Oral Histories

Shared History Project

Based in the Geopark and the three AONB in Newry Mourne & Down and Ards & North Down Council areas, this project focused on ‘My townland memories – 1921 to 2021’. The project was based on an intergenerational oral social history, capturing and presenting it; facilitated by schools, museums, senior’s groups, and local families.

Placenames are an anchor for our sense of place, they haven’t changed through invasion, plantation, or partition. They have been a constant for people and are used throughout Northern Ireland in both the majority communities: a true ‘Shared History’. The project took people on a journey of discovery or rediscovery of their home townland reflecting on the shared social history of the past 100 years through the use of oral history and archive material. It was a focused look through the anchor of our placenames that drew upon the diverse perspectives of both the dominant religious, political and historically different communities with a shared history of townlands.