This Glencree in History video series features 5 chapters in our local history including:
From the origins of Gleann Criothach [the shaking bog], the reign of the O'Tooles & the Norman invasion, to the arrival of Richard Wingfield, the flight of the Earls & his reward as Viscount Powerscourt. Historian, Frank Tracy, gives a brief history of the Glencree valley.
Following the 1798 Rebellion, in a bid to subdue further rebel activity, the British Army laid the Military Road through the Wicklow mountains, together with 4 military barracks - including the barracks at Glencree. Historian, Frank Tracy, tells of the construction of the historic road & the barracks that today is home to the Centre for Peace & Reconciliation.
Poverty and deprivation post-famine saw an increase in the juvenile 'crimes' of stealing food or vagrancy. The resulting Reformatory Schools Act 1858 led to Ireland's first Reformatory opening at Glencree under the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Historian, Frank Tracy, recounts this 90-year period in Glencree's history and the lives of the boys who were sent here.
In the aftermath of World War 2, the Glencree Centre became a temporary refuge for orphaned and displaced children who were evacuated from war-torn Germany, Poland and Austria by the Irish Red Cross. Historian, Frank Tracy, tells the story of this humanitarian relief operation.
Set in a landscaped quarry, a short stroll from the Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation campus, lie the remains of 134 German military servicemen and civilians from both the First and Second World Wars. Historian, Frank Tracy, shares the history of their final resting place.
