Cork's Charles Fort among venues taking part in Heritage Week

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has announced a range of events across Cork and Ireland for Heritage Week 2025, from today until Sunday, August 24.

Organised by the Heritage Council and supported by the OPW, National Heritage Week has become one of Ireland’s largest cultural events, offering people an opportunity to explore Ireland’s heritage sites.

This year’s theme, Exploring Our Foundations, invites people to reflect on the structures, landscapes, stories, and cultural practices that have shaped Irish life and our culture and heritage over the centuries.

Heritage Week highlights include Irish-language tours at OPW sites across the country, with visitors encouraged to ‘embark on a Local Link to the past’ by using their Local Link tickets to get free entry.

WALKS

Cork highlights will include walks in Cobh, Midleton, and Glanworth; The Tracton Biodiversity Weekend in Carrigaline, and events at Fota house and Doneraile Court.

At Charles Fort, visitors can enjoy a pair of illustrated talks: The Kinsale Railway Line: Past and Present, by Cathal Deasy and Seamus Breathnach; and Cultural Nationalist, by Pádraig Walsh.

Launching this initiative, Kevin Moran, Office of Public Works state minister, said: “This year’s National Heritage Week theme, Exploring Our Foundations, is very fitting with the range of conservation projects that the OPW has undertaken in recent times.

“Our sites offer a rich tapestry of events that have approached the theme from a number of perspectives, including the community, biodiversity, and conservation.”

The Mayor of County Cork Mary Linehan Foley said National Heritage Week is a celebration of people and places and how everything is connected through our wonderful heritage.

“I commend all groups and organisations who have organised an event and I encourage locals and visitors alike, to take part,” Ms Linehan Foley said.