.
18:45-19:45 – Connie Kelleher on piracy off the West Cork coast.
Festival Dinner (The Arena): Saturday 29th July, 20:30-24:00
Festival dinner in The Arena with dinner provided by one of West Cork’s best restaurants, The Good Things Café and a chance to meet some of our speakers. The three-course dinner has been especially created for the West Cork History Festival by the inspirational Carmel Somers, owner of Good Things, and will include wine with each course.
Session 5 (The Arena): Sunday 30th July, 11:00-13:00
11:00-12:00 – Panel session on the First World War and Ireland Part 1 – Participation with panellists HE Ambassador Kevin Vickers, Lar Joye, Heather Jones, HE Ambassador Dan Mulhall
12:00-13:00 – Panel session on the First World War and Ireland Part 2 – Commemoration with Ruth Dudley Edwards, Eunan O’Halpin, Julia Neuberger, Nigel Biggar, Kevin Myers
Session 5 (The Secret Garden): Sunday 30th July, 11:00-13:00
11:00-12:00 – Pat Crowley of Durrus History Society on ‘The O’Donovan Family of Muintervara, Durrus: Early Nineteenth Century Catholic Magistrates, Landowners and Political Activists
12:00-13:00 – William Casey on early Fenianism in Skibbereen
Session 6 (The Arena): Sunday 30th July, 14:00-16:00
14:00-15:00 – Kevin Vickers on Irish-born Canadian Soldiers in the First World War
15:00-16:00 – Professor Eunan O’Halpin on commemoration 1919-1923
Session 6 (The Secret Garden): Sunday 30th July, 14:00-16:00
14:00-15:00 – Professor Marianne Elliott on ‘Sectarianism in Ireland: Its History and Impact on the Northern Ireland Peace Process’
15:00-16:00 – Lar Joye on duelling in Ireland
Session 7 (The Arena): Sunday 30th July, 16:30-17:30
The closing speaker of the West Cork History Festival is Michael Dobbs, creator of House of Cards Michael Dobbs on Life, Lust and Liquor: how House of Cards wrote itself.
Visit the website for tickets: West Cork History Festival
West Cork History Festival