International travels of Bishop Pococke subject of next KAS lecture
Kilkenny Archeological Society
There is a special treat for history lovers in Kilkenny this month, as the Kilkenny Archaeological Society (KAS) holds two events.
First on the calendar is a lecture on Bishop Richard Pococke.
“From the Orient to Kilkenny: The Scholarly World of Bishop Richard Pococke (1704-1765)” will be delivered by historian Dr. Rachel Finnegan.
Pococke was Bishop of Ossory from 1756 to 1765. However, outside Kilkenny he is best known for his international travel and the diaries he wrote on his adventures.
Rachel will discuss the scholarly pursuits arising from his intrepid journey to the east. She will then examine his intellectual pursuits in Ireland as Archdeacon of Dublin and then Bishop of St Canice’s, where he surrounded himself with his famous collections, published further works of scholarship, and helped his domestic chaplain to write a book on antiquities.
Rachel Finnegan was educated at Trinity College Dublin, Maynooth, and the British School of art Athens. Her first job was at the Royal Irish Academy, after which she lectured for 20 years in Arts & Heritage Management at WIT (now SETU).
In 2014, she retrained to became a freelance academic editor. She has written 11 academic books, mainly on 18th-century Grand Tourism, including 3 vols on the travel correspondence of Richard Pococke.
In the last two years, she has turned her hand to cataloguing family papers.
This lecture will be held in Rothe House on Wednesday, February 11, at 7.30pm. Admission is €8 for members and €10 for non members.
KAS is also looking forward to Thursday, February 19, when Joe Connell will deliver the lecture: “Civil War in Ireland. ‘Transition Through the Years of Independence and the uncomfortable realities of the period.”