Opening the Door To Ireland’s Heritage: Booklet features threading the Tower Project

A special Heritage Council publication featuring stories from heritage officers in every county was launched on January 15 to mark 25 years since the Heritage Officer Network was founded, reports Ryan Butler.

The booklet, ‘Opening the Door to Ireland’s Heritage’, details one key heritage project from each local authority from the last three years, which collectively highlights the enormous contribution the Network has made to the preservation of our heritage over the last quarter of a century.

The booklet features four Dublin-based projects, including the ‘Threading the Tower’ project, which focused on reimagining and recreating the Clondalkin Round Tower as a crochet lace tower.

This project aimed to revitalise and encourage the craft of crochet lace in the local community of Clondalkin, which was once a centre of cottage industry supplying lace to the atelier of Irish fashion designer Sybil Connolly in the 1950s and 1960s.

As well as this, the South Dublin County Council (SDCC) also partnered with the Dun Laoighaire-Rathdown project, the ‘Dublin Mountains Community Archaeology Project’ (DMCA), an initiative that developed guided walks, community talks, the development of an archaeology trail with signage, and the creation of interpretive content, all with the aim of increasing engagement with this lesser-known heritage resource on the doorstep of the capital city.

Booklet details one key heritage project from each local authority

Rosaleen Dwyer, South Dublin County’s Heritage Officer, stated that work involved in getting ready for these projects included applying for funding and adhering to Fiona Harrington’s suggested “structure”, with ‘Threading the Tower’ having been in the works for 18 months before its launch and DMCA having been planned 3 years ago.

Plans post-launch include finalizing the programme for the year ahead, receiving funding, and “cooking up” Heritage Week in August.

Rosaleen would like to thank the funding bodies, the SDCC, Creative Ireland, the Heritage Council, the Irish Crochet Lace Revival Group (ICLR), and the Dublin Mountains Partnership for their support.