Heritage maps to highlight the potential of our historic towns

James O’Donovan, chairman of the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District, at the launch of the Bandon map with Sandra Crean from Bandon’s Walled Town Festival committee and Cllr Margaret Murphy O’Mahony.

By Kieran O’Mahony

CORK County Council has produced a series of maps for seven historic towns in the West Cork region, as part of National Heritage Week.

Last week saw the launch of both the Bandon Historic Map at the Bandon Heritage Centre and the Dunmanway map at Dunmanway Heritage Centre.

The other West Cork towns will be Kinsale, Skibbereen, Bantry, Schull and Castletownbere.

‘It is hoped that this initiative will encourage appreciation of the heritage of towns in the region both for locals and visitors alike and to provide linkages between the existing attractions and the towns in the region,’ said Cllr Declan Hurley, at the Dunmanway launch.

‘The maps are designed to be a self-guided tour of each town’s key heritage sites and each one contains beautiful illustrations of the key sites and buildings, and a brief history.

‘They are part of a strategy by Cork County Council to highlight the rich heritage resources to be seen in our towns and villages in West Cork,’ he said.

The idea for creating the maps originated from the well-known tourist attraction, the Clonakilty Model Railway Village.

‘Initially the towns on display at the Model Railway Village were selected to encourage people to visit the actual towns themselves and see the wonderful buildings and heritage features in real life,’ Declan pointed out.

‘The production of these maps is taking that idea one step further, and providing visitors and tourists alike with a brief history of the towns in a compact map format that one can refer to when visiting the towns.’

Mary Sleeman in the Heritage Unit of Cork County Council, along with MacDara O Hicí and Jacqueline Mansfield of the Western Division, steered the production of the maps and they were ably assisted by Catherine O’Callaghan, graphics technician at the County Architects Department.

‘Rhoda Cronin-Allinac was the artist commissioned to prepare the maps and she is a very talented artist in her own right and has a deep understanding of archaeology and history,’ said Declan.

‘Her unique illustrated designs are self-evident and are the culmination of many hours spent identifying and researching the wealth of history in our West Cork towns and subsequently portraying this knowledge in a user friendly and interesting fashion.’

Maria McLaughlin from the Bandon Walled Town Festival worked closely with Mary Sleeman in putting the Bandon map together.

‘It’s a new drawing of the map of Bandon which explains the history of the town. Rhoda Cronin-Allinac did the graphics for it and we were also helped by Claire McCutcheon and it’s a beautiful and lovely map which I’m sure both locals and tourists will like,’ said Maria.

The maps will be available in public libraries in the seven towns and will be also available to download in the near future from www.visitcorkcounty.com

James O’Donovan, chairman of the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District, at the launch of the Bandon map with Sandra Crean from Bandon’s Walled Town Festival committee and Cllr Margaret Murphy O’Mahony.

By Kieran O’Mahony

CORK County Council has produced a series of maps for seven historic towns in the West Cork region, as part of National Heritage Week.

Last week saw the launch of both the Bandon Historic Map at the Bandon Heritage Centre and the Dunmanway map at Dunmanway Heritage Centre.

The other West Cork towns will be Kinsale, Skibbereen, Bantry, Schull and Castletownbere.

‘It is hoped that this initiative will encourage appreciation of the heritage of towns in the region both for locals and visitors alike and to provide linkages between the existing attractions and the towns in the region,’ said Cllr Declan Hurley, at the Dunmanway launch.

‘The maps are designed to be a self-guided tour of each town’s key heritage sites and each one contains beautiful illustrations of the key sites and buildings, and a brief history.

‘They are part of a strategy by Cork County Council to highlight the rich heritage resources to be seen in our towns and villages in West Cork,’ he said.

The idea for creating the maps originated from the well-known tourist attraction, the Clonakilty Model Railway Village.

‘Initially the towns on display at the Model Railway Village were selected to encourage people to visit the actual towns themselves and see the wonderful buildings and heritage features in real life,’ Declan pointed out.

‘The production of these maps is taking that idea one step further, and providing visitors and tourists alike with a brief history of the towns in a compact map format that one can refer to when visiting the towns.’

Mary Sleeman in the Heritage Unit of Cork County Council, along with MacDara O Hicí and Jacqueline Mansfield of the Western Division, steered the production of the maps and they were ably assisted by Catherine O’Callaghan, graphics technician at the County Architects Department.

‘Rhoda Cronin-Allinac was the artist commissioned to prepare the maps and she is a very talented artist in her own right and has a deep understanding of archaeology and history,’ said Declan.

‘Her unique illustrated designs are self-evident and are the culmination of many hours spent identifying and researching the wealth of history in our West Cork towns and subsequently portraying this knowledge in a user friendly and interesting fashion.’

Maria McLaughlin from the Bandon Walled Town Festival worked closely with Mary Sleeman in putting the Bandon map together.

‘It’s a new drawing of the map of Bandon which explains the history of the town. Rhoda Cronin-Allinac did the graphics for it and we were also helped by Claire McCutcheon and it’s a beautiful and lovely map which I’m sure both locals and tourists will like,’ said Maria.

The maps will be available in public libraries in the seven towns and will be also available to download in the near future from www.visitcorkcounty.com

James O’Donovan, chairman of the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District, at the launch of the Bandon map with Sandra Crean from Bandon’s Walled Town Festival committee and Cllr Margaret Murphy O’Mahony.

By Kieran O’Mahony

CORK County Council has produced a series of maps for seven historic towns in the West Cork region, as part of National Heritage Week.

Last week saw the launch of both the Bandon Historic Map at the Bandon Heritage Centre and the Dunmanway map at Dunmanway Heritage Centre.

The other West Cork towns will be Kinsale, Skibbereen, Bantry, Schull and Castletownbere.

‘It is hoped that this initiative will encourage appreciation of the heritage of towns in the region both for locals and visitors alike and to provide linkages between the existing attractions and the towns in the region,’ said Cllr Declan Hurley, at the Dunmanway launch.

‘The maps are designed to be a self-guided tour of each town’s key heritage sites and each one contains beautiful illustrations of the key sites and buildings, and a brief history.

‘They are part of a strategy by Cork County Council to highlight the rich heritage resources to be seen in our towns and villages in West Cork,’ he said.

The idea for creating the maps originated from the well-known tourist attraction, the Clonakilty Model Railway Village.

‘Initially the towns on display at the Model Railway Village were selected to encourage people to visit the actual towns themselves and see the wonderful buildings and heritage features in real life,’ Declan pointed out.

‘The production of these maps is taking that idea one step further, and providing visitors and tourists alike with a brief history of the towns in a compact map format that one can refer to when visiting the towns.’

Mary Sleeman in the Heritage Unit of Cork County Council, along with MacDara O Hicí and Jacqueline Mansfield of the Western Division, steered the production of the maps and they were ably assisted by Catherine O’Callaghan, graphics technician at the County Architects Department.

‘Rhoda Cronin-Allinac was the artist commissioned to prepare the maps and she is a very talented artist in her own right and has a deep understanding of archaeology and history,’ said Declan.

‘Her unique illustrated designs are self-evident and are the culmination of many hours spent identifying and researching the wealth of history in our West Cork towns and subsequently portraying this knowledge in a user friendly and interesting fashion.’

Maria McLaughlin from the Bandon Walled Town Festival worked closely with Mary Sleeman in putting the Bandon map together.

‘It’s a new drawing of the map of Bandon which explains the history of the town. Rhoda Cronin-Allinac did the graphics for it and we were also helped by Claire McCutcheon and it’s a beautiful and lovely map which I’m sure both locals and tourists will like,’ said Maria.

The maps will be available in public libraries in the seven towns and will be also available to download in the near future from www.visitcorkcounty.com

James O’Donovan, chairman of the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District, at the launch of the Bandon map with Sandra Crean from Bandon’s Walled Town Festival committee and Cllr Margaret Murphy O’Mahony.

By Kieran O’Mahony

CORK County Council has produced a series of maps for seven historic towns in the West Cork region, as part of National Heritage Week.

Last week saw the launch of both the Bandon Historic Map at the Bandon Heritage Centre and the Dunmanway map at Dunmanway Heritage Centre.

The other West Cork towns will be Kinsale, Skibbereen, Bantry, Schull and Castletownbere.

‘It is hoped that this initiative will encourage appreciation of the heritage of towns in the region both for locals and visitors alike and to provide linkages between the existing attractions and the towns in the region,’ said Cllr Declan Hurley, at the Dunmanway launch.

‘The maps are designed to be a self-guided tour of each town’s key heritage sites and each one contains beautiful illustrations of the key sites and buildings, and a brief history.

‘They are part of a strategy by Cork County Council to highlight the rich heritage resources to be seen in our towns and villages in West Cork,’ he said.

The idea for creating the maps originated from the well-known tourist attraction, the Clonakilty Model Railway Village.

‘Initially the towns on display at the Model Railway Village were selected to encourage people to visit the actual towns themselves and see the wonderful buildings and heritage features in real life,’ Declan pointed out.

‘The production of these maps is taking that idea one step further, and providing visitors and tourists alike with a brief history of the towns in a compact map format that one can refer to when visiting the towns.’

Mary Sleeman in the Heritage Unit of Cork County Council, along with MacDara O Hicí and Jacqueline Mansfield of the Western Division, steered the production of the maps and they were ably assisted by Catherine O’Callaghan, graphics technician at the County Architects Department.

‘Rhoda Cronin-Allinac was the artist commissioned to prepare the maps and she is a very talented artist in her own right and has a deep understanding of archaeology and history,’ said Declan.

‘Her unique illustrated designs are self-evident and are the culmination of many hours spent identifying and researching the wealth of history in our West Cork towns and subsequently portraying this knowledge in a user friendly and interesting fashion.’

Maria McLaughlin from the Bandon Walled Town Festival worked closely with Mary Sleeman in putting the Bandon map together.

‘It’s a new drawing of the map of Bandon which explains the history of the town. Rhoda Cronin-Allinac did the graphics for it and we were also helped by Claire McCutcheon and it’s a beautiful and lovely map which I’m sure both locals and tourists will like,’ said Maria.

The maps will be available in public libraries in the seven towns and will be also available to download in the near future from www.visitcorkcounty.com