Reviving Irish historical stone lifting with Andy Downes

About this episode

Úna Harty interviews Andy Downes about the revival of Irish stonelifting and its historical significance.

In the last four years, a quiet revival has been taking place: the revival of Irish stonelifting. Andy Downes is one of those who has helped to bring back this lost Irish tradition. In this first episode of Season 2 of How to be Irish, I speak with Andy of Irish Historic Stonelifting, who explains how he and others have rediscovered 47 stones in the last four years. Through analysis of the Dúchas archives and verification with local sources, they have managed to unearth a tradition that died out during famine times. You can find Andy on TikTok: @irishstonelifting ; Instagram: @handmedownes ; YouTube: @irishstonelifting

People in this episode

Host: Úna Harty

Guest: Andy Downes

Topics covered

• Irish stonelifting
• cultural revival
• historical traditions
• famine history
• local heritage

Keywords

• stonelifting
• Irish tradition
• cultural heritage
• Dúchas archives
• famine
• local sources
• revival

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Irish Historic Stonelifting, Dúchas

Places: Ireland

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