Dr. Niamh NicGhabhan, who has researched extensively on this little oratory, brought us through this fascinating journey, which began in 1925, when it was realised that Friar’s Island and the Oratory would be completely submerged because of the rising water levels due to Shannon Hydro-Electric Scheme.

Three options for the future of St. Lua’s Oratory were examined
1. Repair and strengthen the oratory and allow it to be submerged;
2. Erect an 18ft concrete circular plinth, which would be floodlit;
3. Move it stone by stone from the island to a new location.

Initially, Option 2 was the preferred option for all bodies involved. Even though it was due to cost a massive £1,700, it was felt that it would be a huge tourist attraction for the area.
However, Bishop Michael Fogarty, Killaloe, said that the oratory was a religious and historical icon for Roman Catholics in Killaloe and argued that it should be moved to a location where more than “the birds in the sky” could visit it!
Suffice to say, Bishop Michael Fogarty, won his argument and in 1928, St. Lua’s Oratory was taken down, each stone was marked individually and moved in a flat-bottomed barge called “St. Lua” to the mainland in Ballina where it was brought by donkey and cart to the current site where it still stands today!

Úna Kierse, daughter of the late Seán Kierse, read a recollection by Sr. Paul Byrne, Killaloe, from 1994, of attending the last mass held in St. Lua’s Oratory before it was moved from Friar’s Island – this highlighted how important this final mass was to the people of Killaloe and Ballina.

We would like to say a huge thanks to Niamh for a fantastic informative lecture which gave us all a further insight into the life of this little Oratory.

If you would like to find out more, we have provided Niamh’s recommendations for further reading below –
Medieval Ireland and the Shannon Hydro-Electric Scheme: reconstructing the past in independent Ireland by Niamh NicGhabhann;

Churches in Early Medieval Ireland by Tomás O Carragain;

A Dictionary of Irish Saints by Pádraig Ó’Riain

We would also like to say a huge thanks to the Lakeside Hotel and Leisure Centre for hosting our lectures.

Our first foray to the Tipperary side of the river went down a treat. Dr Kevin Griffin of the Dublin Institute of Technology (but more importantly, of Ballina!) aimed to ‘taunt, tantalise, tease, and torment’ us, and he accomplished all of this very well yesterday evening. We were guided through an extensive list of the online sources for the study of Ballina’s historical landscape, all of which are freely available to use. These included map, document, and photo archives, and many of them were new to us. Kevin then turned the tables on us, asking us what great remnants of the past lie lurking in our own communities, and challenged us to figure out how best we could collect up these important fragments and then share them. There was so much food for thought, and it is fair to say that everyone went home with their head spinning with new ideas for new local history focuses and projects!

A few of the online sources mentioned by Kevin are:

• The Historic Environment Viewer
• The National Folklore Collection
• Historic OSI Maps
• Griffith’s Valuation Maps
• Beal An Atha Facebook Photo Albums 
• Tipperary Photo Archive

Thank you so much to Kevin, who drove a round trip of many hours to deliver this lecture to us. We did send him off with a coffee after to keep him awake! We are so grateful to scholars like Kevin who are so willing and so enthusiastic to share their own hard won research and experience with us.

The December talk is on the first Wednesday of December instead of the last, and that means it is next week! Find out all the details here, and see you there! Don’t forget we will have our fundraiser greeting cards for sale so bring a few bob for that if you would like some, thank you!