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heritage · Sunday 16 August 2026 · See website for times 
Unstitching the Shinrone Gown Exhibition
At Edenderry Library · Edenderry, Co. Offaly
At Edenderry Library · Edenderry, Co. Offaly
A 400-year-old Irish dress has a story to tell, and for two weeks in August it comes to Edenderry. The Shinrone Gown - a late 16th to early 17th century wool dress pulled from Cangort Bog near Shinrone in 1843 - is one of the rarest surviving garments from early modern Ireland, now held at the National Museum of Ireland. This free exhibition brings a meticulous hand-crafted replica to Edenderry Library, created by local craftswomen Rosalind Fanning and Bernie Stapleton using traditional methods. If you have any interest in Irish history, textile heritage, or the lives of ordinary women in Elizabethan-era Ireland, this is a quiet but genuinely absorbing exhibition.
The centrepiece is the replica gown itself - an open-fronted bodice with a small standing collar, hanging sleeves, and a heavily pleated skirt, recreated to match the cut and construction of the original as closely as possible. The wool has been worked using period dyeing and tailoring techniques, and the attention to detail reflects months of research guided by a costume historian specialising in medieval Irish dress.
The exhibition is accompanied by a short documentary following the recreation project from start to finish - from the original research through community workshops in natural dyeing, hand stitching, and 17th-century pattern making, to the completed gown. Over 160 people took part in the project across its various stages.
On Wednesday 27 August at 6:30pm, fashion historian Laura Fitzachery gives a talk titled “En Vogue: Fashionable Irish Women from the 15th-17th Century” in the library. This is a separate event worth booking ahead for, as talks like this tend to fill quickly during Heritage Week.
Why was the gown in a bog? That question remains open. It may have been hidden during a period of unrest, lost, or placed there deliberately - a detail that gives the exhibition a quiet mystery alongside its craft and scholarship.
Edenderry is in north Co. Offaly, about 70km west of Dublin. From Dublin, take the M4 motorway towards Enfield, then follow the R402 south into Edenderry - the drive takes around an hour. From Tullamore (the county town), it is roughly 30km north via the R420, around 30 minutes. Parking is available in the town centre close to the library. Edenderry is not served directly by train, but Bus Eireann runs routes connecting the town to Dublin and Tullamore.
The town sits on the edge of the Grand Canal and has a solid market-town character - worth a short walk along the canal if the weather is kind. There is more to see in Edenderry and across Co. Offaly.
Heading to Edenderry Library in Edenderry? Offaly has plenty more to see. Read the Edenderry area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.