Cathair na Mart
Journal of Westport Historical Society
Westport Historical Society was established in 1978 – as the founding members put it, ‘to research and enjoy local history and archaeology’. We first published our local history journal, Cathair na Mart, in 1981 and it has been going strong ever since.
‘Cathair na Mart’ was the name of the ancient settlement which preceded the present town of Westport; it lives on as the standard Irish (Gaelic) version of Westport’s name.
The focus of the journal is the history of Westport and the Clew Bay area of west Mayo. Cathair na Mart has always strived to blend the recording of ‘folk’ history – local memory, tightly-focused local studies and articles disseminating local historical sources – with scholarly treatments of subjects of local relevance. This mix has much to recommend it, and Cathair na Mart has over the years enjoyed both local popularity and a reputation as a forum for academic history.
For Contributors
The deadline for submissions for this year's journal is 6 Septermber 2024. Please contact the honorary editors at cnmwestport@gmail.com.
If you are considering contributing an article, please begin by reading our Submission Rules/Style Sheet – click on the download button opposite.
We welcome a broad range of contributions, the common factor being local relevance:
- Personal/inherited local reminiscences
- Transcriptions of local historical interviews
- Scholarly studies of topics relating to the history of Mayo (priority will be given to those focusing more directly on west Mayo)
- Notes, calendars or full transcriptions of local historical source material
- Results/interpretations of local archaeological projects
- Notes on objects of local interest
- Reviews of recent historical publications
- Genealogies of local families
- Histories of local clubs and organisations
While there are no absolute rules as to word counts, articles generally do not exceed 5,000 words.
Some past numbers of Cathair na Mart are available to purchase through our online shop.