What is Cultural Heritage but the all encompassing realm of how humankind leaves its mark on a place over time? This loose definition, by its very nature, covers a huge area of interests such as our built heritage (i.e. archaeology, architecture, monuments, etc.) and our wildlife (i.e. introduction of species, farming practices, etc.) and also extends to include our creative outputs such as literature, art, language, music, folklore, etc. as well as our sporting heritage.

As such Cultural Heritage encompasses both the tangible and intangible realms of culture as well as natural heritage. The following definition on Wikipedia tends to satisfactorily convey what cultural heritage is all about -

"Cultural Heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts (cultural property) and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Cultural heritage includes tangible culture (such as buildings, monuments, landscapes, books, works of art, and artifacts), intangible culture (such as folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge), and natural heritage (including culturally-significant landscapes, and biodiversity)"
 

Cultural Heritage in the County of Cork

In the County of Cork there is a fantastically rich element of cultural heritage, not surprising for Ireland's largest County area with a population of almost 400,000 people, (399,216 to be exact and over half a million people taking in the city!) as recorded in the 2011 Census. The fact that Cork City was designated Europe's Capital of Culture is 2005 is testament to this rich cultural heritage but the culture of Cork extends far beyond the reaches of just the city.

The entire county is steeped in cultural heritage. With two Gaeltacht areas -Cape Clear (Oileán Chléire) and Muskerry (Múscraí) - the Irish language as well as Irish customs including music, sports, literature, etc. are alive and kicking and Cork is renowned for it's various festivals including the Story Telling Festival in Cape Clear, the Medieval Festival in Youghal and of course the Mitchelstown Food Festival to mention but a few.

It is a long road in the county of Cork that you won't find an element of cultural heritage nearby, with gaelic games taking place in adjacent pitches, arts and crafts shops scattered along country roads, trad sessions on in nearby pubs and just by talking to a local you will realise that Cork people have a personality all to their own, a by-product of our collective cultural heritage.
 

The Heritage Unit and Cultural Heritage:

The Heritage Unit has been continuously involved with the cultural side of heritage and has supported a number of different projects and initiatives in this field over the years. Below are a few examples of projects within the cultural heritage remit that have been either undertaken or supported by the Heritage Unit of Cork County Council and of note is that there are many further projects in the pipeline for 2012 and beyond.


Oral History - Relating to Religious Sites, Customs and Festivals

This undertaking relates to Action 1.11 of the County Heritage Plan - "Identify and promote customs associated with sites and religious festivals".

The aim of this project was to develop a collection of oral history records examining various facets of the cultural life of the County and thereby capture information which may be in danger of being lost as the older generation passes away. In this first year of the project the focus of the recordings was on aspects of cultural life relating to religious customs and practises surrounding holy days, pilgrimages and holy sites as well as customs relating to death and burials. The records (recordings and transcripts) will be held by the City and County Archives and will be accessible to the public through the public office of the Archive.

The design of the project, identification of interviewees, collection and recording of interviews and the transcription of the records was carried out by the Northside Folklore Project in association with UCC. A total of 16 Interviews were carried out by Dr. Margaret Humphries of UCC with a range of people aged mainly between 70 and 80. Interview locations included people from Bantry, Drommahane, Millstreet, Ballyhea, Coachford, Ballingeary, Ballyvourney, Rathcormac, Castlelyons and Fermoy. The original recordings and transcripts will be held in the City and County Archives.

Material collected spanned the topics of religious rituals associated with life cycles, calendar festivals, pilgrimages, processions, confraternities, station masses and various related customs and practices.


National Famine Commemoration Day

This undertaking relates to Objective One of the County Heritage Plan - "To raise awareness and to promote appreciation and enjoyment of the heritage of County Cork".

Minister Éamon Ó Cúiv, on behalf of the Irish Government in early 2009, announced that there is to be a National Day to commemorate the Great Famine. The location for the commemoration will rotate between the four provinces of Ireland and there will also be an annual international commemoration in tandem with this.

The first National Famine Commemoration took place in Skibbereen, in West Cork, on May 17th 2009 and there was a corresponding ceremony held in Grosse Ile Quarantine Station in Canada. Skibbereen, an area that is synonymous with the Great Famine, organised a full week of Famine-related events in recognition of its important Famine heritage including talks, walks, music, drama and commemorations. There was international participation too with Gary White Deer, of the Choctaw Nation, travelling to Skibbereen to talk about his people's donation to the Irish people in 1847. Professor Mark McGowan, author of 'To Death or Canada', also travelled to Skibbereen as the Canadian representative and spoke about how Canada coped with the influx of Irish fleeing from the calamity.

The week was a phenomenal success, with record numbers of people attending all events and almost €7000 raised for charities working with Famine today, indicating that there is a huge interest in this important era of Irish history. The events of the week were filmed and released on DVD (entitled "The Great Famine: Remember Skibbereen", making a permanent record of this inaugural commemoration.

Funding provided through the County Heritage Plan supported the promotion of the event.


Cork Local Studies Exhibition (2005 to 2007)

This undertaking relates to Action 1.10 of the County Heritage Plan - "Highlight the nationally unique, county specific resource of the Cork Local Studies Collection held in the Co. Library via exhibitions in local branch libraries to coincide with Heritage Week".

The Cork Local Studies Collection is a unique collection of documents and photographs relating to people, events and places in Cork. The aim of the project is to make elements of the Local Studies Collection accessible to the public and to highlight the collection and stimulate interest in local heritage generally.

Between 2005 and 2007 exhibitions containing a wide variety of documents and photographs have been displayed during heritage week throughout the County in such places as Skibbereen, Mallow, Youghal, Macroom,. Bantry and Bandon. The Exhibitions often had different themes such as a focus on the history of railways in the County of Cork in (2006) and on the 150th establishment of the "Skibbereen Eagle" (2007). The exhibition material was put together by staff of the County Library.


Production of a Names Book for Cork

This undertaking relates to Action 3.19 of the County Heritage Plan - "Produce the Ordnance Survey Names Book for Cork and make this available in the County Library"

The names books are handwritten references to placenames that are contained in the original pocket notebooks used by the Ordnance Survey fieldworkers and date from 1824 onwards. The original books are only available in the National Archive. Logainmneacha Chorcaigh have transcribed the majority of this information as part of a larger project that they are involved in to collect the placenames of Co. Cork. As an action of the County Heritage Plan in conjunction with Logainmneacha Chorcaigh, work was undertaken on re-producing the Names Book for Cork. There are now over 100 volumes of references to Cork Place Names held in the County Library, Cork. Click here to visit the Cork and Kerry Placenames Survey website.


Guidelines on the Naming of New Developments

This undertaking relates to Action 2.16 of the County Heritage Plan - "Produce Guidelines for development and County Council Planners on the Naming of New Developments"

County Cork has a rich source of placenames, with 5,600 townlands in the County and over 100,000 references to places in the Cork Placenames Archive. The aim of this project was to produce an information leaflet for developers to encourage the use of existing placenames in the naming of new developments, to publicise sources of information on this aspect of our heritage and to promote awareness of placenames generally. The text of this document was prepared by the Heritage Officer with input from Mr. Tim Cadogan and Mr. Richard Forrest from the County Library. Prior to the publication of this guidance leaflet, In 2006, the Community and Enterprise Department of Cork County Council with the support of the Heritage Unit established the Cork Placenames Committee which had as its purpose, the promotion of using existing placenames in the naming of new developments for both public and private sector developments and to advise the Council on the naming of such developments.

Click here to view a copy of this guidance leaflet. 
 

For Further Information on Cultural Heritage within the County Area of Cork:

Contact the Heritage Officer, Cork County Council, Floor 3, County Hall,Cork.

Phone: 021 4276891                                 Email: cork.heritage@corkcoco.ie 

Relevant legislation and Useful Weblinks:

LEGISLATION:

National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997
National Archives Act 1986
Civil Registration Act, 2004

USEFUL LINKS:

Culture Ireland
Cultural Heritage Ireland
National Archives
Cork Heritage Website


More useful links are available on the quick links page.