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You are here: HomenextExplore our archivenextTopicsnextTraditional Boats of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Traditional Boats of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

My name is Noel Campbell, I am the curator of traditional Irish boats in the Irish Folklife Division of the National Museum of Ireland.

National Museum of Ireland curator Noel Campbell. © Noel Campbell.

The National Museum of Ireland - Country Life is currently developing a gallery at Turlough Park in Castlebar, Co. Mayo for the permanent display of a selection of boats from the Irish Folklife collection. The gallery will focus on the traditional boats of the Atlantic coast with boats and associated material from counties along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.

In this blog, I will post updates on the development of the gallery, as well as posting on my research and fieldwork on traditional boats along the west coast of Ireland.

In planning the gallery, I aim to visit museums, heritage centres, clubs, boatyards, coastal and fishing communities, boat builders, experts, harbours and strands from the Northern Headlands in Donegal to the Haven Coast in Cork.

Please feel free to leave a comment on any of the posts.

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    Introduction

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    October was a busy month in terms of the development of our new boat gallery. A kick-off workshop was held ...
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    My recent visit to the National Folklore Collection in University College Dublin to view its boat and fishing related material, ...
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    The National Ploughing Championships is back after a hiatus of two years due to the Covid pandemic. On the first ...
  • Exciting progress at Turlough Park boat gallery

    Exciting progress at Turlough Park boat gallery

    The planned boat gallery at the National Museum of Ireland – Country life took an important step to realisation a ...
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    Earlier this year I published a post on the energetic work behind a push to revive interest in the large, ...
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    Community engagement central to boat gallery development

    The development of the new traditional boat gallery at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life is progressing to ...
  • A new addition to the Irish Folklife boat collection

    A new addition to the Irish Folklife boat collection

    A year ago I wrote a post about the model boats in the Irish Folklife collection. We were very fortunate ...
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    Researching the Belderrig currach

    The Belderrig¹ currach was a sturdy, twenty-three feet long, five-man currach used along the north Mayo coast. By 1927, thirteen ...
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    Storm season in Sligo eighty years ago

    Storm Barra has left us in no doubt that the 2021-22 storm season is upon us. Barra, the second named ...
  • Mayo defences against the wild Atlantic weather

    Mayo defences against the wild Atlantic weather

    In May 1955, the Director of the National Museum of Ireland, A.T. Lucas and leading Irish folklorist, Kevin Danaher travelled ...
  • The last fisherman of Portdoon, Inishturk

    The last fisherman of Portdoon, Inishturk

    Like generations of his family before him, Mikey O’Toole often sits in his house in Ballyheer, Inishturk and looks down ...
  • 1970s Inis Oírr - an American's diary

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    The National Museum of Ireland’s online exhibition Making a currach – Michael Conneely has resurrected strong memories and returned positive ...
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    The success of Skibbereen rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy at the Tokyo Olympics was celebrated across Ireland and quite ...
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    Clare students get a taste of the sea on Lough Derg

    One of the attractive characteristics of the currach is its accessibility. They are relatively easy to transport and handle on ...
  • The rebirth of a nobby in south-east Galway

    The rebirth of a nobby in south-east Galway

    I had a very welcome email recently from John Tynan, the secretary of the Cork-based currach rowing club Naomhóga Chorcaí. ...
  • Making a currach - Michael Conneely, a new National Museum of Ireland online exhibition

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    The currach, with its primitive design of wooden frame and waterproof skin, is the best known of all the Irish ...
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  • Dónal Mac Polin artwork donated to National Museum of Ireland – Country Life

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    The National Museum of Ireland – Country Life received a very generous donation of 18 boat prints recently from artist ...
  • Remembering our West of Ireland Boats: Your Stories

    Remembering our West of Ireland Boats: Your Stories (19)

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