Avenues to an Afterlife?

© The Publisher & The Author

Full title: Exploring the Baltinglass cursus complex: routes for the dead

Creator / Author: James O’Driscoll

Item Type / Page count: Journal Article (online) / 18p

Journal Information: Antiquity First View, pp. 1-18

When Published: 25^th April 2024

Publisher / Place of Publication: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd. / Cambridge, CB2 8AE, United Kingdom

About: James O’Driscoll, who has spent the past number of years investigating the Baltinglass Hillfort Complex, now presents his latest findings in an online article under the aegis of the scholarly journal ‘Antiquity’. The author describes a cluster of cursus monuments that have been discovered using the newest archaeology tools and techniques. This is the first time that a cluster of such monuments has been discoved in Ireland. The author concludes that the monuments “demonstrate a clear connection between the dead, major solar events and seasonal farming cycles”.

ID number(s): 0003-598X (Print), 1745-1744 (Online)

Article Contents: Abstract — Introduction — Neolithic Ireland and the Baltinglass Landscape — The Baltinglass Cursus Monuments — The Baltinglass Cursus Monuments in Context — Routes for the Dead? — Conclusion — Funding Statement — References.

Extra #1: includes maps and photographs.

Extra #2: Read this article online via the Publisher’s Website.

Extra #3: Link to the website of the journal ‘Antiquity’ at: https://antiquity.ac.uk/

Extra #4: The findings of James O’Driscoll in the above article have been picked up by a number of news outlets and social media streams. For example, ‘Newsweek’ (online edition) contains this item by Aristos Georgiou.

Twelfth Collection of Articles on West Wicklow History

© Individual Contributors

Full title: Journal of the West Wicklow Historical Society: Number 12, 2023-24

Creator / Author: West Wicklow Historical Society & contributors, joint editors Chris Lawlor, Declan Keenan

Item Type / Page count: Journal (Complete issue) / 200p

When Published: 2023

Publisher / Place of Publication: West Wicklow Historical Society / Baltinglass (?), Co. Wicklow.

About: This twelveth publication of this biennial journal was launched in the Coimín Centre, Blessington on 9/11/2023. It includes perhaps the most diverse set of topics yet to appear in this journal. Full contents are listed below. The most extensive article in this issue runs to 24 pages. In it, Peter W. Halligan provides an enlightening account of the castles at Oldcourt and Three Castles. 

ID number(s): 0790-1739

Contents: Foreword from the Chairman / Paul Gorry — Donal McDonnell (1945-2022) — Secretary’s Synopsis / Cora Crampton — Noel Lyons (1942-2022) — Editor’s Preface / Chris Lawlor — Mapping the devolved Gaelic territories and districts of the O’Tooles / Declan Keenan — Migrant railway workers and local communities: a case study of Harristown station on the Sallins-Tullow branch line 1883-1951 / John O’Brien — Some observations on the Great famine in County Wicklow, c.1845-1850 / Gerald Cullen — Gentry, Brides and Lions / Maura Murphy Gibson — The man who wore a blue shirt in 1933: the Bass War in West Wicklow and Kildare / Declan O’Connor — A little bit of Bulgaria in Ireland: Pierce O’Mahony (1850-1930): politician and philanthropist / Brian McCabe — Dame Ninette de Valois (Edris Stannus) / Paul Tyrell — A 1792 Rental of the Lordship of Belan, Co. Kildare / Richard B. Lennon —Language Matters Revisited / Ita Roddy — Death from a Flat-Nosed Bullet in Blessington / James Scannell — A farming community: Hollywood in the early twentieth century / John Glennon — Sadhbh O’Byrne – glimpses of a Gaelic woman of sixteenth-century Ireland / Cora Crampton — The Manor of Blessington, created by Michael Boyle / Jim Corley — Revisiting the 1798 Dunlavin massacre for its 225th anniversary / Chris Lawlor — Balfe the Robber / Brendan Corrigan — A sociological interpretation of the Hillfort Capital – exploring Hughstown and Tinoran hillforts (part 1 of 3) / Mairéad Kelly — Charles Maule Drury (1848-1939) – collector of folklore / Paul Gorry — The castles of Oldcourt and Three Castles / Peter W. Halligan — ‘I say it as I think it’ : The life and controversial times of Rev. T. C. O’Connor, Rector of Donoughmore and Donard / Rosemary Raughter — Query / Peter W. Halligan.

Extra #1: Illustrated throughout with black & white photographs and maps.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #3: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide

Extra #4: Visit the West Wicklow Historical Society website

All About Our Hilltop Ancestors

© The Publisher
(cover photo James O’Driscoll)

Full title: Hillforts, Warfare and Society in Bronze Age Ireland

Creator / Author: William O’Brien and James O’Driscoll

Item Type / Page count: Book and ebook / 522pp

When Published: 2017

Publisher / Place of Publication: Archaeo Press Publishing / Gordon House, 276 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7ED

About: This very substantial and highly-illustrated scholarly volume combines  traditional archaeological methods of survey and excavation with modern techniques of remote sensing and GIS (Geographical Informations Systems) landscape analysis to study hillforts in the wider context of warfare and conflict in Ireland during the Bronze Age. Three chapters of the book are specifically dedicated to a detailed landscape study of the Baltinglass Hillfort Complex, which sheds new light on nine individual sites in the area.

ID number(s): 9781784916558 / 9781784916565

Contents: List of Figures – Acknowledgements — Chapter 1: Introduction / William O’Brien — Chapter 2: Prehistoric Hillforts in Ireland and Europe / James O’Driscoll — Chapter 3: Clashanimud Hillfort, Co Cork / William O’Brien — Chapter 4: Other Bronze Age hillforts in Munster/South Leinster / William O’Brien — Chapter 5 [expanded contents]: The Baltinglass Hillfort Landscape of County Wicklow / James O’Driscoll — 5.1: Natural landscape — 5.2: History of research — 5.3: Spinans Hill — 5.4: Kilranlagh — 5.5: Tuckmill Hill — 5.6: Tinoran — 5.7: Hughstown — 5.8: The wider landscape — 5.9: Excavations and finds in the Baltinglass environs — 5.10: Conclusion — Chapter 6 [expanded contents]: The Baltinglass Hillfort Excavations / William O’Brien — 6.1: Spinans Hill 1, Co Wicklow — 6.2: Rathnagree, Co Wicklow — 6.3: Sruhaun, Co Wicklow — 6.4: Tinoran, Co Wicklow — 6.5: Hughstown, Co Kildare — Chapter 7: Chronology / William O’Brien — Chapter 8 [expanded contents]: Modelling the Baltinglass Hillfort Landscape / James O’Driscoll — 8.1: Landscape models for hillfort settlement: a review — 8.2: GIS models of the Baltinglass hillfort landscape –8.3: Modelling hillfort construction at Baltinglass — 8.4: Conclusion — Chapter 9: Hillforts and Warfare in Bronze Age Ireland / William O’Brien — Chapter 10: The Hillfort in Bronze Age Ireland / James O’Driscoll and William O’Brien — Catalogue of Prehistoric Hillforts in Ireland / James O’Driscoll – Bibliography.

Extra #1: Includes over 400 photographs, illustrations and maps.

Extra #2: The cover features a photograph of Brussellstown Ring.

Extra #3: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #4: Link to the Publisher’s website