The centenary of the opening of the first border posts following partition is to be marked with two major events at Derry’s Tower Museum.
Irish News columnist, Cormac Moore will be joined by fellow-historian, Dr Adrian Grant in two discussions later this month.
With the partition of Ireland in 1922, a land border was established between north and south. The following year, the first border posts were opened on either side of the internal frontier.
The hard border continued in place until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, leading to the removal of the military border and the end of most cross border traffic checks.
The Agreement also led to the opening of hundreds of unapproved roads which criss-crossed the border.
Life around the border will form the subject for the first discussion by Dr Grant.
In “Approved routes: the everyday experience of life on the border in the north west,” Dr Grant will look at the experience of border posts around Derry and Strabane in particular.
Using maps, archives, images and oral history, he will take listeners through the last hundred years of border life. Dr Grant’s lunch-time talk takes place on March 28, just four days ahead of the actual centenary on April 1.
Later the same day, Mr Moore will examine the “Land Border in Ireland – 100 Years On”, also in the Tower Museum.
The prominent history will focus on partition, drawing on his most recent book, “Birth of the Border: The Impact of Partition in Ireland”. The talk takes place at 7pm.
Tower Museum curator, Roisin Doherty said the events would “shine a light” on the complexities of managing the new land border when it was introduced in 1923.
“They will also look at the impact of the lives of ordinary people living in border areas and how it created further divisions and challenges north and south,” Ms Doherty said.
Further information is available at tower@derrystrabane.com.
