Welcome to the Traditional Skills of Ireland Courtyard at Flavours of Fingal! Discover the rich heritage and craftsmanship of Ireland through hands-on demonstrations and exhibits. From stone masonry to blacksmithing, and tapestry weaving to pot making, immerse yourself in the timeless skills that have shaped our culture. Join us in celebrating the artisans who keep these traditions alive.
Fingal contains over 1,000 monuments and archaeological sites recorded to date, almost 800 protected structures, 32 Architectural Conservation Areas, 22 geological heritage sites and 127 historic demesnes. These include everything from the earliest evidence of humans almost 10,000 years ago near Balbriggan to the 62 thatch structures across the County. Along with our folklore, traditions and memories these make us Fingal. Find our more at the Heritage & Conservation tent or at https://www.fingal.ie/heritage-and-conservation
Meet the Heritage Officer:
Heritage is not just about old things-although we have a lot of those in Fingal! Heritage includes everything we inherit from our past that shapes our identity and way of life today and what we preserve for the future. Hear about our current projects-Historic Street Elements Audit; Fingal’s Coastal Zone; Climate Change & Heritage; Digging Drumanagh and 10 years of Fingal’s Community Archaeology Programme at the Traditional Skills Courtyard.
Meet the Architectural Conservation Officers:
Learn how buildings were made in the past, using mud, lime, stone, brick, metal, straw and timber. See craftspeople and conservation contractors working with these materials. Ask how best to repair old buildings. Discover more about your own historic home by finding out where you can locate historic maps, early photographs and drawings or written sources on your local area. Visit the Traditional Skills of Ireland Courtyard @Flavours of Fingal.
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Participants Include:
• National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/National Built Heritage Service
• Fingal Heritage & Conservation
• Nolan’s Group Brick Conservation
• O’Flaherty Stone
• Dylan McGuirk - Mud Walling
• Tom King Forge - Blacksmith
• Uisce Jakubczyk- Embroidery, Tapestry, weaving
• Petra Skyvova - Spining wheel and skein winder + pop up exhibition
• Irish Patchwork Society
• Dee Synott - Wood Turning
• Wicklow Willow- Willow Fencing
• School of Irish Archaeology - Pot Making
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/National Built Heritage Service
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) and National Built Heritage Service (NBHS) are delighted to return to Donabate for Flavours of Fingal 2025. The NIAH compiles and maintains the national database of Ireland's rich architectural and designed landscape heritage on www.buildingsofireland.ie and we look forward to meeting visitors who may have information to help improve records in the Building Survey and Garden Survey. Visitors won't leave empty-handed and there'll be plenty of architectural heritage-related books and postcards to take away. We'll also have copies of the Advice Series publications which are designed to assist custodians and owners in the care, maintenance and repair of their historic structures. The NBHS will be on hand to explain the financial and professional supports available to custodians and owners of historic structures including the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) and Historic Structures Fund (HSF).
Dylan McGuirk - Mud Walling
Dylan McGuirk Conservation. I use traditional skills and traditional materials to conserve our built heritage. I work with wood, lime, mud and stone and residing in Wexford we specialise in mud wall repairs. Ireland was once covered with mud wall houses and theres still a few around especially in wexford and a lot of them have been badly abused over the years with bad maintenance and repairs with the wrong materials (cement) so I'm on a mission to save as many as I can! Mud/clay is such an amazing and versatile material that we should be using a lot more of, not just for repairing old buildings but also as a sustainable material for new builds too. My Instagram and Facebook is @Woodlandcrafted
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Uisce A. Jakubczyk is a weaver and fibre arts teacher from Poland, living in Ireland since 2004. She is the author of the “Women of Fingal” woven tapestry, which is currently on display in the Chapel of Swords Castle. At the Flavours of Fingal event, Uisce will be showing weaving techniques, a traditional skill which is deeply anchored in Irish heritage. She will also be presenting her personal approach to the art of weaving, using materials taken directly from nature and involving various up-cycled materials. Come along and try some weaving yourself!
Website: uisceart.com Facebook: UisceArt Instagram: uiscesart Behance: www.behance.net/uisceart
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Petra Skyvova holds an MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from UCD. She is an artist, arts projects co-ordinator and craft historian with a keen interest in Irish traditional arts and crafts, folklore and mythology. At the Flavours of Fingal County Show she will be presenting wool crafts and demonstrating traditional methods of wool spinning.
https://www.instagram.com/petruskasky/
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Nolans Group Conservation & Restoration, a well-respected specialist conservation firm working in the Irish conservation field for over 25 years will be demonstrating various traditional skills including masonry repointing using natural hydraulic lime mortars and brick making a traditional skill they have brought back to Ireland in the past few years. Join master craftspersons from Nolans Group Conservation & Restoration to make your own brick. Using traditional techniques each attendee can make and model their own miniature brick which they can initial and take home with them (unfired). Old clothes advised as attendees will be working with wet clay.
Website: www.nolansgroup.ie
Twitter/X: @TheNolansGroup
Instagram: nolansgroup
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The Irish Patchwork Society was founded in 1981 to promote the practice and art of Patchwork, Applique and Quilting in Ireland. The Eastern Branch is based in Dublin and we meet monthly. We provide talks, demonstrations, workshops and classes for beginners and experienced sewing enthusiasts. New members are always welcome.
Visit our website on www.irishpatchworksociety.wildapricot.org
Follow us on Instagram at ipseastern.
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Killian O’Flaherty, 8th generation Stonemason based in “The Granite Village” of Ballyknockan, County Wicklow. I run my own Masonry Conservation and Craft company with my sister Petra, the First registered Female Stonemason Apprentice in Ireland in over 30 years, as an apprentice.
The medium I most prefer to work with is Granite, in particular Irish Granite and even more so as it is all around me, above and below, Ballyknockan Granite. It is an extraordinary medium to work with because it has the advantage that it lasts. It doesn’t rot, it doesn’t rust. I consider myself very grateful to work with it.
I believe there is a huge potential in my craft to secure its future by respecting its past.
I am passionate about making the public aware that this craft is a living one, and while many are shocked that we can do what we do in granite, a notoriously challenging and hard stone, I know it can be crafted and sculpted to become anything and we want people to know this as well.
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Dee Synott
Dee Synott makes handmade wooden items turned on a foot-powered lathe and hand carved items made with axe, knife and spoon knife. Using age-old woodworking skills Dee is passionate about traditional crafts and is excited to share his love of traditional woodcraft skills. www.deesynottwoodcraft.com @dee.synnottwoodcraft
Tom King-An Gobha
Tom King is an award winning blacksmith. Take part in an interactive experiences of traditional metal forging as demonstrated by the character An Gobha - The Blacksmith of the Boyne Valley. See how working with fire and anvil can produce beautiful hand crafted pendants made while hearing the stories and myths of the past. Instagram: an_gobha
School of Irish Archaeology
School of Irish Archaeology specialise in a variety of fun ancient craft and technology workshops for children. Ceramics are one of the most widely found artefacts in the archaeological record and a reliable tool for dating and understanding the diets of our ancestors. Neolithic Pottery making is an engaging workshop for families and particularly children as we explore this very important ancient craft. Come and make and decorate pots with traditional designs.
Visit our website on https://sia.ie/
Join Pat from Wicklow Willow and learn how to make a traditional Wattle panel. These panels were used in Ireland's earliest homesteads, and until recent decades, were also used as hurdles for agriculture, easily moved to pen livestock. Pat will also be demonstrating the craft of planting 'Living Willow Fedges' (fence/hedge) - showing you how and when to plant these resilient plants in a lattice-work pattern that will grow bigger and stronger each year. Learn about willow-working, growing and harvesting, the tools used and the wide range of historic uses for willow throughout Ireland's history.
Fingal Heritage (https://www.facebook.com/fingalculturalheritage/ and @FingalHeritage Instragram. fingalheritage
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Supported by the Heritage Council the Traditional Skills of Ireland is an action of the Fingal Heritage Plan 2024-2030.