Bantry Historical Society

03/09/2026

40 years ago, our Museum opened her doors. What was the first item that was donated? Do you know? Can you guess from this blurred, incomplete image?

If you can't guess, pop in to the Museum and see if you can find it - it has a sticker with ... not unsurprisingly ... the number 1 on it, marked on a tiny round label. Donated on April Fool's Day (srsly) 1986, by Esther Kearns.

We'll be posting more items like this over the coming months. Maybe we'll sort out a prize for the most correct guesses ... mmm ... watch this space!

02/09/2026

Every artifact in our Museum has a connection to local families, streets and stories that make Bantry unique. What memories does our collection hold for you?

The Museum is open all through September into October - come and visit! We're behind the Fire Station on Bantry Square.
Mon-Fri, 10.30-4.30
with lunch from 1pm
Admission €2

01/09/2026

I headed up to Cork last week and took the opportunity to pop in to Independence Museum Kilmurry. What a fabulous museum! Here's a few images of a tiny selection of what's available. Well worth a visit if you're in the neighbourhood.

26/08/2026

We have a little visitor outside the museum today - and she's brought a few of her friends. I think she's a Painted Lady and found an interesting article to go with from Butterfly Conservation Ireland

https://butterflyconservation.ie/wp/2025/09/12/the-miracle-of-migration/

20/08/2026

Thank you to everyone who has visited us at Bantry Museum this week to celebrate the Museum's 40th Anniversary. We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. In fact, we've enjoyed it so much we're extending our Free entry offer for another week. Come and visit the museum up to Friday 28th August and we won't charge you a penny. We won't stop you making donations though ;)

16/08/2026

Join us for Bantry Museum's 40th Anniversary! As part of our celebrations - and to mark Heritage Week - entry to the Museum is completely FREE from Monday 17th to Friday 21st August.

You'll find us behind the Fire Station, off Bantry Square. Come and explore four decades of our work - centuries of history!

13/08/2026

Our sister societies have a wide range of events coming up for Heritage Week. This coincides with the 40th Anniversary of our Bantry Museum - 40 years of Our People, Our Past, Our Place! Where did the time go? Watch this space for our celebrations.

Our member societies have organised a wide range of events for Heritage Week 2026. Download the list of events athttps://westcorkhistory.ie/Heritage-Week-2026.pdf or for full details visit https://westcorkhistory.ie/events/
We hope that you are able to attend and enjoy some of these events.

11/08/2026

Looking forward to The Ellen Hutchins Festival running alongside Heritage Week – from this Saturday 15th August to Sunday 23rd. Events in Bantry, Glengarriff, Ballylickey, Coomhola, Ballydehob, Kealkill - and on Whiddy Island and the Sheep’s Head Peninsula. See you there!

https://ellenhutchins.com/event-listings-2/

06/08/2026

Looking forward to the West Cork History Festival, starting tomorrow. See you there!

The major theme for our 2026 Festival will be Boundaries: setting them and crossing them. The Festival will take place over the weekend of 7-9 August 2026 at Inish Beg, with walking tours and field trips in various locations around West Cork on 7 and 8 August. We are delighted to announce that the F...

05/08/2026

If you can't make it in to Bantry to buy our Journals, there's good news! Sending a to Coolim Books in Skibbereen for getting all five of our Journals available for sale online. Note that stock of our first three is low, so order sooner than later to avoid disappointment.

https://tinyurl.com/BantryJournals