Folklore Project

The Uíbh Ráthach Folklore Project

The Uíbh Ráthach peninsula has an ancient history of folklore. Dr. Séamus Ó Duilearga acknowledged this tradition with the collection of folklore he collected from Seán Ó Conaill and other storytellers in Uíbh Ráthach and with the publication of Leabhar Sheáin Í Chonaill.

The contact between Séamus Ó Duilearga and Seán Ó Conaill inspired Ó Duilearga to establish the Irish Folklore Society, which later became the Irish Folklore Commission.

With the establishment of the Commission, collectors were employed to go out and collect folklore throughout the country. Among these collectors was Tadhg Ó Murchú from Uíbh Ráthach, a man who collected approximately 66,000 pages of folklore, while he worked for the Commission. The vast majority of his collections were collected from storytellers in the Uíbh Ráthach peninsula.

Éigse na Brídeoige has been taking place in Uíbh Ráthach for over 30 years. During the Éigse, a certain aspect of the culture, history and traditions of the peninsula is presented to the public.

This year (2025), the theme of the Éigse focused on recognising the work that Tadhg Ó Murchú did while he was working for the Folklore Commission.

During the Éigse, a proposal was made that a scheme should be devised that would give ongoing recognition to the memory of Tadhg. A scheme that would create a strong connection between the National Folklore Collection and the Uíbh Ráthach community of today.

To this end, a campaign was launched to try to find a student who would be willing to undertake this work. It would be expected that the outcome of this work would be a university qualification, a master's or doctoral degree.

It would be up to the relevant University and the student themselves to agree a work programme, but the campaign's Steering Committee would have the opportunity to submit proposals.

A rough example of the research that would be involved

• Link with the National Folklore Collection and duchas.ie to gain an insight into the work that has already been done on Tadhg Ó Mhurchú’s collection.

• Contribute to the work of the National Folklore Collection and duchas.ie on the work that has been done to date on the Tadhg’s collections

• Provide information on the Tadhg’s Collection - the sources he had, Tadhg's diaries, his working methods, articles he wrote,

• Index and classify materials - festivals, superstitions, place names, nature.

• Connecting with the Uíbh Ráthach Community by running an information campaign on:

  • Tadhg Ó Murchú, the folklore collector

  • How to easily access his collections online

  • Connecting with schools/community events

If you are interested in this project and would like to find out more about what is involved, please contact us at eolas@comhchoiste.ie or click on ‘Teagmháil’ below.