Explore the hidden historical records of the west of Ireland…with Dr Liam Alex Heffron
Several million people can trace their ancestry to the west of Ireland, but only some know how…
and even less know why….
If the blood of the west of Ireland runs in your veins or not, our mission is to connect you to our hidden landscapes and lost communities of the recent (and sometimes not so recent) past. Through folk memories, heritage records, local history and archaeological sites, together we can share in stories from one the most exceptional regions in the world.
“The gorse was in bloom, the fuchsia hedges were already budding; wild green hills, mounds of peat; yes, Ireland is green, very green, but its green is not only the green of meadows, it is the green of moss - certainly here, beyond Roscommon, toward County Mayo - and Moss is the plant of resignation, of forsakenenness. The country is forsaken, it is being slowly but steadily depopulated...”
Germany’s greatest writer and Nobel laureate, Heinrich Böll, could feel the lonely sorrow of the west of Ireland permeate his being as he ventured here in the middle of the last century. Today, remnants of the stories of the ‘old people’ linger in the shadows of ruined history, where ancient landscapes still whisper the names of those generations who had to journey across the ocean and ‘go into the West’, denuding the land of its people and their stories.
Yet, some remained… and have kept their communities alive, breathing life into the records of the past, so that the old stories may yet be read aloud to long-lost sons and daughters returning from over sea and lands.
An invisible thread links a land to its people and may become visible once you know where to look…
““The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.””
Tolkien had a strange relationship with Ireland and her Celtic mythology, but perhaps his legendarium of Middle Earth provides inspiration to understand the deep history of west of Ireland, which has experienced generational trauma of wars, famines, emigration, poverty and oppression, in a wild landscape of painful beauty, with intermingled hope and loss. Tolkien’s love of maps, poetry, language and landscape to make sense of the peoples of his books, is shared by us, to carry explorers along their own journeys of investigation.
But this not a museum display for a dead civilisation, nor a jigsaw of genealogical data points on a family tree. We are building a vibrant, living narrative where the past feeds the present and provides some meaning as to our place within it. To understand this corner of the planet, to breath in its stories, countryside, traditions and heritage, is to know more of our shared humanity and what motivates our actions of today, and also of the actions of others - whether we can trace our ancestors here, or not.
“Liam’s expertise, infectious enthusiasm and sense of fun, made our joint quest into the recesses of confusion of Irish archives a memorable and joyful journey. His understanding of history and how seemingly ‘ordinary people’ had an extraordinary place within that, made it something we will not forget”.
— Joe Greaney, past-President of EBN, the European BIC Network
Meet Dr Liam Alex Heffron, the historian behind History and Heffron platform…
“I know I am biased, as a native, but I genuinely believe that the old stories and surviving records from the west of Ireland can resonate even with people who never heard of Ireland or live thousands of miles away. Join me on our quest to dig up new records never before publicly seen or reinterpret existing works in radically different understandings.
I hope we can learn from the stories of our past, not to forget what happened but to understand, not to seek justification but to forgive and not to hope but have faith, … and maybe discover how our own personal story began long before we were ever born…