What bog butter, field names and Old Irish Goats can teach us about rural Ireland
Cork craftsperson Eoin Reardon has been named the 2026 National Heritage Week ambassador. Picture: National Heritage Week
Bog butter, historic field names and the DNA of the Old Irish Goat are among the subjects being explored during National Heritage Week, which begins this Saturday.
More than 2,500 events will take place countrywide during the annual celebration of Ireland’s built, cultural and natural heritage, which continues until August 23.
Among them is “Butter in the Bog and a Pig in the Kitchen”, an event taking place on August 18 at the Musgrave Theatre in the Firkin Crane Centre in Cork.
People in Ireland were burying butter in the country’s network of bogs at least 4,300 years ago, possibly as a means of preserving it for times when food was scarcer.
Can we rediscover food sources closer to home, without relying on lorries, shipping lanes or a supply chain with a thousand points where something could go wrong?
Those are some of the questions being asked by the organisers of the event.
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The Butter Museum, founded in 1983, celebrates Cork city’s historical role as a major hub for butter production and trade.
Butter shipped across the world during the 18th and 19th centuries formed part of the city’s economic foundation.
It will be the focus of the Heritage Week event at the museum, just as other communities explore their own past.
Field names, for instance, will be the subject of an August 20 event in Roscommon Library, with Rita Kearney, researcher and coordinator, giving an overview of what has been collected so far.
Thousands of fields, meadows, bogs, lanes, wells and corners of land across the county have names known only to local people.
Others are remembered by only a handful of individuals today. Together, they form an important part of the county’s cultural heritage.
The Roscommon project organisers are building a countywide archive of field names through Meitheal Logainm, Ireland’s collaborative placenames database.
So far, almost 200 field names have been recorded, but many local contributors are also working on their own collections and uploading them separately.
In Co Mayo, Mulranny Arts has meanwhile organised a talk on August 21 by Professor Kevin Daly on the DNA of the Old Irish Goat.
The breed, like other traditional livestock, has played an important role in Ireland’s food culture and way of life over thousands of years.
National Heritage Week, now in its 26th year, has become Ireland’s largest celebration of built, cultural and natural heritage, attracting almost half a million participants.
Heritage minister Christopher O’Sullivan said it was driven by the passion, creativity and commitment of volunteers, community groups and heritage champions.
“Collective community action serves as the most effective safeguard for vulnerable heritage assets, ensuring that built heritage landmarks, ecological habitats and heritage stories and traditions are preserved for future generations,” he said.
The programme includes guided walks, historical tours, biodiversity events, craft demonstrations and family-friendly activities, with most events free to attend.
Meanwhile, Co Cork craftsperson Eoin Reardon, from Crossbarry, has been named the 2026 National Heritage Week ambassador.
The appointment celebrates his success in bringing traditional skills and craftsmanship to a global audience.
His journey into woodworking began during lockdown when he inherited a set of tools from his grandfather.
What started as a personal project soon grew into something much bigger.
Eoin has built an audience of more than five million followers across TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
He shares traditional woodworking techniques and showcases heritage crafts through engaging videos.
Eoin’s work demonstrates how traditional skills can find new relevance and appreciation in the digital age, helping to ensure they are not forgotten by future generations.
- National Heritage Week takes place from August 15–23, with the theme 'Heritage at Risk', highlighting endangered cultural, natural, and built heritage across the country.
