Project Updates
Watch the Legacy of Landscape Launch recording below!
The Lough Erne Landscape Partnership (LELP) invites you to join us at the virtual launch of our exciting new two-year engagement programme – Legacy of Landscape: The People and Heritage of Lough Erne on Wednesday 19th May at 7:30 pm, with guest speaker Ciaran McMenamin – Fermanagh native, author and actor. This event will explore our new project, which is focussed on discovering, celebrating and preserving the culture and traditions of the Lough Erne region, both past and present.
Supported through funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Community Foundation Northern Ireland, this project will be delivered in collaboration with the Centre for Community Archaeology (CCA) and the Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis(CDDA) at Queen’s University Belfast. The initiative focusses on the built and cultural heritage of Lough Erne, and volunteers can enrol to get access to a suite of FREE ‘at home’ learning opportunities where they can develop and learn new skills and share valuable stories, capturing and promoting the unique and special heritage of the Erne’s landscape and communities.
There are 5 key heritage studies within the programme that are focused around the themes of:
- Memories: Life on the Erne
- Studying Vernacular Buildings
- Enniskillen: The Development of the Island Town
- Mapping the Built Heritage of the Islands
- Power & Pageantry: Exploring Fermanagh in the Times of the Maguires
In order to address the current restrictions due to the pandemic, the collective QUB team have developed the LELP Online Heritage Campus. Spearheaded by Dr Siobhán McDermott, this exciting new online learning experience offers you a FREE course of five four-week long ‘toolkits’ or virtual learning experiences that enable you as volunteers to receive tuition from the safety of your own home!
Throughout this two-year project, in addition to our learning sessions, there will be opportunities to participate in the field with archaeological excavations, site visits, buildings recording field schools, as well as a lecture series, online talks, and your chance to contribute towards the development of a dynamic and interactive ‘Memory Map’, showcasing the rich and unique cultural heritage of the Erne.
So, what do we expect from you?
All we expect is an enthusiastic attitude and an interest in conserving and promoting the heritage of the region. Our online tutors will be available to help, advise, and support you from 10am-4pm Monday to Friday. You do not need to have any previous experience in any of our topics. We will see you through!
Please join us to hear more about our project on Wednesday 19th May. Our guest speaker, Ciaran McMenamin, will treat us to a reading from his latest book The Sunken Road, in addition to excerpts from his 2017 novel Skintown, sharing with us how the landscapes of Lough Erne have influenced his writing. Amongst musical interludes from Fermanagh singer songwriter Sean Magee, we are also delighted to be joined by Professor Eileen Murphy, Professor of Archaeology at the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast, who will provide more information about the innovative work we will be undertaking around Fermanagh.
Would you like to have an opportunity at being an archaeologist on your doorstep?
Following on from their successful excavation at the “Backstreets” area of Enniskillen in 2021, the Lough Erne Landscape Partnership (LELP) will be undertaking their second community excavation in September 2022.
Funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the location for this year’s investigation will be Lisnaskea with the excavation conducted as part of the LELP project entitled “People, Place, Power and Pageantry: Exploring Fermanagh in the time of the Maguires”, undertaken in collaboration with the archaeologists from the Centre for Community Archaeology at Queen’s University Belfast.
The Lisnaskea area was the heartland of the Maguire lordship during the Medieval period, with their inauguration centre based at Cornashee outside the modern town, and this was once a landscape of great political power. The focus of the excavation will be a large ringfort – a defended enclosure – at Lisdoo, which is thought may have been the main residence of the Maguire lords before they moved to where the early seventeenth century Castle Balfour was later built. Previous work at Lisdoo back in the 1970’s highlighted that this ringfort was certainly an important place and this fieldwork hopes to amplify our understanding of the monument and its part in Lisnaskea’s Maguire story.
A huge thank you to the local landowner of the site and once again LELP are delighted to receive support from the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. The excavation will run over the course of three weeks, from Wednesday 7 September to Tuesday 27 September and – as was the case last year – members of the public who want to try their hand at being archaeologists will be able to take part in the fieldwork by registering with LELP. There will be daily afternoon sessions, from 2.00pm to 4.00pm, from Thursday 8 September through to Friday 23 September.
If you would like to take part in this very exciting excavation please contact the team at info@lelp.org.uk.
Following on from their successful excavation at the “Backstreets” area of Enniskillen in 2021, the Lough Erne Landscape Partnership (LELP) are undertaking their second community excavation until 23rd September.
Funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the location for this year’s investigation is Lisnaskea with the excavation conducted as part of the LELP project entitled “People, Place, Power and Pageantry: Exploring Fermanagh in the time of the Maguires”, undertaken in collaboration with the archaeologists from the Centre for Community Archaeology at Queen’s University Belfast.
The Lisnaskea area was the heartland of the Maguire lordship during the Medieval period, with their inauguration centre based at Cornashee outside the modern town, and this was once a landscape of great political power. The focus of the excavation will be a large ringfort – a defended enclosure – at Lisdoo, which is thought may have been the main residence of the Maguire lords before they moved to where the early seventeenth century Castle Balfour was later built. Previous work at Lisdoo back in the 1970’s highlighted that this ringfort was certainly an important place and this fieldwork hopes to amplify our understanding of the monument and its part in Lisnaskea’s Maguire story.
LELP Programme Manager Elmarie Swanepoel stated:
“We are delighted to be carrying out this fabulous community excavation here in Lisnaskea, the Maguires are such an important part of the history of the Lough Erne region, especially the Lisnaskea area. We are excited to see what the team and volunteers will uncover here on this site and would like to thank Mrs Jordan for allowing us to carry out the dig on her land. We look forward to welcoming members of the community to take part in the excavation and be part of unearthing the heritage of the site.”
Pupils of St Ronans Primary School have been in attendance this week and have been enjoying learning about the history of the site and being young archaeologists searching for what is buried beneath the ground. Throughout the dig many local schoolchildren will visit the site and have the opportunity to get Dug in.
A huge thank you to the local landowner Mrs Jordan and once again LELP are delighted to receive support from the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. The excavation will run over the course of three weeks, from Wednesday 7 September to Tuesday 27 September and – as was the case last year – members of the public who want to try their hand at being archaeologists will be able to take part in the fieldwork by registering with LELP. There will be daily afternoon sessions, from 2.00pm to 4.00pm, from Thursday 8 September through to Friday 23 September. If you would like to take part in this very exciting excavation please contact the team at info@lelp.org.uk.