Sir, - I am writing in connection with a study on Ireland's industrial heritage which has been commissioned by the Heritage Council. This heritage encompasses a vast range of buildings and structures such as mines and quarries, mills and manufacturing sites, water, gas and electricity works, transport (e.g. roads, bridges, canals, railways, airfields), communications (e.g. postboxes) and industry-related sites (e.g. workers' housing).
With advances in technology many of these sites are under threat of substantial alteration or demolition. The Heritage Council is therefore anxious to compile, as quickly as possible, a list of sites which can be examined with a view to their recording, evaluation and possible protection.
To this end, the council has commissioned myself and my Belfast-based colleague, Fred Hamond, to carry out a survey into what research has been done on bygone industrial sites throughout the country. We are particularly interested in site identification using old maps and documents, and/or actual fieldwork which could involve a site description, photograph and/or drawing.
We would be very interested in hearing from anyone who has been involved in this type of research work. We are not asking for your actual data, but rather only a knowledge of its scope and form so that we can gauge the extent of what has and is being recorded. - Yours, etc.,
Mary McMahon,
Brian Road,
Marino,
Dublin 3.