Tides & Tales Heritage Week 2025 will be a busy time for the project. We have had multiple offers to provide inputs at various sites, but due to work commitments, we can only deliver three events this year.

Heritage Week is one of our longest-running annual commitments and a period of the year that we most look forward to.

Co-ordinated by the Heritage Council, National Heritage Week in Ireland is an annual event celebrating the country’s natural, built, and cultural heritage. It takes place this year from August 16th to 24th. This year’s theme is “Exploring Our Foundations”. 

Damien and Andrew from our team will deliver three separate events.

Events at Ballyhack Castle for Heritage Week

On Sunday 17th August at 12noon Damien will deliver an illustrated talk titled Reclaiming an Irish Way of St James at Ballyhack Castle. A free event, places are limited and booking is essential at 046 942 2544

On Friday 22nd August, Andrew will lead a walk n Waterford city. Titled St. John’s Pill – Waterford’s Victorian Thoroughfare. Its a free event supported by Waterford City and County Council and Local Authorities Water Programme (LAWPRO). It’s a guided tour of the history and social geography of St. John’s Pill from the Scotch Quay to Waterside. 22 August, 11am – 12:30pm meeting at the Marina Hotel, Scotch Quay, Waterford. X91PK2W

On Sunday 24th August – Water Heritage Day, Andrew will give an illustrated lecture on the Millstone era in the harbour, concentrating on the interconnectivity of the river communities and how our ancestors used the tides and currents of the rivers for work, transport and trade. The talk takes place at Ballyhack Castle. A free event, places are limited and booking is essential.

Meanwhile the local Development group in Cheekpoint will deliver a story sharing evening over the week which we will fully support. All are welcome to come along to Faithlegg National School for an evening of chat and sharing stories about the area in years gone by. The event will take place on Tuesday 19th August at 7 pm and is being organised by Cheekpoint & Faithlegg Development Group and Abarta Heritage. Not all stories are captured in ink and on paper. Each community and townland in Ireland is a treasure-trove of stories, histories and folklore held in memory and passed down through the generations. Some stories will be half remembered tales told by grandparents, strange things heard as children, nicknames for different areas or features in the landscape, childhood games and so on, but they’re all valuable and we would love to hear more about them.Abarta Heritage will also be discussing their work on a Heritage Action Plan for the area.

If none of this takes your fancy, don’t despair, there are hundreds of events to choose from countrywide.

Some of the other maritime events include;

Or a wide range of events happening for Water Heritage Day on the 24th August in the SE of Ireland