That Beats Banagher 2022: Banagher and the Brontës

Several Brontë-related events take place in this year's That Beats Banagher Festival:

Weekend: Exhibition: Banagher & The Brontës

This exhibition is a collaboration between the Crafting Ladies of Banagher and its Curator, Maebh O’Regan. The aim of the project is to highlight the role Arthur Bell Nicholls played in preserving the memory of his wife, Charlotte, and other members of the Brontë family. Arthur tightly guarded all the manuscripts, pictures, wedding memorabilia, and objects he inherited in 1861. They remained in his home in Hill House until his death in 1906. They were later sold at auction in Sotheby’s and many of the objects found their way back to the Parsonage Museum in Haworth. The Crafting ladies of Banagher have been making textile banners of these items since 2019. They include various portraits, and buildings associated with the family, for example, Arthur’s original home at Cuba Court, where Charlotte and Arthur spent their honeymoon in 1854. Other panels such as Emily’s Diary Paper, provide an insight into the sibling’s creative activities.

Friday, July 22, Premiere of the film The Legacy of the Brontës by Maebh O’Regan and narrates the story of their brother Branwell’s lost masterpiece discovered folded up on a wardrobe in Hill House (now Charlotte’s Way B & B). This painting is considered to be one of the most significant portraits in the British National Collection. The film was made in Crank House, Hill House, and Banagher and in the National Portrait Collection in London in 2022.  

Friday, July 22, at 6.30pm in the Long Room in the Crank House.

Launch of two books on Charlotte Brontë's honeymoon in Ireland, the first called Arthur & Charlotte, by Pauline Clooney (published by Merdog) and the second, Charlotte Brontë: An Irish Odyssey by Michael O' Dowd (published by Pardus Media). Pauline and Michael recently spoke with much acclaim at the prestigious Bradford Literary Festival under the title No Net Ensnares Me: Charlotte Brontë Abroad. 

Saint Paul's Church Open to Visitors on Friday Afternoon

On Friday also, prior to the evening events, Saint Paul's Church of Ireland, at the top of The Hill in Banagher, will be open for visitors from 2.30 to 5pm. Arthur Bell Nicholls, (1817-1906) husband of Charlotte Brontë, is buried in the adjoining graveyard beside his second wife Mary Anna Bell who died in 1915. The magnificent east window in the church is dedicated to the Bell family including Arthur and depicts a wonderful recreation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Further information in The Offaly Independent, Offaly Express, Independent Westmeath.