MAYOR of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Brian Tierney, has visited a new, permanent exhibition space in the Alley Theatre dedicated to Strabane history and heritage.
The wall display is titled ‘The Fair River Valley – Strabane throughout the Ages’.
It will serve as a permanent home for the Council Museum Collections that highlight the rich heritage of Strabane. It is intended that there will also be a rotational display once a year based on the many historical themes relating to the heritage of Strabane.
The first of those temporary exhibitions was opened by the Mayor when he visited the Alley Theatre when it reopened on July 15th.
Titled ‘If Stones Could Speak – the Archaeological Landscape of Tyrone’, the exhibition features archaeological remains from Clady, Strabane, Newtonstewart and Creggandevsky.
Key items on display include the Log Boat from Clady, as well as never seen before archaeological collections from the Strabane area which are on loan from the Department of Communities’ Historic Environment Division.
The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of talks which will be delivered safely and within government guidelines at the time and includes guest speakers such as Brian Lacey, Claire Foley, William Roulston and Neil Gregory.
Mayor Tierney said that the rotating exhibitions will allow everyone to delve into the vast history and heritage of Strabane and the surrounding areas.
“I’m delighted to visit both the permanent exhibition space ‘The Fair River Valley – Strabane throughout the Ages’ and its first temporary exhibition ‘If Stones Could Speak – the Archaeological Landscape of Tyrone’.
“The variety and range of the collections combined with the strong local community interest allows for the possibility of a flexible and rotational display through the permanent exhibition space which will highlight the rich and dynamic heritage represented through the collections.
“The changing display of ‘The Fair River Valley’ will give visitors a reason to return to the exhibition.
“There is a rich archaeological heritage in County Tyrone, especially in the Strabane area, and we know that displays such as ‘If Stones Could Speak’ will give visitors a flavour of just how important Strabane town is and remains, and how we can help continue to showcase it as a centre and region of great archaeological heritage.
“I’d like to thank those in our Council Museum team for their role in developing the exhibition and for the ongoing care and maintenance of our important collections from the entire council area, and my thanks to the Alley Theatre team for enabling the exhibition to be open with the current restrictions.
“Thanks also to the Strabane History Society for their advice and support, and the Department for Communities’ Historic Environment Division for kindly loaning the items currently on display.”
For more information, visit https://www.alley-theatre.com/ or contact [email protected].
Tags: