Athenry Gears Up for 'Walled Towns Day' with Battles, Crafts, and Birds of Prey!

 

Athenry Heritage Centre is set to welcome thousands of visitors to its annual Athenry Walled Towns Day event on Sunday, August 18.  

The event, which is organised by the Athenry Heritage Centre and Galway County Council, is now in its 18^th year and will feature historical re-enactments of a medieval battle involving members of Athenry’s 1316 Medieval Fight Club in full armour engaging in full contact medieval combat.  

Athenry is the best-preserved medieval town in Ireland, with more than two kilometres of medieval walls, defensive towers and the restored Athenry Castle.  

Recently nominated as a National Finalist in the Heritage category of the National Lottery Good Causes Awards, Athenry Heritage Centre offers visitors the chance to take part in a range of activities, including the ‘Medieval Experience’ in which they can dress up in medieval costume and even try an archery lesson. 

The Walled Towns Day Festival is just one in a programme of events planned for Heritage Week, Manager of the Athenry Heritage Centre Alan Burgess explains. 

“We’re expecting around 4,000 people at the Walled Towns Day Festival on Sunday, August 18. We also run an Open Day at the centre on Wednesday, August 21, which is free to all who book their place online in advance. There’s also our Have-A-Go Archery event on Friday, August 23, which is available to anyone who pays for a guided tour on the day,” he says. 

The Athenry Heritage Centre welcomes thousands of visitors each month – from tourists to first, second and third-level students, international language students, senior tour groups and those who are members of disability organisations. Indeed, the centre has made significant efforts in recent years to ensure the facility is accessible and user-friendly for those with additional needs. 

“A grant from the Heritage Council which was part-funded by the National Lottery helped us install wheelchair ramps, automatic doors and introduce a self-guided tour which is available in eight languages, including Irish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Ukrainian. Locally we have people for whom English is not their first language, so the self-guided tour has opened the service up to them,” says Alan.   

The centre’s growing reputation for accessibility has established it as a destination spot for many disability groups. Ahead of planned visits by some disability organisations, management will occasionally grant special requests to close its doors to other visitors to maximise the level of comfort and enjoyment of those with additional needs. 

“Disability organisations know that we’re completely accessible and suitable for their service users. We’ve worked with the HSE and units for people with a high-level of need and our interactive exhibits, like our medieval era costumes which are available for visitors to wear, have been designed with people with disabilities in mind,” he says. “We have an unbelievable seamstress on the staff who has put together more than 60 historically accurate costumes for visitors to try on. When they do, we usually do a bit of role playing and ask our visitors to become characters in medieval history. That really gets everyone involved and embeds the learning experience from the exhibits.”

A key exhibit at the heritage centre is the town’s original Mace and Seal, a 700-year-old artifact which had been lost for 100 years before being discovered in Richmond, London, in the late 1990s. The Blishen family who were in possession of the mace and seal generously gifted them back to the community of Athenry in 2001. 

“There’s no other examples of a Mace and Seal like this in Ireland. It’s completely unique,” says Alan, who also points to the centre’s medieval garden maze, as well as the sensory herbal and wellbeing garden developed during Covid-19 as additional attractions for all ages and abilities to enjoy.  

He continues: “We also offer introductory archery lessons. I’ve been an archery coach for 17 years, so I and my staff provide the classes and teach people about the history of the long bow and its strategic military importance at the time. Again, we conduct these lessons with disability organisations all the time and it’s always a wonderful experience for those with disabilities to engage in the sport of archery.”

The centre hopes to expand its offering in the coming years, with plans to introduce a self-guided tour booklet in brail for the visually impaired. There is also a plan to update the website to make it more mobile friendly and accessible to those with visual impairments. 

“We want to make sure that everything we do is engaging which adds to the visitor experience. That might mean updating the website or adding more disability seating outside in the garden area. We also want to add a canopy to protect visitors from the rain on wet days. That’s what grant funding allows us to do and we look forward to expanding our services and exhibits in the future,” Alan adds.  

 

Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage, and the Irish Language. In total more than €6 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 36 years ago. In 2022 alone, €259.5 Million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.