Discovering Historic Fingal – A Guide to Studying Fingal’s Built Heritage

Fingal County Council recently launched a new guide to the study of the county’s rich archaeological and architectural heritage.  Recent years have seen a growth in interest in local history, folklore, genealogy and related topics, and this new guide provides essential source material for anyone interested in researching the built heritage of Fingal.

The guide, titled Discovering Historic Fingal: A Guide to the Study of Monuments, Historic Buildings and Landscapes was launched by Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Michael O’Donovan on Wednesday 10th December at County Hall, Swords. Speaking at the launch the Mayor said: “I’m delighted to launch Discovering Historic Fingal here this evening. This is a wonderful publication which will be of great value to all those interested in exploring the history of their own local area”. The Mayor also announced that he will send a copy to each school in the County in the coming weeks.

The launch was also attended by County Manager, David O’Connor, the Council’s Conservation and Heritage Officers, Helena Bergin and Gerry Clabby and by representatives of local historical societies.

The Guide, written for the general reader by historian Jason Bolton, introduces the essential source material for researching the built heritage of the County. This includes books, and other written materials, maps, illustrations, photographs, models, artefacts and the buildings and monuments themselves. It highlights the major periods of Fingal’s history, each of which has left a legacy of monuments and historic buildings in the landscape. It introduces the many sources of information available to anyone interested in researching an aspect of their local history and highlights some of the more unusual sources of information such as the 20th century photographic and film archive held by RTE and the growing aerial photography record for the County.

This publication, which was co-funded by Fingal County Council and The Heritage Council, is the result of a project undertaken as part of the implementation of the Fingal Heritage Plan. It addresses the need to make more information on Fingal’s heritage accessible to its citizens which is one of the major objectives of the Heritage Plan.   The Council hopes the information provided in the Guide will stimulate an increased interest in Fingal’s heritage among the County’s citizens, building on the valuable work being carried out by the many local historical societies in Fingal.

Copies of the Guide are available free of charge from the Council’s Heritage Officer, at County Hall, Swords (Tel. 01-890 5697) or by emailing heritage@fingalcoco.ie

Further information from:

Ann Murphy, Assistant Communications Officer, Fingal County Council,

T: 01-870 4453   M: 087 990 8470   E: ann.murphy@fingalcoco.ie