Ireland’s First-Ever Templar Public History Initiative Launches in Waterford
“Waterford Templar Historical Day” – Saturday, 11 October 2025 - see Patreon Blog Post here (click)
WATERFORD, IRELAND — October 2025 — Ireland will mark a historic milestone this autumn with the launch of its first-ever Templar public history initiative, the Waterford Templar Historical Day, taking place on Saturday, 11 October 2025.
Born from the MA dissertation of historian and author Helena B. Scott for her Master of Arts (MA) in Public History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Limerick, this groundbreaking initiative reimagines heritage engagement through the lens of the UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) Recommendation of 2011—placing communities, cultural memory, and sustainable tourism at its heart.
Scott’s research — which reconstructed and added to the history of Kilbarry Templar Preceptory, one of Ireland’s main Templar preceptories — also identified new archaeological findings and reframed the cemetery’s contemporary role as a living heritage space: a “participatory outdoor museum” that connects past and present. Her work also honours the ongoing restoration of Kilbarry’s gardens, led by the Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard Project, initially begun by Paddy Houlihan and his granddaughter Katie when she was just 10 years old as a school project and joined by volunteers who have revived and maintain a once-overgrown ancient sacred site of national significance.
The initiative, founded by Helena B. Scott and co-founded with Commandant (retd.) Brendan M. Rohan, Knight Commander of the Temple of Jerusalem (KCTJ) and head of OSMTH Ireland (Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani) — an international humanitarian NGO with special consultative status at the United Nations — aims to contribute to Helena’s aim to rewrite the history of the Templars and restore their forgotten legacy in Ireland while fostering heritage-led community regeneration and off-peak cultural tourism.
Supported by both OSMTH Ireland and Waterford Councillor John Hearne, Waterford Templar Historical Day takes inspiration from Portugal’s acclaimed “Templar Days” festivals and commemorates 13 October 1307, the date of the mass arrest of the Knights Templar across France. Ireland’s own Templar heritage, until now almost completely overlooked, is remembered and celebrated anew through ritual, scholarship, and public engagement.
Programme Highlights:
Remembrance Service at Kilbarry Cemetery (12 noon)
An interfaith memorial honouring the Knights Templar. Includes a tribute that celebrates the efforts of the Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard Project and a historical re-enactment of the marriage of Isabel de Clare and William Marshal, the “greatest knight that ever lived. Their marriage shaped not only the fortunes of England, but also the future of Ireland, bringing peace to Leinster, strengthening ties between peoples, and laying the foundations of prosperity in Ireland’s south-east.Templar Parade through The Mall (assembly at 3:30–start at approx. 4:00 pm)
Featuring costumed historical re-enactors, and real modern Templars on horse-back.Afternoon Conference Session at the Tower Hotel, Dunmore Room (5 pm)
“The History of Kilbarry Templar Preceptory, Past and Present” — by Helena B. Scott, sharing findings from her dissertation, including previously unrecorded archaeology that she identified, classified and reported.
Presentation on modern Templar orders including OSMTH and its humanitarian mission worldwide.
Scott — whose early public history work was pivotal to the UNESCO campaign that led to the 2009 global declaration of Falconry as Intangible Cultural Heritage — specialises in historical revisionism and brings a rare combination of academic rigour, languages, community focus, and mythic imagination to her projects. Her vision is to inspire other Irish and international communities to recover and reinterpret abandoned heritage sites, linking local history, memory, cultural diversity with global heritage principles.
“This public history event isn’t just about the Templars — it’s about reviving collective memory,” said Scott. “By re-engaging with forgotten landscapes and histories like Kilbarry or the Templars’ forgotten legacy in Ireland, we reconnect with who we are, and we invite the world to see Ireland through the lens of its layered, living history.”
Waterford Templar Historical Day is designed to become an annual tradition that honours an overlooked aspect of Irish medieval history through the Knights Templar, blending ceremony, education, and celebration to strengthen Waterford’s role as a leader in community-based cultural heritage.
About the Founders
Helena B. Scott – Historian, Linguist, and Author
Master of Arts (MA) in Public History and Cultural Heritage (University of Limerick). Her interdisciplinary work bridges archaeology, esotericism, oral history, and depth psychology. Her book Loftus – The Hall of Dreams (featured by The Irish Times) became an Amazon bestseller in Occultism, Secret Societies and Freemasonry.
Website: www.helenabscott.com/templarwaterford
Commandant (retd.) Brendan M. Rohan, KCTJ – Co-founder, OSMTH Ireland
Knight Commander of the Temple of Jerusalem, OSMTH Ireland — the only international Templar order with an NGO seat at the United Nations. A decorated veteran and cultural advocate, Rohan has led historical commemorations including the state funeral of Aodh Rua O’Donnell in Valladolid, now a major annual festival.
Media Contact
Helena B. Scott
Founder, Waterford Templar Historical Day
Contact me (click here and fill in form)
