Balbriggan & District Historical Society is looking forward to a busy time this month.

We are delighted to announce we will hold a Pop Up Museum on the two weekends 25th and 26th May and 1st & 2nd June during Summerfest to display a small sample of the significant number of our historical Artefacts and photographs and videos which are of huge local and national interest. Topics featured will include the Linen & textile industry including Smyco, Harry Reynolds, The Sack of Balbriggan, Bremore Castle, the Bathhouse and Boathouse and some of our extensive 1893 local Balbriggan photo collection. The exhibition will take place in the Pop Up Museum space on the corner of Clonard St and Bridge St, beside Central Pub. All are welcome and admission is free. On May 29th we welcome Aiden Arnold for a talk based on his recent book Barnewall de Berneval - 800 years of a Norman Irish family. As we all know the Barnewall family were associated with Bremore Castle in Balbriggan so this will be of huge interest. We have already had a great start to 2024 as we welcomed Gerard Shannon for a well researched and facinating talk on Liam Lynch in March. General Liam Lynch was one of the most important republican leaders of the Irish revolutionary period. But for many his life story wasn’t very well known and Gerry’s talk intoduced us to his early life and family and his role in the IRA and also gave great insight into the war of independence and the tragedy of the Civil war. For our April talk we welcomed local historian and indeed a Committee member our own Jim Walsh for a talk on the tragedy of the Bolingbroke children in 1930. His talk told of their death in a fire in Balbriggan, and the impact on the Bolingbroke family and the community of a tragedy remembered in Balbriggan almost a century later.
All our talks take place in the Bracken Court Hotel at 8pm on the last Wednesday of the month, and all are welcome. Membership is €15, €20 family, or €10 for seniors or you can pay €5 for any individual talk.