The Tipperary Antiquarian

One of the biggest discoveries I've made in the last year or so was the rediscovery of St. Patricks fingers on a stone near a holy well in North Tipp. These carving may in fact relate to sword sharpening and this has been linked to inauguration ceremonies for local kings / chiefs. For more information on sword sharpening stones see here https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/handle/10379/2041 I originally came across a reference to them via a facebook friend online in the Irish Folklore Commissions manuscripts. Last August I did a talk on Rock Art in Tipperary in Portroe in which I mentioned St Patrick's fingers and a local man came up to me afterwards saying that he knew where they were located. It was not till January of this year that we got a chance to look for them and he and another man kindly showed me where they were. (Thanks to these two men for their kind help) It has since been added to the SMR under the following description. "Situated on W side of road 25m SW o...

I stumbled across a very interesting book on how Bunratty Castle and Folk Park became the tourist destination it is today by author Bernard Share titled "Bunratty: Rebirth of a Castle". From my reading it seems that to help mitigate the eventual removal of the enforced stop-over at Shannon Airport in the 1950s (which had been agreed in a bilateral agreement between Ireland and America in 1945). It was decided by Sean Lemass (who was then Minister of Industry and Commerce) that they should try to promote tourism further in the west around Shannon Airport and this happily coincided with the purchase of the castle by Lord Gort in 1953 and also the OPWs desire to protect the castle (which had been ongoing since the early 1900s). From there Lord Gort, who purchased the castle privately, was allowed to restore the castle with significant help from the OPW and eventually open it to the public. Later the idea of the banquet was added and finally the Folk Park was added on lands...