Each year, during the last week of August, many national and hundreds of local community organisations participate by organising events throughout the country. Many of the events that take place during the week are FREE and the programme highlights the abundance of great work that is carried out in all communities in Ireland to preserve and promote our natural, built and cultural heritage.

National Heritage Week is part of European Heritage Days. These are a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union in which over forty countries participate each year. The main aim of European Heritage Days are to promote awareness of our built, natural and cultural heritage and to promote Europe’s common cultural heritage. Every year millions of Europeans visit historical monuments and sites throughout Europe on European Heritage Days. In Ireland we celebrate European Heritage Days with a full week of events throughout National Heritage Week.

The Heritage Council assumed the role of coordinator of National Heritage Week from the Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government in 2005. Since then the week has grown into a highly successful programme of over 1700 events which take place during the last week of August each year. For further information about the Heritage Council including our initiatives, grants programmes, history and structure, visit the Heritage Council website.

Jackie Clarke Collection

VISIT THE JCC GARDEN THIS HERITAGE WEEK

Renowned for maintaining an Imaginative programme of varied family-friendly community events, Ballina’s Jackie Clarke Collection is the place for you and your family to visit during Heritage Week, August 19-27.

Boasting a charming walled heritage garden that has just been awarded a prestigious Green Flag, the Clarke Collection will host a wonderful “Baskets to Beasts” event as part of National Heritage Week on Thursday, August 24 from 11a.m. – 4pm.

The event will be comprised of fascinating workshops, talks and children’s events – all based in the exquisite garden where visitors can read fascinating information panels about the wide range of medicinal and nutritional values of the incredible plant life growing there as well as the creatures and wildlife that lurk beneath the foliage.

If you have not already experienced the Jackie Clarke Collection, then this Heritage Week presents the perfect opportunity to visit it and its enchanting garden – an oasis of green in the heart of Ballina.

 

Gardens at Jackie Clarke

 

Belleek Castle

 

21 – 25 August, 11am – 4pm

The tour of Belleek Castle includes a history of the 19th century manor house and the Marshall Doran Collection, one of the finest collections of Jurassic fossils, medieval arms and armour in Ireland.

Belleek Castle, historic country house located in Ballina, Co. Mayo, is a hotel, gourmet restaurant, popular wedding venue and is one of County Mayo’s major tourist attractions. Belleek Castle, the former home of the Knox-Gore family, was wonderfully restored in the 1960s by Marshall Doran. Castle Tours include the history of the castle, its architecture, as well as the Marshall Doran Collection, one of the finest collections of Jurassic fossils, medieval weapons and armour in Ireland.

Marshall Doran Collection

 

Ceide Fields

The remarkable neolithic site at Céide Fields in County Mayo, Ireland, contains the oldest known stone-walled fields in the world – dating back nearly 6,000 years.

Céide Fields overlooks the mighty Atlantic Ocean which gently laps or vigorously pounds – depending on the weather! – against the cliffs below.
The landscape itself has been forged from the dramatic upheaval and movement of the earths crust over millions of years.

The soil at Céide Fields has been constantly subjected to the conflicts of the weather. The warm Gulf Stream comes up past the American continent between Ireland and Iceland. In the opposite direction, cold deep waters flow south from the icy Arctic Ocean.

Ceide Fields