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The aim of the Kilmacud Stillorgan Local History Society is to promote and sustain an interest in our culture, heritage and history, particularly with regard to Kilmacud Stillorgan and the adjoining areas
Obelisk 2024 – – – – On Sale
The eighteenth edition of the Society’s annual journal, Obelisk, was launched in the Function Room, Glenalbyn on Friday 24 November.
As always we pay a special thanks to our contributors for their very enthusiastic response with material and without whose stories there would be no Obelisk. Over the years Obelisk has accumulated a rich trove of articles that help to give us a fuller picture of daily life and the streetscape of times past.
Click on image for the list of contents.
Obelisk 2024 is available at our monthly talks and from our usual outlets at €7 a copy :
South Dublin Credit Union, Lower Kilmacud Road, Lakeland Stores, 5 Lakelands Road, Kildunne’s Centra, 7 Drummartin Road, Adrian Peters, Newsagent, The Rise, Mount Merrion, The Village Cafe, Glenalbyn House, Stillorgan, Kennedy's Centra, Stepaside Village and through our Online Shop. Online purchases for local addresses in Kilmacud, Stillorgan and surrounding areas that can be hand delivered will have any postage paid refunded.
We will also be selling Obelisk from our stall beside Tesco in the Stillorgan Shopping Centre in December on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th, and Friday 15th and Saturday 16th. Contactless payments are accepted.
Next Talk – – – – – – – 14 December
Our next talk will be in the St Raphaela’s Primary School Hall, Upr Kilmacud Road, Stillorgan (A94 R7N8) on Thursday 14 December at 8pm. It will be given by Dr Brendan O’Shea and is titled:
Remembering Tom Kettle
Lieutenant Tom Kettle, 9th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was killed in action on 9 September 1916, near the village of Ginchy in Northern France at about five o’clock in the afternoon of the 71st day of the Battle of the Somme. Today his name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial near the town of Albert together with those of 72,000 others who lost their lives on the Somme, and equally have no known grave.
Brendan considers that men like Tom Kettle have been written out of history and this historic neglect has been 'nothing short of a national disgrace'. Tom Kettle was a Professor of Economics at UCD. He was honoured by the unveiling of a bronze plaque in his old university on 9 September 2016, one hundred years after he was killed.
He had been an MP, writer and academic and one of the most high profile casualties of the wider Battle of the Somme. Brendan explains that the manner in which history has been taught over generations has been a defining factor in reducing the important contribution of Kettle and others like him.
Brendan is a retired member of the Irish Defence Forces. He holds a PhD in History and is the author of numerous books. A native of Celbridge, he is the European Trustee and Education Officer Ireland of The Western Front Association.
We would ask you to note that we intend to video the entire presentation session for the Society as part of its efforts to develop a digital archive. We are very grateful to Mark for agreeing to our recording of the live event.
We look forward to seeing you at one of our talks and maybe you might tell a friend who might also be interested. Click ‘list of talks’ to see our full programme for the season.
Visitors welcome on the night for €3.
Last Talk – – – – – – – 9 November
Our last talk was in the St Raphaela’s Primary School Hall, Upr Kilmacud Road, Stillorgan (A94 R7N8) on Thursday 9 November at 8pm. It was given by Mark Coen and is titled:
“Most of the inmates remain for life”: Donnybrook Laundry, 1837-1992
Towards the end of the 20th century, the decades of abuse and neglect perpetrated in Ireland's comprehensive carceral network began finally to be exposed. The mistreatment endured by children and others on the margins of Irish society, notably women, in these orphanages, reformatory schools, industrial schools, psychiatric hospitals, County Homes, Mother and Baby Homes, adoption agencies and Magdalene Laundries now attracts increasing investigation and scholarship.
By focusing on the Donnybrook Laundry and on its ethos, development, operation and built environment, and the lives of the girls and women held there, the study reveals the underlying framework of Ireland's wider system of institutionalisation.
Mark Coen is a Lecturer in Law at University College Dublin. His historical research has been published in the American Journal of Legal History and the Law and History Review.