O’Shea’s Merchant on the quays started a very interesting initiative last summer to cater for visiting tourists in a way that not other pub (to our knowledge) has thought of doing.
They partnered with Ancestry genealogists, The Ancestor Network to give visitors to the pub the chance to speak with a genealogist and to have a consultation on tracing their family history. This would be of particular interest to visiting American’s who have some claim to Irish ancestry. They call it the Irish History Hub
The genealogy service will make a return over the St. Patrick’s Festival to help visitors to make the most of their trip by visiting an excellent Irish pub, having a pint of Guinness, while tracing that family tree that they’d always intended to do.
If, after the consultation you want to delve further, you can go to the genealogy room with the expert and do some further work for a fee. In there you’ll find an impressive study room of books that help explore the history of Irish surnames and provide more detail on how best to go about the task of finding your ancestors.
It’s not just genealogy that’s on the cards over the St. Patrick’s festival, they’ve also got live GAA on the screens on Paddy’s day, live traditional music, and all the action from the Cheltenham racing festival.
The service is available daily from 11.30am to 3.30pm from Monday 13th March through to Sunday 26th March.
You can find more on www.ancestornetwork.ie.
