Virginia & District Historical Society

12/03/2026

12/03/2026

📘 Virginia & District Historical Society – March Talk Announced
If you’ve an interest in Irish history, or even just enjoy a good, honest talk, mark this one in the diary.

🗓 Thursday 19th March
⏰ 7.30pm – 8.30pm
📍 Virginia (full details to follow)

The Society is hosting a talk on “The Ulster Plantation – the longest lasting legacy of modern Irish history.”

Our speaker for the evening is Mr. Oliver Rogers, well-known for his excellent delivery and deep knowledge of Irish history. He’ll take us through the story, the upheaval, and the long shadow the Plantation still casts over Ulster today.

More details to be confirmed, but it promises to be a fascinating evening.

All welcome to attend. 💚📜

25/02/2026

20/10/2025

BIG thanks to Prof. Michael Burton for coming to Virginia and giving us a fascinating talk about Armagh, Birr and Dunsink Astronomical Observatories. Prof. Burton pointed out that Virginia is geographically situated within easy travelling distance of all three observatories, for example, the journey from Virginia to Dunsink Observatory only takes 55 minutes by car. "Visitor Nights" are held there once a month. If you fancy some spooky stargazing for Halloween, Armagh Planetarium is hosting a Stargazing Evening on 31st Oct this year!

16/10/2025

Don't forget our talk this evening! See details below.
p.S. Are you interested in reviving the Reminiscence Group? If so, you can sign up at our talk this evening, Thursday 16th Oct., or contact the secretary of VDHS, Emer Doherty (email: [email protected]). Please let us know whether you would prefer to meet in the daytime or in the evening on Thursdays. If the evening is preferable, the time would be 7pm. Please also let us know how often you would like the group to meet, e,g. once a week or monthly?
We look forward to hearing your views

15/09/2025

Virginia Park Lodge, or "Headfort Lodge", as it was formerly known, is a historic 18th-century hunting estate. It was originally built as a hunting retreat for the first Earl of Bective, Thomas Taylour, who held the title Lord Headfort.
Virginia & District Historical Society would like to collect folklore relating to the lodge and estate. If anybody has any stories or items of interest, please contact us. Or if anybody knows a person who might have some interesting recollections, we would be most grateful if you would let us know.

26/08/2025

What a wonderful afternoon and evening at Virginia Civic Cultural and Library Centre on Thursday 21st August!. Virginia District and Historical Society created a showcase of "Traditional Heritage and Craft" for Heritage week.
Many thanks to the very interesting speakers at the Pop up talks. Siobhan Sweeney told the story of a very special wedding dress that was worn by 10 brides! You can listen back to the lovely story "The Feminist Dress" as it was told on RTE's Documentary On One" series which aired in Sept. 2023. The multi-talented Sandra Coote also gave a fascinating talk on growing flax and linen making and she explained how she made her magnificent picture of Tom Crean from wool shorn from her own sheep! Una D'Arcey gave a demonstration of rushwork/basketmaking and you can see how beautiful her craftwork is from the photos below.

17/08/2025

https://www.heritageweek.ie/event-listings/birthplace-of-rifleman-luke-delaney-ww1-war-veteran

Join us for tea/coffee and a talk from John Smith, local historian, on Luke Delaney, the involvement of his regiment in WW1 and why Luke may have joined the arm...