Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

THE ‘IRELAND IN PLACE’ PROJECT in association with the Kilkenny Campus of Maynooth University  cordially invite you to attend: Remembering John Bradley (1954-2014)  An informal gathering of friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to pay tribute to the life and achievements of an outstanding Kilkenny scholar Special guest:  Dr. Thomas Herron (East Carolina University, North Carolina USA) who will speak on ‘John Bradley’s American Journeys’  Introduced by Denis Bergin BUTLER HOUSE, PATRICK ST., KILKENNY Sunday June 28th. 2015 at 3.30 p.m. See also: John Bradley - in memoriam Facebook page John Bradley 1954-2014 | A brief tribute blog post

John at work in Rhetoric House, Maynooth, 2001 John Bradley passed away on Friday 7th November 2014 after a short illness. In the time since, there have been a number of tributes to him both as a leading scholar and as a genuinely affable person. These include a statement from Kilkenny Archaeological Society , a piece in the Kilkenny People newspaper, and the setting up of a Facebook memorial page . In time these will, undoubtedly, be followed by considered obituaries in scholarly journals and magazines that critically assess his influence and impact on his areas of study. In the meantime, others have taken to social media to share photographs and memories, offer condolences to those he leaves behind, and voice thanks for his scholarship and friendship. I would simply like to add my voice to this growing body of personal tributes to a great scholar and a genial mentor. May 1977 I first met John during 1990, the final year of my BA degree. As the incumbent staff hadn...

John Bradley at  A nnagassan, Co. Louth. Image ©  Kieran Campbell Posting on behalf of Dr. Melanie C Maddox: Dear All, I would like to organize a session in memory of John Bradley for the Third Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (June 15-17, 2015). I was thinking something along the lines of: The Archaeology & History of Ireland’s Medieval Irish Town: A Session in Memory of John Bradley. I would be happy to present a paper, but I need at least one  more presenters to join me and Linda Doran. If you are interested please email me at mmaddox[replace text with 'at' symbol]citadel.edu. I would also appreciate it if you could share this with anyone you feel might be interested. Proposals for the conference are due December 31st. Sincerely, Dr. Melanie C. Maddox

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] < 3D Images As a follow-up to my recent piece on the monastic site and stone carving collection at Nendrum monastic site [ here ], I thought I should make some mention of Mahee, or ‘Nendrum’ Castle. It’s only a short distance from Nendrum, but is located on a bend with no place for parking, so it’s probably missed by the majority who make the trip out there. My advice is to park at the monastery and walk the couple of hundred metres back to take in this lovely little site. Mahee Castle from the road, with the modern road bridge to the right & Strangford Lough behind The site is the remains of a tower house , buil...

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] Back to main post > Here are a couple of extra photos of the castle site, rendered as 3D (anaglyph) images (click for larger images). To view these, you’ll need to buy a set of the red/blue kind of 3D glasses (or make your own ). Mahee Castle from the road, with the modern road bridge to the right & Strangford Lough behind The rear wall of the castle Back to main post >

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] < Part I | Part III > Loughmoe Castle, Co. Tipperary ( Source ) Welcome back to Session 2, of UCD’s Archaeological Research Seminar People and Their Worlds , dedicated to Medieval Europe. Suitably refreshed after a cup of warm, nourishing coffee we were immediately into the first of the session’s papers on  Loughmoe Castle and the end of the middle ages by Prof. Tadhg O’Keeffe . He began by noting that Loughmoe Castle , near Templemore, Co. Tipperary, is quite familiar to passengers on the Dublin-Cork train, as the railway passes quite close-by. He described ...

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] < 3D Images The Chapple family recently went on an excursion, down through Downpartick, across on the ferry from Strangford to Portaferry, into the Exploris Aquarium (a perennial favourite), and home along the Ards peninsula. In fairness, Portaferry isn’t a huge place … there are only two roads leading out of it that head up the peninsula … there’s the Coach Rd/Deer Park Rd (A20) and the Cloughey Rd (A2). For quite some time now, I’ve wanted to visit the Derry Churches just outside Portaferry … and I’ve always managed to take the wrong road. This time I wasn’t leaving anything to chance, and went off with maps, memorised di...