James Lyttleton is an archaeologist living in Bristol. He has taught medieval and post-medieval archaeology in University College Cork, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Maynooth University. In 2006 he completed a PhD in UCC looking at the architecture and settlement of the seventeenth-century Jacobean plantations in Co. Offaly. In 2008 he was awarded a post-doctoral research fellowship in Memorial University of Newfoundland to carry out a comparative archaeological study of settlements established by the Lords Baltimore in seventeenth-century Ireland, Newfoundland and Maryland. Over the years, James has co-edited and contributed to a number of books looking at aspects of medieval and early modern Ireland. He has also written a number of books: Blarney Castle, an Irish tower house (Dublin, 2011); The Jacobean Plantations in seventeenth-century Offaly: an archaeology of a changing world (Dublin, 2013); and An archaeology of Northern Ireland, 1600–1650 (Belfast, 2017). He currently works as a Senior Heritage Consultant with AECOM UK and Ireland, an environmental and engineering consultancy.
Tullamore Town Commission was established in 1860 but no records survive for this body. The Commission became the Urban District Council in 1900 but there are no extant records between 1900 and 1906. The UDC was dissolved in June 2014 following the Local Government Act. Tullamore Municipal District (2014-present) replaces the UDC.
Roderick H. Moore was a schoolmaster in Banagher from 1897-1932. For most of that time he worked as the principal of the Cuba Avenue National School. He worked on education boards to improve teaching conditions and promote vocational and technical education.
Section 14 of the Agricultural and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899 allowed for the creation of an agriculture committee. Following on from this, the Agriculture Act of 1931 provided the rules for county agriculture committees, including membership, which was to consist of county councillors or partly others, as well as at least one resident member of each county electoral area. Committees of Agriculture were dissolved by Section 30 of the Agriculture, Research, Training and Advice Act, 1988.
The distillery was founded in 1757 by Matthew MacManus, and went through several owners until by 1843 it had been taken over by John Locke who transformed its fortunes. In 1893 it became a limited company. The 20th century saw a decline in profitability and by 1958, the distillery ceased production. In 1982, it re-opened as a whiskey distillery museum following restoration by the Kilbeggan Preservation and Development Association. In 2007 distilling recommenced at Kilbeggan and it is known now as Kilbeggan Distillery.
The Presbyterian Church in Birr grew in numbers in the 1840s following the Crotty Schism. Fr William Crotty (with his cousin Fr Michael Crotty) led this breakaway Catholic congregation to join the Presbyterian Church. Crotty's Church built to emulate a Presbyterian Hall was erected in Castle Street in 1839. A new church building for the Presbyterian congregation was erected in 1885 in John's Mall, not now in use.