The 2026 summer school has a social, cultural and academic programme informed by the theme:
Myths, Legends and Laws
The 2026 History Summer School was held over the weekend of the 8th to 10th May. The theme of the school was “Myths, Legends and Laws” /”Miotais, Finscéalta agus Dlíthe”
The weekend events saw one of the best interest and attendance at the 2026 History and Cultural Summer School. Here is a flavour of the weekend events.
Friday 8th May- Morning
Secondary School History Event
In a new departure for the Summer School, there was a talk on researching history by Evan Gallagher who spoke to Leaving Certificate history students from three second level local schools: Coláiste Cholumcille, Magh Ene and Carrick/Slieve League. Evan was introduced by Martina Needham, Chairperson of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School. The talk was informative with about forty students and their teachers attending. Afterwards Martina presented each student with copies of the Summer Schools’ Annual yearbook.
Friday 8th May -Evening
Arrival and Registration
Introduction & Welcome
By Martina Needham, Chairperson
Martina Needham welcomed the assembled audience and spoke about the upcoming weekend events.
Launch of the 2026 Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School
by Dr. Niall Muldoon
The weekend was formally launched by Dr Niall Muldoon, who is the Ombudsman for Children in Ireland. In his talk he explained that his office is calling for the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Irish law, with Dr Muldoon describing this as “the most important thing we can do to protect and safeguard the rights of all children in Ireland.”
Throughout his tenure as Ombudsman for Children, he has championed the rights and needs of children, focusing on issues including access to health services, family justice reform and school places for children with special needs.
Afterwards he presented the Art prizes to the children whose art excelled in the Primary Schools’ Art Competition in four categories: Junior/ Senior Infants; First /Second Class; Third/ Fourth Class/ ;Fifth/ Sixth Class. Six local primary schools took part: Creevy N.S.; Kilbarron N.S.; St. Macartan’s N.S.; Four Masters N.S.; Glebe N.S. and St Ernan’s N.S.
Scéalaíocht/ Storytelling
by Séamus MacAnnaigh
Séamus held the audience, both young and old in thrall, with his tale of the dog giving birth to a pup. Much more with twists and turns to the story but you will have to hear Séamus telling it himself!!
Coláiste Cholumcille School Choir
Comhrá le Caitlín
Saturday 9th May
Aims & Objectives of the 2026 Summer School
By Professor John McCafferty
‘Murder, Memory and Mis-remembering: The Case of Mary Doherty, 1844’
By Dr. Angela Byrne
Angela Byrne is a Donegal native and a historian specialising in Irish migration, women’s history, and the history of travel and exploration. She works at the Dictionary of Irish Biography (Royal Irish Academy)and has previously held research and lecturing positions at the universities of Toronto, Greenwich, Ulster, and Maynooth, and at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, newspapers and history magazines, and has held research fellowships across Europe and North America. Her most recent books include Anarchy and Authority: Irish Encounters with Romanov Russia (Lilliput Press, 2024), Irish Historic Towns Atlas no. 32: Ballyshannon (Royal Irish Academy, 2025) and Finding Mary: The Untold Story of an Inishowen Murder, 1844 (Four Courts Press, 2025). She is a Fellow of the
‘Leabhar Gabhála and Gaelic Identity in the Middle Ages’
By Dr. Patrick Wadden
Dr Patrick Wadden is an Assistant Professor in Medieval History in the School of History and Geography at DCU. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and Oxford University and has previously taught in the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. Before joining DCU, he was Professor of History at Belmont Abbey College, North Carolina, where he taught a range of courses on medieval topics. He has published on a variety of topics related to the history and culture of early Ireland, in both history and Celtic studies journals. He has been a guest on the Medieval Irish History Podcast and contributed to debates on RTE’s Brainstorm which provides a platform to share research. His recent work includes editing volumes on Origin Legends in Early Medieval Western Europe (2022), with Lindy Brady, and An Eoraip: Gaelic Ireland in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (2025), with Brendan Kane. He is a former president of the Celtic Studies Association of North America.
‘Franciscans and Ireland: the order that Mícheál Ó Cléirigh joined’.
By Professor John McCafferty
Professor John McCafferty, Director of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute of the History Department University College Dublin is chair of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, and an Honorary Professor of the History of Catholicism in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. Educated in University College Dublin and at the University of Cambridge, McCafferty is an historian of both Catholicism and Protestantism in early modern Ireland and Britain. McCafferty has made a significant contribution to historical records including editing ” The Act Book of the Diocese of Armagh, 1518-1522″ (2020). The donation of manuscripts and rare books by the Franciscan to UCD has underpinned much of this work. With Dr. James Kelly, he edited the The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, Volume I: Endings and New Beginnings1530–1640 (2023) from Henry VIII’s break with Rome to the outbreak of the civil wars in Britain and Ireland. As Director of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute, he has been involved with the Summer School since the beginning.
Truth and Lies’ – the teller and the tale. (The transmission of a Fermanagh folktale from c1910 to the present day.)
Séamas Mac Annaidh is a Fermanagh-based historian, novelist, broadcaster and Irish-language writer. He has served as a writer-in-residence at Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Ulster at Coleraine, and NUI Galway. He has authored and co-authored a range of history books, covering social, cultural and political topics in Ireland from pre-history to modern times. He is particularly interested in books and other print material from Fermanagh. He spent time as a television and radio presenter with BBC Northern Ireland, as arts editor of Lá, and filmed a series on Irish prisoners in the Tower of London for TG4. He is now a full-time free-lance writer and storyteller. His talk is titled ‘Truth and Lies’ – the teller and the tale. (The transmission of a Fermanagh folktale from c1910 to the present
‘Stories and legends of the Four Masters in nineteenth-century Ireland’
By Dr. Bernadette Cunningham
Dr Bernadette Cunningham has published widely on early modern Ireland. She is the author of The world of Geoffrey Keating: history and myth and religion in seventeenth-century Ireland (Dublin, 2000), co-author (with Raymond Gillespie) of “Stories from Gaelic Ireland: micro histories from the sixteenth-century Irish annals” (Dublin, 2003) and co-editor of Writing Irish History: the Four Masters and their world (Dublin, 2007). Her monograph, “The Annals of the Four Masters. Irish history, kingship and society in the early seventeenth century” (Dublin, 2010) surveys the scholarly and political context that inspired the seventeenth-century annalists and reconstructs the networks of professional expertise and patronage that contributed to the pursuit of scholarship about the Irish past. Her most recent book is “English Countess, Irish Earl: The Social World of Frances, Countess of Clanricard, 1567-1632“, published in 2026. She is a former winner of the Irish Historical Research Prize awarded by the National University of Ireland. Bernadette served as president of the Group for the Study of Irish Historic Settlement, 2010–2013, and chairperson of the Rare Books Group (Library Association of Ireland), 2013–2015. She is now an adjunct associate professor in the History Department, Maynooth University.
Summer School Dinner
Sunday 10th May
Four Masters Tour of Historical sites
The Four Masters tour of historical sites had to spread its wings a little further this year with a trip to the Cavan Burren taking in some of the interesting local historical sites on the way there. There were twenty three people signed up for the trip and apart from seeing interesting places, it was an opportunity to get to meet and chat to many who attended the Summer School weekend.
Lough Melvin
Our first stop was at the Rusheen park just outside the village of Garrison, on the northern shore of Lough Melvin which forms part of the boundary between Counties Leitrim and Fermanagh with the most of the lough in County Leitrim.
The name Melvin is a corruption of the Irish name for the lough “Meilbhe”. Meilbhe was an ancient king of Ireland according to Patrick Weston Joyce ( Irish Local Names Explained). The lough receives the drainage of the western slope of the ” Fermanagh Highlands , ” as also of the northern slopes of the hills to the west of the Kiltyclogher and Manorhamilton road . It drains into the sea along the River Drowes, famed as the location where the Annals of the Four Masters were written.
The Lough has a unique biodiversity with fish such as the Gilleroo ( Giolla Rua) and Sonaghan trout as well as the Ferox trout, one of the oldest trout races to colonise Ireland, perhaps as old as 50,000 years. There is also a unique Char sub-species called Lough Melvin Char (Salvelinus grayi) All these are endangered species and there is a conservation plan in place on the Lough to protect them.
Old Holywell Church (Templerushin)
The hamlet of Holywell takes its name from the nearby holy well dedicated to St Patrick. The origins of the original church are unknown, although there is an oral tradition that it was dedicated to St Ultan, dating it to the 9th or early 10th century. As Dorothy Lowry Corry noted in 1935, it does not appear on maps relating to the Plantation period. She believed it to date to the 13th century. At present the ruins are those of a small medieval church with a lancet window. An interesting feature of the church are the wall cavities (aumbries). Two cavities in the east end of the church were used for holding church vessels, a cavity in the west wall was for the storage of vestments.
In the summer of 1930 Canon McKenna and Dorothy Lowry Corry drew attention to the poor condition of the church building, ensuring partial work in preserving it. The church is at the centre of a number of monuments with a holy well and penitential stones. There is a bullaun stone in the graveyard and a stone cross. ‘The Market Cross’ is a small plain Latin cross made from local sandstone, dating to the 18th century. It is said to originally have been in the village of Holywell and used as a site for sealing deals.
Across the road from the church is the Holywell proper. The well is a large shallow pool; it is known as ‘Dabhach Phádraig’ or Patrick’s Tub. The Register of Clogher states that the well of spring water sprang up at the prayer of St Sinell. The well is noted for its healing qualities, particularly of nervous disorders. Every year penitential stations were performed here from the last Saturday in July until August 15th. Pilgrims would tie rags on the bushes near to the holy well and on the ivy twigs in the church. Prayers were said at two points marked by large boulders, or station stones.
In Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, published in 1837, he notes that there was a fair held regularly at Holywell for cattle and pigs. The market cross still marks that event. Once the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway was opened in 1873, the centre of local commerce moved to the nearby Belcoo where there was a railway station.
Cavan Burren Park
We travelled onwards to the Cavan Burren Park passing the villages of Belcoo and Blacklion. Séamus MacAnnaidh met us at the park and gave us the background to the foundation of the park and its environmental and historic importance. Many of the group took a short walk on a loop that took us to a viewpoint where we could see geographic features in counties Cavan, Fermanagh, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Cavan Burren Park is located on a limestone plateau at a height of approx 295 metres under the shadow of Cuilcagh Mountain. It is widely recognised as one of the finest prehistoric relict landscapes in Ireland – in a sense this place has stood still in time, surrounded by planted forestry since the 1950s and now accessible to for the public to enjoy and preserve.
Geologically the site is located on limestone bedrock, formed in a shallow tropical sea around 340million years ago during a time known as the Carboniferous period. So try, if you can to imagine that this special place was once a very tropical and warm location!
Natural geological features such as a relict river bed, associated dolines and sinkholes across the Lost Valley, where a river sank and disappeared underground, further demonstrate how this amazing pre-glacial landscape would have looked. These features can be seen along trail two and trail three close to the Giant’s Leap.
Then, not that long ago…just about 13,000years during the last Ice Age, huge boulders of sandstone were deposited by glaciers on the limestone bedrock of Cavan Burren. These boulders are known as ‘Glacial Erratics’ and you will see lots of them throughout the park. They sit on pedestals of limestone making them pretty distinctive. The landscape you see today has been greatly altered by the Ice Age
Another big influence on the landscape here at Cavan Burren Park was the arrival of the first settlers to the area. Around 4,500B.C at the very beginning of the Neolithic period it is understood that the first farmers arrived at Burren. They cleared forestry and crated settlements where they lived, worshiped and died. Remains of these settlements are evident from the magnificent archaeological monuments like the Giant’s Grave wedge tomb as well as the remains of old field walls. So geology and archaeology play a huge part in the fabric of Cavan Burren Park. Layer upon layer of prehistory is brought to life through these enigmatic monuments and features.
Lots more information on the Geology and Archaeology of the site can be found in interpretation across the park, by visiting www.cavanburren.ie
All back on the bus, we headed back towards Garrison where we had a light lunch in the Bilberry Restaurant.
Below is the full programme of events:
Welcome to the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School
Fáilte chuig Scoil Samhraidh Mhíchíl Uí Chléirigh
A Summer School for remembering, for learning, for enjoyment. We remember a great local man, Mícheál Ó Cléirigh. We learn from scholars about his story and his times. We begin to understand what this means for us today. And we enjoy ourselves.
We travel to local historic sites. We visit Mícheál’s birthplace. We walk the beautiful Rossnowlagh beach. We talk late into the evening in the local hostelries. Welcome to the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School to a family distinguished by scholarship. His older brother, Maolmhuire (Fr Bernadine) was ordained in Salamanca, Spain, later moving to Louvain, Belgium in 1619 and Michael joined him a few years later. As a lay brother Michael was able to concentrate on historical research and transcription rather than on priestly duties.
In 1626 he was dispatched by a fellow Donegal man, Hugh Ward to Ireland to collect the lives of the Irish saints. This he did. But he also did more. For 10 years, Michael travelled the length and breadth of Ireland gathering the ancient manuscripts and histories wherever he could find them. He and his collaborators transcribed the material into Annála Ríochta na hÉireann (the Annals of the Four Masters). They left us with an incomparable record of the history of Ireland.
The Mícheál Ó Cléirigh School has been set up by a partnership of:
Local Organising Committee
Local people from Ballyshannon, Creevy and Rossnowlagh area in Co. Donegal who wish to preserve the memory of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, a local hero who did so much to preserve the ancient and medieval period of Irish History. The committee begin work in September each year planning the upcoming Summer School
Franciscan Community Rossnowlagh
The Franciscan Friars who established a Friary on Donegal Bay 1474 and played such an important part in Irish writing and scholarship from their monasteries in Ireland and Louvain.
Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute UCD
The Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute at University College Dublin repository of an unparalleled archive of historical documents and the centre of voluminous research on Irish medieval history since its inception in the year 2000. See: www.ucd.ie/mocleirigh
The Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal
Background
2014–
The inaugural programme of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh School took place on Saturday 17th May, 2014. with the theme “Mícheál Ó Cléirigh” The main events were held in the Ó’Cléirigh Hall beside the Franciscan Friary at Rossnowlagh, close by the birthplace of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh on lands that belonged to the Ó Cléirigh clan, prior to 1610. The venue was an appropriate one, as it was built by the Franciscan Friars who returned to Donegal in 1946. They were, of course, influenced by the association of the area with some of the renowned members of their Irish fraternity, such as Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, John Colgan and Hugh Ward. See: Summer School 2014 – Theme Mícheál Ó Cléirigh
2015 –
The Second Mícheál Ó Cléirigh School took place at Rossnowlagh on the weekend of 15th – 17th May, 2015. The theme was “Saints and Scholars” “Naomh agus Scoláirí ” The original purpose of Mícheál Uí Cléirigh’s return to Ireland was to collect information on the many Irish Saints and to record their information. For Further information see: 2015 Theme Saints and Scholars
2016-
The Third Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School was held over the weekend of Friday 27th May to Sunday 29th May 2016. The theme was “Refugees and Strangers” “Dídeanaithe agus Strainséirí ” This examined the exodus of many of the Gaelic nobility who left Ireland for European countries and how they coped by being refugees far from their native land. For Further information see: 2016- Refugees and Strangers: being Irish in Europe 1500-1800
2017-
The Fourth Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School was held over the weekend of Friday 12th May to Sunday 14th May 2017. The theme was “Irish and European” “Gaelach agus Eorpach” The weekend events looked at the relationship between Ireland and European countries in the 16th and 17th Centuries and how this has continued to the present time. For Further information see: 2017- Irish and European
2018-
The Fifth Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School was held over the weekend of Friday 11th May to Sunday 13th May 2018. The theme was “Annals and Earls” “Annála agus Iarlaí ” This looked at the way the Ulster Earls were described in the Annals of the Four Masters and did they have a particular O’Donnell favouritism in their recording of the events of the late 16th and Early 17th Centuries. For Further information see: 2018 Annals & Earls
2019-
The Sixth Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School was held over the weekend of Friday 10th May to Sunday 12th May 2019. The theme was “Migration and Plantation” “Imirce agus Plandáil” The Ulster Plantation had a tremendous effect on the lives of the Gaelic Scholars and they found that their skills and learning was no longer required. For Further information see: 2019 Migration & Plantation
2020-
Due to Covid 19 health restrictions the 2020 Summer School was cancelled.
2021 –
A Virtual Summer School was held from Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th of May. The theme was “Women in Turbulent Times- Mná in Aimshir Chorraithe 1551- 1651” This virtual school looked at the way women of the period recorded events in letters sent to their parents husbands and siblings and how they wrote about the things that mattered to their lives and families. For Further information see: 2021 Women in Turbulent Times
2022-
The 2022 Summer School was held School was held over the weekend of May 7th to 9th, The event was held in the Sandhouse Hotel in Rossnowlagh and the theme was Bloodshed and Retribution Doirteadh Fola agus Díoltas in the period 1530 to 1700. It looked at the changes from the Gaelic system of Brehon Law to the new system of English Common Law and how it differed from that of other parts of England Wales and Scotland. For Further information see: 2022 Bloodshed & Retribution
2023-
The 2023 Summer School was held over the weekend of the 5th -7th May and its theme was Feast – Food- Famine / Féasta- Bia-Ganntanas The various talks explored the hardships of day-to-day life in post medieval Ireland in the period from 1500 to 1800 where seasons good or bad could determine the life expectancy of men, women and children. It examined the importance that food or the lack of it can shape historical events of any period in history. For Further information see: 2023 Feast- Food- Famine
2024
The 2024 Summer School was held over the weekend of Friday 10th May until Sunday 12th May The theme for the weekend was Words, Language and Lore / Focail, Teanga agus Seanchas and it examined how words and language collided in the Ireland of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh. For Further information see: 2024 Words, Language and Lore Focail, Teanga agus Seanchas – Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School
2025
The 2025 Summer School was held over the weekend from Friday 9th May to Sunday 11th May, The theme of the history school was Diaspora and Homecoming /Deoraithe ag Filleadh ar ais go hÉireann. The theme examined the various groups of Irish people left to trade, join armies or looked for political refuge. For further information see: 2025 Summer School: – Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Summer School