We are delighted, through funding from Roscommon County Council, to offer a FREE hybrid (online plus in person field trip) course that will take you step-by-step through the available online sources that will allow you to paint a picture of the geological, archaeological, and historical events that happened close to where you live. While the course will look at examples from throughout Ireland, it will focus on the geology, archaeology and history of the county of Roscommon. As such the course is aimed toward residents of Roscommon (who will be given preference for available course places) as well as enthusiasts of Roscommon’s natural and cultural heritage.

The course will be delivered through five online tutorials every Tuesday and Thursday over three weeks commencing Tuesday 28th February 2023. We will begin by looking at the very bedrock under your feet, examining the geological processes and glacial events that shaped the landscape and formed the soils. The course then focuses on the impacts of humans on that landscape over time, from pre-history to the last century.

The first workshop includes a summary of the course content and format. At the end of each workshop, a list of resources/links will be sent to the participants so that they can study their own locality. Workshops 1-5 will each teach an aspect of Irish geology, archaeology and history, and go through a series of fabulous online resources, allowing the participants to build a picture of their home over time. Workshop 5 will comprise a wrap-up, outlining the information obtained by the participants which can be utilised to tell the geology, archaeology, and history of their localities. Workshop 5 will also outline how these skills can be used to make your own submission(!) to the ‘KnowYour5k’ initiative by the Heritage Council and National Museum of Ireland. Gathering these submissions for County Roscommon is a key outcome of the course.

On Sunday 5th March, we will go on a field trip to explore the landscape, archaeology of a Roscommon heritage gem (the place and exact time are TBC), but it will be in the late morning, and we will try to include a nice coffee shop at the end :)

* funded by the Heritage Council with support from Roscommon County Council (Heritage Office).