This year’s seminar saw record numbers virtually attending and participating in the question and answer sessions from all over the world, with people watching from Australia, the Middle East, all over Europe and of course Ireland. So far, the seminar series has been viewed 3,000 times. From the first session where the very concept of a town was challenged, to the plenary session offered, much food for thought was offered.
Thanks especially to our speakers, Howard Clarke, Ruth Johnson, Michael Potterton, Jim Galloway, Margaret Murphy, Raymond Gillespie, Brendan Scott, Colm Lennon, Séamas Ó Matiú, Frank Cullen, Ruth McManus and Chris Dyer. Thanks also to co-conveners, Sarah Gearty, Michael Potterton and Keith Lilley and to producer Jennifer Moore and Alan Jacob for technical assistance and our collaborators, the Historic Towns Trust/British Historic Towns Atlas and Dubin City Council.
The sessions are all available to watch back (see below) on the Royal Irish Academy YouTube channel and proceedings will be published in 2022.
| Date | Session | Speakers | Link |
| 6.5.2021 | ‘Monastic tenants, Viking raiders and Hiberno-Norse townspeople’ | Howard Clarke and Ruth Johnson | watch here |
| 13.5.2021 | ‘Town and country in later medieval Ireland’ | Michael Potterton, Jim Galloway and Margaret Murphy | watch here |
| 20.5.2021 | ‘Lawyers, merchants and peasants: town and country interaction in early modern Ireland’ | Raymond Gillespie and Brendan Scott | watch here |
| 27.5.2021 | ‘From outlying villages to townships: Dublin suburbs in the nineteenth century’ | Ruth McManus, Séamas Ó Maitiú, Frank Cullen, introduced by Colm Lennon | watch here |
| 27.5.2021 | ‘Medieval towns: Why we need to take account of the country’ | Chris Dyer, chaired by Keith Lilley | watch here |