Festival Cluain Meala
Friday 27th August- Sunday 29th August
Put the last weekend of August into your diary as it promises to be a great fun one where you might also learn something about our town’s rich history and heritage. The weekend begins with Clonmel’s own renowned architect Margaret Quinlan giving a free lecture and leading a walk around the town’s medieval walls on Friday 27 August at 7pm in the Main Guard. On Clonmel Walled Towns Day Saturday 28 August, you could see your local butcher or baker wearing medieval costume for the day. There’ll be a medieval banquet by the town walls at Gordon Street car park from 6pm – with music, workshops and lots more. Tickets for this are just €15 and children go free. Tickets are available at the County Museum, Narrow Space & Chamber of Commerce. Or maybe you’d prefer to sample the delights of Food and Farming Day on Sunday 29 August when the streets of the town will be awash with free activities from 12 noon to 6pm organised by South Tipp Heritage Forum and friends.
Free workshops & demonstrations will be available throughout the day in traditional crafts such as bees wax candle making, ceramics, corn dolly making, harvest knots and more! This hive of activity will be under the arcade of the Main Guard – the old Market House of Clonmel. Upstairs in the Main Guard there is an exhibition Clonmel’s Heritage curated by South Tipp County Museum & County Archives. There will be many more demonstrations on the Narrow Street including spinning, historical re enactments and much more…
For food lovers, head down to the food street on Sarsfield Street on Sunday 29 August. Lined with trees, it will be transformed into a food lover’s paradise with the best that Tipperary’s food producers have to offer. With tables, chairs and benches to enjoy it all on, you probably won’t want to move too far from ‘food street’. If its animals, food growing and farming you are interested in then the Friary Street car park is for you where it will be transformed on the day into a working farmyard with vegetable garden, mobile farm with everything from hens to pigs, blacksmithing, bee keeping, thatching, basket making, willow wattling and composting. The IFA and Macra na Feirme will also be on hand to give demonstrations. The Macra lads and lassies will have a side show of ‘Medieval Stocks’ so be warned you might get wet!
Those interested in buying locally produced crafts the Friary Car park will host a ‘craft village’ with lots on offer to buy.
This event is kindly supported by the Heritage Council, South Tipperary County Council, Clonmel Borough Council and Biodiversity Policy Unit.
For more information visit http://www.southtippheritage.ie
