The Heritage Office of Roscommon Council is asking communities to record their own history and heritage by taking part in a field names project to start in the coming weeks.
Details of the project are set to be outlined in Jackson's , The Square, in Roscommon own on the 4th of July when university lecturer Dr Aengus Finnegan will tell people about a similar project he's been involved with in Westmeath for the past five years.
Roscommon Heritage Office says they hope the database created from people getting involved with the project will become an invaluable cultural heritage for the region and for future generations.
Speaking to Shannonside FM about the project, Dr Finnegan says there is a huge wealth of history and heritage which could be lost forever if the field names aren't documented now.
He also says it's not just a case of keeping the names for posterity, but encouraging people to talk about them and help regenerate their local history…
'These names are often only known to a handful of people.
They may be only known to the landowner, the immediate family or neighbours and they are very restricted currency.
So it's not just about preserving the names , it's about using the names more widely. When I give talks and go to events, people often come up to me and they give me the names of the fields on the farms they grew up on. .
It's very very important that these names are recorded but also re-circulated and brought back into use.'
