The community of Mount Temple/Baylinwere in unified mode in recent weeks as they busily prepared for the production of a series of short heritage videos.
The videos, based on the theme of ‘Creating the voices of generations gone’, are funded through the Creative Ireland Westmeath initiative.
Local Councillor, Frankie Keena, thanked the work of his colleagues on the Mount Temple Holy Trinity Graveyard Group committee.
“We are delighted to be able to communicate our heritage story to a worldwide audience. This community knows the value of their heritage, but it is important we tell this story to the next generation and generations who have never visited our beautiful part of Westmeath. It’s a sign of their support that so many of the committee made time to be involved in the video production,” Cllr. Keena commented.
The video producers are Oliver Fallon and Martin Blake of Bailey and Blake Video Productions. They have an established profile in producing heritage videos in Counties Wicklow, Kildare and Louth. The videos focus on the heritage of Carn Bog, the Holy Trinity Graveyard in Mount Temple and Hatton’s forge in Moydrum. The production of the videos have called upon several experts, ranging from Melanie McQuade (Heritage Officer, Westmeath ), Therese Kelly (Ranger, National Parks and Wildlife Service ), Bernie Norris (Genealogist, Dún Na Sí ) and Dr. Eoin Sullivan (Gort Archaeology ).
“We were delighted with the results of our Heritage Audit in 2018 and the videos enable us bring school children, parents of all ages and heritage experts together to show what makes Mount Temple/Baylin so unique. We’d like to thank the stakeholders, from Coillte, NPWS, individual landowners, schools principals, parents and teachers who answered the call to permit and be part of these heritage videos,” Eoin Sullivan (Gort Archaeology ), remarked.
One of the researchers, Jonathon Donoghue, who worked alongside Marion Brophy during the oral recordings in 2018 acknowledged that the production reflects proudly upon local heritage.
“We are in awe of the range of built up heritage we have, literally in our back gardens. The knowledge of our community is now being channeled and the stories keep coming. We have opened a tap and it just keeps flowing,” Jonathon stated.
The video producers are now editing the footage and will return soon to film the forge in action and capture some of the stories of brothers, Ernie and George Hatton.
