Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
'The Things Around Us' - A Community Museum from Co. Wexford
00:00 - Michael Murphy: old cobblestones from Kilmainham Gaol
2:21 - Brendan Byrne: one of Gorey’s first pendulum alarm clocks
8:16 - Fr. Denis Browne: John Wall’s Wexford All-Ireland-winning football medals from 1915, 1916 and 1917
11:23 - Terry Walker Connolly: vintage Christmas decorations; an old metal whisk; a 1988 Dublin Millennium commemorative milk bottle; a ‘Durty Nelly’s’ mead jug; a 1997 medal (or prototype) commemorating the new Euro; old coins; and a piece of Nelson’s pillar engraved and initialled by her late son, Matthew
21:48 - Michael Waters: a vintage Johnson & Johnson catgut glass vial surgical kit; a miniature cannon; a bar of soap in its original case from the Metropole Hotel in Dublin; a vintage manicure set; old pens; a miniature calendar for the year 1929; a 1948 Agway Ford delivery van money box in original packaging; a portable television and radio purchased in 1981; an old lamp; a wooden tool for darning socks; and an antique transistor radio
29:36 - Mick Higgins: an antique clock from the 1930s that strikes on the hour and the half-hour (bought in the 1930s for his grandfather, James Higgins, after he lost his sight)
32:24 - Fionntán Ó'Súilleabháin: the Sam Browne (uniform) belt of the late Irish republican leader, Liam Mellows; and a book published in 1969 by the late republican and journalist, Maire Comerford, called ‘The First Dáil’
38:24 - Steve Earle: a pre-1900s whiskey earthenware pot; old receipts, letters and postal orders; a mantle for a Tilley lamp; and an old ledger from a shop in Ballyduff from 1922
47:46 - Kevina Doyle: a booklet marking the 75th anniversary of the Gorey Pipe Band; and Kevin’s parent’s wedding album from 1953
57:12 - Ken Hemmingway: a bowl turned by Michael Murphy from wood from ‘The Cotton Tree’ in Enniscorthy; an original 1771 farmer’s guide; the telegram sent from Enniscorthy to his father in Kiltealy in 1950 confirming Ken’s birth; a diary from circa 1880 of bundles of sticks sold by his great-grandfather, James Sheil, and other farming-related notes; a hand-operated gas alarm rattle used to warn soldiers of an impending gas attack in battles such as World War I; a pig meal stamp from the old Davis’s Mill in Enniscorthy; a tool for marking butter; his polio vaccination certificate from 1959; old photographs, coins, receipts and memory cards; and an old Aer Lingus bar of soap
1:10:53 - Kevin Geoghegan: fish remains, antlers and fossils ranging from 100-130 years to thousands of years old, as well as crinoids, estimated to date from approximately 200-300 million years ago
About the Project:
The Things Around Us’ is a community-collection project exploring the objects in the hands of ordinary people that reveal the social history of Kilanerin and Co. Wexford. The project was been devised by artist/folklorist Michael Fortune in conjunction with David Williams and Conor Murphy from Kilanerin Tidy Towns, and during the month of June 2025 they hosted a series of pop-up road-show styled sessions in Kilanerin Hall and inviting people to bring their object along to tell Michael and the team all about it.
The project centred around people and the objects and Michael and the team created a space where they could bring forward objects to share their stories and spark memories and conversations with neighbours and friends.
The sessions took place over four days in June:
Sunday the 8th of June (12pm - 3pm)
Thursday the 12th of June (6.30pm to 9.30pm)
Sunday the 15th of June (12pm - 3pm)
Sunday the 22nd of June (12pm - 3pm)
The project was kindly supported by the Arts Department of Wexford County Council via their 'Creative Communities Scheme'.
'The Things Around Us' - A Community Museum from Co. Wexford
00:00 - Michael Murphy: old cobblestones from Kilmainham Gaol
2:21 - Brendan Byrne: one of Gorey’s first pendulum alarm clocks
8:16 - Fr. Denis Browne: John Wall’s Wexford All-Ireland-winning football medals from 1915, 1916 and 1917
11:23 - Terry Walker Connolly: vintage Christmas decorations; an old metal whisk; a 1988 Dublin Millennium commemorative milk bottle; a ‘Durty Nelly’s’ mead jug; a 1997 medal (or prototype) commemorating the new Euro; old coins; and a piece of Nelson’s pillar engraved and initialled by her late son, Matthew
21:48 - Michael Waters: a vintage Johnson & Johnson catgut glass vial surgical kit; a miniature cannon; a bar of soap in its original case from the Metropole Hotel in Dublin; a vintage manicure set; old pens; a miniature calendar for the year 1929; a 1948 Agway Ford delivery van money box in original packaging; a portable television and radio purchased in 1981; an old lamp; a wooden tool for darning socks; and an antique transistor radio
29:36 - Mick Higgins: an antique clock from the 1930s that strikes on the hour and the half-hour (bought in the 1930s for his grandfather, James Higgins, after he lost his sight)
32:24 - Fionntán Ó'Súilleabháin: the Sam Browne (uniform) belt of the late Irish republican leader, Liam Mellows; and a book published in 1969 by the late republican and journalist, Maire Comerford, called ‘The First Dáil’
38:24 - Steve Earle: a pre-1900s whiskey earthenware pot; old receipts, letters and postal orders; a mantle for a Tilley lamp; and an old ledger from a shop in Ballyduff from 1922
47:46 - Kevina Doyle: a booklet marking the 75th anniversary of the Gorey Pipe Band; and Kevin’s parent’s wedding album from 1953
57:12 - Ken Hemmingway: a bowl turned by Michael Murphy from wood from ‘The Cotton Tree’ in Enniscorthy; an original 1771 farmer’s guide; the telegram sent from Enniscorthy to his father in Kiltealy in 1950 confirming Ken’s birth; a diary from circa 1880 of bundles of sticks sold by his great-grandfather, James Sheil, and other farming-related notes; a hand-operated gas alarm rattle used to warn soldiers of an impending gas attack in battles such as World War I; a pig meal stamp from the old Davis’s Mill in Enniscorthy; a tool for marking butter; his polio vaccination certificate from 1959; old photographs, coins, receipts and memory cards; and an old Aer Lingus bar of soap
1:10:53 - Kevin Geoghegan: fish remains, antlers and fossils ranging from 100-130 years to thousands of years old, as well as crinoids, estimated to date from approximately 200-300 million years ago
About the Project:
The Things Around Us’ is a community-collection project exploring the objects in the hands of ordinary people that reveal the social history of Kilanerin and Co. Wexford. The project was been devised by artist/folklorist Michael Fortune in conjunction with David Williams and Conor Murphy from Kilanerin Tidy Towns, and during the month of June 2025 they hosted a series of pop-up road-show styled sessions in Kilanerin Hall and inviting people to bring their object along to tell Michael and the team all about it.
The project centred around people and the objects and Michael and the team created a space where they could bring forward objects to share their stories and spark memories and conversations with neighbours and friends.
The sessions took place over four days in June:
Sunday the 8th of June (12pm - 3pm)
Thursday the 12th of June (6.30pm to 9.30pm)
Sunday the 15th of June (12pm - 3pm)
Sunday the 22nd of June (12pm - 3pm)
The project was kindly supported by the Arts Department of Wexford County Council via their 'Creative Communities Scheme'.
