It is amazing what you can discover about your local area from the snug safety of your home.

Laois Heritage Office is providing a FREE online course delivered by Irish Heritage School that will take you step-by-step through the available online sources that will allow you to paint a picture of the geological, archaeological, and historical events that happened close to where you live. While the course will look at examples from throughout Ireland, it will focus on the geology, archaeology and history of Laois. As such the course is aimed toward local people who are enthusiasts of natural and cultural heritage.

The course will be delivered through five online tutorials every Monday and Wednesday over two and a half weeks. We will begin by looking at the very bedrock under your feet, examining the geological processes and glacial events that shaped the landscape and formed the soils. The course then focuses on the impacts of humans on that landscape over time, from pre-history to the last century.

You will learn how these skills can be used to make your own submission(s) to the ‘KnowYour5k’ initiative by the Heritage Council and National Museum of Ireland. Gathering these submissions for your county is a key outcome of the course.

There will also be a field trip on Sunday 27th March to the Rock of Dunamase (exact time TBC).

Image credit: Alf Harvey

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.