Nuacht
Nuacht | 24 Meán Fómhair 2025
Dublin Festival of History at 14 Henrietta Street and Richmond Barracks
The Dublin Festival of History is an annual festival with free events like walks, talks, tours, screenings, and more. It is brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries, in partnership with Dublin City Council Culture Company.
The festival of over 250+ events opens on Friday 26 September and runs until 12 October. You will find free events like walks, talks, tours, screenings and more taking place at various venues across Dublin, including museums, libraries, galleries and community centres.
The Dublin Festival of History is brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised in partnership by Dublin City Council Culture Company and Dublin City Libraries.
Each year, the festival also hosts the Big Weekend which will take place in the Mansion House — a packed two-day programme of talks, debates and panel discussions, on Saturday 27 September and Sunday 28 September.
The Dublin Festival of History offers free talks and events, but it is highly recommended that people book for any session they are interested in to secure their place. To see the complete list of events please visit: https://dublinfestivalofhistory.ie/events. We will also be programming Festival events at 14 Henrietta Street and Richmond Barracks as mentioned below, but there are events all across the city and neighbourhoods of Dublin.
In 14 Henrietta Street, there are talks and tours in English, as Gaeilge and in Irish Sign Language. You can choose from:
- A series of three talks in one day on Monday 29 September - William Rooney, Fear na Muintire: Journalist, Poet, Gaelic Revivalist, with David Connolly; The Life of Robert Hilliard, with Lin Rose Clark; Jonathan Swift: Hearing Differently, a talk in ISL by Alvean Jones.
- A family workshop with award-winning children’s author Sarah Webb on Saturday 4 October, currently operating a waiting list.
- Tá Turas as Gaeilge ar Dé Luain, 3 i.n., Dé Luain 6 Deireadh Fómhair.
- The Teatime Talk on October 9, Monto: Dublin’s Forgotten Red Light District with Dr Caroline West is also operating a waiting list.
Over in Richmond Barracks in Inchicore, there are children’s workshops as well as talks. The workshops aim to make children familiar with history in fun and engaging ways, like encouraging children to create timelines of their lives or test their history knowledge with an escape room, all delivered by Historian in Residence for Children Dervilia Roche.
On Saturday 11 October at 11am children aged 9 to 12 are invited to use their best clue finding skills to find the Barracks Escape Key, and later that day at 2 pm children can create a timeline of their own life, their family, or anything else!
Talks in Richmond Barracks run from Wednesday 1 October to Saturday 4 October. Over the week you can enjoy:
- Part poetry reading, part reminiscence, Gerard Smyth presenting ‘Poetic Encounters in Dublin 8’.
- Researcher and writer Sean J Murphy celebrating Irish whiskey with his talk on ‘Distilling in Dublin from the Eighteenth Century until the Present’.
- ‘From the Archive to the Audience: Rediscovering Ireland Through Cinema’ brings together researchers Dr Sarah Arnold, Dr Ciara Chambers and Dr Denis Condon to showcase their ground-breaking work on Ireland's cinematic heritage.
- ‘Becoming Irish: Ireland’s First New Citizens, 1936-56’ - Dr Martin Molony tells the stories from the National Archives files of those who joined the new State and contributed to its cultural, economic and political establishment.
- ‘Shite Talk: An Irish History Podcast’ - Comics Kevin Larney and Jason Brennan take turns delving into bizarre stories from the annals of Irish history on this popular Irish podcast
The Dublin Festival of History provides people with a wonderful opportunity to explore history, heritage and culture in neighbourhoods across Dublin, not just Richmond Barracks. Visit the website for a full list of the festival’s 250+ events taking place from 26 September to 12 October.