WHERE?
List of bookshops below
WHEN?
December 2021
AUTHOR
Brigid Clesham
Tourmakeady History and Society by Brigid Clesham
A new book on the history of Tourmakeady has been published in December 2021. It can be bought just in time of the holidays for the price of €25 at the following retailer:
- O’Tooles in Tourmakeady
- Brendan Lynch’s in Clonbur
- Martin Murphy’s newsagent in Ballinrobe
- The Bookshop, Westport
- Rare and Recent Books in Cong; https://www.rareandrecent.com/
- The Castle Bookshop, Castlebar; https://www.mayobooks.ie/
- Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Galway; https://charliebyrne.ie/
- Kennys Bookshop, Galway; https://www.kennys.ie/
Further information on the book below
This book is a study of the social and economic history of Tourmakeady and its hinterland, in particular during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Tourmakeady is at the heart of the proposed Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark.
The first part of the book covers the evolution of land holding in the district, in particular the establishment of the Tourmakeady and Drimbawn estates, their ownership by different families, including the Plunkets and the actor Robert Shaw and the development of the village. The second part focuses on the economic and social history of the locality and includes chapters on the parish, education, law and order, the Irish Church Missions Society, evictions, the Congested Districts Board, emigration and the effect of events such as The Great Famine, The Land War and The Tourmakeady Ambush (2021 marks the centenary of the ambush). The book concludes with chapters on the locality in the twentieth century and famous persons associated with it.
The author, Brigid Clesham, is a qualified archivist who has worked in a number of repositories in Ireland including the National Library. She was the archivist associated with the compilation of the landed estates database for the Moore Institute at NUI, Galway. She lives just outside the village of Cong on the perimeter of the aspiring Geopark region.