First Arts Kilkenny Fieldtrip to MacDonagh Junction, Kilkenny.

Modern Irish Society at MacDonagh Junction kilkenny
Friday, December 18, 2015 - 12:30

Students from Maynooth University’s Kilkenny Campus visited MacDonagh Junction on an interdisciplinary field trip as part of their studies on the First Arts Programme on December 16th, 2015.
 
The students, who were looking at the site through the lens of the different subjects they are studying including History, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics etc.,  were accompanied by Sociology Lecturer, Stephanie MacDermott, who co ordinated the trip, and Anthropology Lecturer Dr. Robbie Power, Dr. William Smith,  Dr. Pronsias Ó Drisceoil and Acting Head of Campus Maeve O’Byrne. Cllr. Malcom Noonan also attended and met with staff and students.
 


 
Centre Manager, Marion  Akerman extended a warm welcome to the group and gave an informative presentation on the history of the site which incorporates  buildings from the Famine Workhouse and the Goods Shed of the former railway station.  During the development of the site in 2004 a previously unknown burial site dating back to the mid to late 1840s was discovered.  The excavation of over 900 bodies of men, women and children who died and were buried in the grounds of the Workhouse marks the site as one of the most significant associated with the Great Irish Famine. The students also visited the Famine Memorial Garden which marks the area where the bodies were re interred.
 
On returning to the Campus, Dr. Proinsias Ó Drisceoil , (whose son Coilín was the archaeologist who excavated the Workhouse site), gave a talk on the life of Thomas MacDonagh, a signatory of the 1916 Proclamation of  Independence after whom  MacDonagh Junction is named, and who was shot for his part in the rising in May of 1916.  In the early years of the twentieth century Thomas MacDonagh spent time as a teacher on the staff of St. Kieran’s College where the Kilkenny Campus is situated.
 
First Arts at Kilkenny offers students the opportunity to take the first year of the three year Bachelor of Arts degree in Kilkenny and to progress on the main Campus in Maynooth for second and third year.  The small class sizes and the opportunity to study in the historic city of Kilkenny has proven to be very popular with students and numbers are increasing significantly each year.
 
In 2016 with the addition of Law as a subject choice the expectation is that numbers will increase yet again.  Applications are through the CAO (course code MH901) and there is a Drop In Day on January 16th from 10 am to 2.00 pm for anyone who would like to find out more.
 
See http://kilkenny.nuim.ie/courses/nui-full-time-degree-programmes/ba-arts-joint-honours-first-year