Programme
Women of Limerick
To mark Nollaig na mBan, Ormston House has launched Women of Limerick by Sharon Slater. This is a new mobile phone app to remember and celebrate women from Limerick’s history.
In version 1.0, we meet twenty-five women mapped across the city at important locations from their stories – from Órlaith íngen Cennétig who was Queen of Ireland in 941, to Dolores O’Riordan who earned international stardom with The Cranberries in the 1990s.
Women of Limerick acknowledges women’s contributions to fields such as the arts, education, health and politics, locally, nationally and internationally. It also offers an opportunity to address the absence of women in written history.
Women of Limerick is available to download for free onto Android and Apple devices: to plan walking routes through the city, or to engage with Limerick’s cultural heritage at your fingertips, wherever you are in the world. At each location on the map, you can read a short biography of each woman and listen to a story about her life.
Ormston House commissioned artist Charlotte Lee to create twenty-five new portraits, drawing from existing images and depictions, and from historical artefacts or fashions of the time where little or no visual records exist. We simply don’t know what some of these women looked like.
There are also links to further information on the Limerick’s Life blog for which Sharon Slater won a National Heritage Hero Award.
You can download Women of Limerick from the Apple Store here and from Google Play here. Stay tuned for new themed additions and updates during 2021.
About Sharon Slater
Sharon is Historian-in-Residence at Ormston House. She has been researching the history of life in Limerick for over twenty years and holds an MA in Local History from the University of Limerick.
Sharon is the author of multiple publications and has worked with media organisations locally, nationally and internationally. She has received awards including the National Heritage Hero Award from the Heritage Council of Ireland, Irish Blog Awards, and a Mayoral Reception at Limerick City & County Council.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland, and Limerick Culture & Arts Office for the funding support.
We would also like to acknowledge the support of Councillor Elisa O’Donovan and the Community Initiative Scheme at Limerick City & County Council.
