The Vision
Templar Historical Days Ireland is an independent recurring travelling public-history initiative conceived and founded by Helena B. Scott, MA, historian and cultural heritage specialist.
The initiative's purpose is to return the history, archaeology, sacred landscape, community heritage and living memory of the Knights Templar in Ireland to the Irish places where that history actually happened — not as spectacle or entertainment, but as a meaningful, participatory public-history programme that takes medieval heritage seriously.
Each edition moves to a historically relevant Irish city or location — shaped by that place's own verified Templar history, its landscape, its community and its documentary and archaeological evidence. Over time, the initiative aims to develop from an annual or bi-annual event into a seasonal multi-location programme.
The inaugural edition — Waterford Templar Historical Day, 11 October 2025 — was the first expression of this long-term vision.
Place-Specific
Each event is shaped by the verified history, landscape and community of its host location. No generic programme is repeated from site to site.
Participatory
Community engagement, shared authority and meaningful public participation — not passive reception of content delivered from above.
Scholarly Foundation
Every programme element is grounded in Helena's research, primary sources, secondary scholarship and field evidence.
Travelling & Recurring
Initially annual or bi-annual, with the long-term vision of a seasonal multi-location Irish programme.
Origins in the MA Dissertation
Templar Historical Days Ireland originated directly in Helena B. Scott's MA dissertation in Public History & Cultural Heritage at the University of Limerick (submitted 2025). The dissertation proposed a Waterford public-history event as a model for community engagement with the Knights Templar heritage of Ireland's south-east — specifically focused on recovering and communicating the history of Kilbarry Templar preceptory to contemporary communities.
The dissertation's public-history recommendations included: an annual remembrance and public-history programme; school outreach; library talks; ceremony; historical reenactment; procession; and dissemination of research findings to communities who share that heritage. It explicitly drew on Portugal's Dias Templários as an inspiration and comparative model while adapting the concept to Irish heritage contexts and to sustainable off-peak tourism.
What began as a dissertation recommendation became the Waterford Templar Historical Day, 11 October 2025 — and the framework for a recurring Irish initiative.
From Dissertation Research to the National Record
"From medieval Crusades to modern communities: Interpreting the history of the Knights Templar at selected heritage sites in Ireland's south-east."
Helena B. Scott · MA Public History & Cultural Heritage · University of Limerick · 2025 · Access Restricted
About the Dissertation →Kilbarry · Archaeological Identifications
Fieldwork at Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard formed a central part of Helena's dissertation research. Three previously unrecorded features identified and reported by Helena were subsequently confirmed by Ireland's National Monuments Service and entered into the national archaeological record.
Recognition · Friends & Supporters · Kilbarry & Waterford · Waterford Templar Historical Day 2025
During the inaugural Waterford Templar Historical Day, OSMTH Ireland formally recognised Helena's research and heritage work at Kilbarry. Helena had specifically requested that recognition also be given to Paddy Houlihan and his late granddaughter Katie, who began the Kilbarry project together when Katie was ten, for their work recovering and restoring the gardens of Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard, and that this recognition extend to the volunteers who later joined them. Paddy once told Helena that he knew little about the Knights Templar when he began the work; to Helena, however, Paddy embodies the spirit of a Knight Templar in the ways that matter most — service, loyalty, guardianship and care for something entrusted to him. She believes the medieval brothers whose memory the site preserves would have been honoured by what Paddy, Katie and the volunteers have done there. On the day itself, Paddy entrusted Helena with Katie's drawings, a deeply touching gesture that will form part of Helena's developing Kilbarry digital exhibition as a small tribute to Katie and the legacy she shares with her grandfather. Helena was also deeply grateful for the presence of her son and of her student and good friend Jennifer Cottyn, who travelled from Canada especially to support her and the event.
The day also depended upon the friendship, practical help and commitment of Commandant (retd) Brendan M. Rohan, KCTJ — Knight Commander of the Temple of Jerusalem, OSMTH Ireland, co-founder of the inaugural Waterford event and, as Helena affectionately calls him, her “Templar godfather.” His support encompassed logistics, funding, encouragement and the work of bringing the public programme into being. OSMTH — the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem — is an international modern Templar organisation with members in some 40 nations and NGO Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). OSMTH Ireland presented the certificates of recognition to Helena and to the Kilbarry project during the day.
Helena also extends her sincere thanks to Grand Prior Daniel Butler, Grand Chaplain Robert Miller, Professor Paul W. Miller, and everyone in OSMTH Ireland whose support contributed to the day; Conchobhar Ó Súilleabháin and the professional re-enactors of Knights of the Cross, who so generously gave their time and expertise; Dara Molloy, Celtic priest, for his contribution to the interfaith remembrance; Cllr John Hearne for his support; the Gardaí and all those who helped make the procession and public programme possible; and the two people who, through a last-minute arrangement organised as a surprise by Brendan, made it possible for him to appear as the day's sole mounted Knight Templar in the medieval-costume parade along Waterford's historic Quays. Helena is also grateful to the Tower Hotel & Leisure Centre Waterford and its team for welcoming the afternoon public-history conference session, and, above all, to the visitors and members of the public who came to Kilbarry for the Knights Templar interfaith remembrance service and joined the day in a spirit of memory, curiosity and community.
A final and very personal thank you goes to Helena's good friend, esteemed colleague and professional photographer Philip Devereux, who came to support the day and created the remarkable photographic record seen throughout this page, including Helena's portrait at Kilbarry. The photograph of Helena and Philip together was taken by her good friend Jennifer Cottyn.
Intellectual & Public-History Framework
Helena's dissertation explicitly frames its public-history practice through the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011) — particularly its principles of living heritage, community engagement, shared authority, intercultural dialogue and meaningful public participation.
Important: The UNESCO HUL Recommendation is the intellectual and public-history framework informing Helena's methodology. UNESCO did not sponsor, endorse or formally partner with Templar Historical Days Ireland or any of its editions. Helena is not affiliated with or employed by UNESCO.
Inspired by Europe, Created for Ireland
Portugal's Dias Templários in Tomar — a large-scale medieval heritage event at the seat of the former Templar/Order of Christ — served as an inspiration and comparative model during the development of this initiative. Helena's dissertation explicitly acknowledges this context while adapting the concept to Irish heritage conditions, Irish Templar sites and the principles of sustainable off-peak cultural tourism.
Templar Historical Days Ireland is an independent Irish initiative with its own identity, programme and scholarly foundation. It has no affiliation with, franchise relationship with or obligation to any Portuguese event or organisation. No Portuguese branding, text or creative assets are used or reproduced.
Tomar · Portugal · Comparative inspiration for Helena's original public-history proposal
The Inaugural Event
Founder · Helena B. Scott · Co-founder · Brendan M. Rohan / OSMTH Ireland · Waterford, Ireland
The Waterford Templar Historical Day on 11 October 2025 was the inaugural edition of the Templar Historical Days Ireland initiative. Conceived and founded by Helena B. Scott from the public-history model developed through her MA research, the inaugural Waterford event was co-founded with Brendan M. Rohan of OSMTH Ireland and brought that research-led vision into public practice.
Waterford was selected because of its central importance to the Anglo-Norman settlement of Ireland and the dense medieval heritage of the south-east. The day began at Kilbarry, one of Ireland's principal Templar preceptories and a major site in Helena's dissertation fieldwork, before moving into Waterford city for a mounted medieval procession and public history conference.
The programme was offered free of charge and combined remembrance, historical re-enactment, community participation and research-led interpretation. OSMTH Ireland also presented certificates of recognition to the Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard Project and to Helena for her research and heritage work.
The Programme
Kilbarry · 12:05 PM
A historical re-enactment of the marriage of William Marshal and Isabel de Clare — a union of profound importance to the political and territorial history of medieval Ireland and the south-east.
Kilbarry · 12:30 PM
A remembrance ceremony honouring the Knights Templar arrested in France in October 1307 and those associated with the Order across its history, held within the surviving landscape of the former Kilbarry preceptory.
The Mall · 3:30–4 PM
Professional historical re-enactors led by Conchobhar Ó Súilleabháin joined members of OSMTH Ireland, friends and supporters in a medieval-costume parade through Waterford city, with Brendan M. Rohan as the sole mounted Knight Templar. The parade travelled through John Roberts Square and to the Clock Tower, continued along The Mall to Reginald’s Tower, and concluded at the Tower Hotel for the afternoon public-history conference session.
Tower Hotel · 5 PM
At the Tower Hotel afternoon public-history conference session, Helena B. Scott presented a lecture drawn from her MA dissertation research on the history of Kilbarry as a Knights Templar preceptory, including previously unrecorded archaeological features she identified through fieldwork, submitted to Ireland's National Monuments Service, and which have since been confirmed and entered into the official archaeological record with Helena recorded as both identifier and reporter. The session also included an overview of modern Templar orders by OSMTH Ireland.
The Day in Photographs
Event photography includes work by Philip Devereux for Helena B. Scott.
Remembrance · Memory · Public History
The original Waterford page closed the event story with Helena's long-standing vow of remembrance — connecting the 2025 public-history initiative to the wider purpose of recovering the memory, landscapes and human stories of the medieval Temple.
A Platform for Heritage Partnership
Templar Historical Days Ireland is designed as a collaborative public-history framework rather than a fixed festival format. Future editions can be developed with museums, heritage sites, local authorities, libraries, universities, tourism organisations and community partners around the documented medieval history of each location.
Beyond Templar Historical Days, Helena can research, design and develop bespoke evidence-based heritage, history and cultural experiences for individual heritage sites, museums, schools, universities, tourism destinations, hotels and hospitality venues — particularly historic properties — as well as cultural organisations, community partners and corporate groups. These can be tailored around a site's own history, collections, landscape and audiences, or developed as custom lectures, study days, public programmes, workshops, walking experiences, private or corporate heritage days and other place-specific interpretation.
Programmes are research-led and evidence-based, and may combine original historical and archaeological research, lectures, exhibitions and interpretation, schools and community engagement, historical re-enactment, digital resources, walking routes and place-specific visitor experiences. The model can operate as a single event, a seasonal programme or a connected multi-site initiative, while allowing each participating place to retain its own identity.
Helena is particularly interested in collaborations that connect research, living heritage, cultural tourism and responsible digital interpretation, creating experiences that are historically rigorous, publicly accessible and capable of generating meaningful engagement with place.
The framework also offers scope for place-specific programming around wider medieval commemorations and trans-European heritage initiatives, including opportunities arising from Ireland's participation in 2027 The Year of the Normans – People of Europe ↗.
A Travelling Irish Initiative
Templar Historical Days Ireland is conceived as a recurring, place-specific programme that moves annually or bi-annually between historically relevant Irish cities and landscapes — following the documented evidence of Templar presence rather than a generic heritage trail.
Each future location will be selected on the basis of its verified Templar history, the availability of sites and communities, and the capacity of the programme to add something meaningful to the local heritage conversation. Helena's ongoing research informs the selection.
The long-term vision is a seasonal multi-location Irish programme — a distinctively Irish contribution to European Templar heritage culture, grounded in Helena's scholarship rather than in heritage spectacle.
Bring Templar Historical Days to Your Location
If your organisation, local authority, heritage institution or community group would like to explore hosting a future edition of Templar Historical Days Ireland — or to partner with, sponsor or support the initiative — Helena would welcome a conversation.
Eligibility is based on verified Templar historical connection, genuine community partnership capacity and alignment with the programme's scholarly public-history principles.
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