Melanie McQuade (Heritage Officer, Westmeath County Council) & Peter Cunningham (Drumraney, Co. Westmeath) 

What’s in a Name? The Westmeath Field Names Recording Project

The names of fields can tell us much about our local area - how people related to the landscape, as well as the history and traditions of the area. Since few field names were formally recorded, they mostly survive in oral tradition. Several initiatives have been undertaken to record field names. This talk will outline The Westmeath Field Names Recording Project, which commenced as a Community-led Pilot Project in 2018. The project methodology will be presented along with some of the more interesting results to date.  This project is supported by Westmeath County Council, The Heritage Council and Creative Ireland.

Melanie McQuade is the Heritage Officer in Westmeath. She has worked in the heritage sector for over twenty years. In 2018 Melanie was involved in setting up the Westmeath Field Names Recording Pilot Project.
Peter Cunningham is an active member of ‘Drumraney Heritage’ and coordinated this group on the Field Names Recording Project.