St Leo’s student honoured for hillfort essay
Caitlin Seitz from St Leo’s College, Carlow
A TRANSITION year student from St Leo’s College has received a recognition of excellence award for her essay on the hillforts of Baltinglass at a national history competition.
Baltinglass native Caitlin Seitz was presented with the prestigious award at the All-Island History Competition awards ceremony, held at the Department of Education on Marlborough Street, Dublin recently.
Caitlin’s essay, titled , focused on the three Bronze Age hillforts in her home village and how the 1,000-year-old sites continue to shape the community today.
“Although you can’t clearly see them today, they’re more like outlines in the landscape; their impact is still very much present,” Caitlin explained.
Caitlin delivered a detailed presentation to a panel of inspectors at the awards ceremony, which outlined the historical impact of the hillforts.
She explained how the forts were primarily used for defence, allowing inhabitants to watch over the surrounding landscape and alert communities to imminent attack. Her research also revealed that the sites were used for spiritual ceremonies and burial practices.
A recent landmark study by archaeologists from Queens University Belfast found that the Baltinglass hillfort cluster is the largest nucleated settlement in prehistoric Ireland and Britain and could predate Ireland’s Viking towns by two millennia.
“In primary school, we visited the hillforts and completed a project on them,” Caitlin said. “When I saw the opportunity in transition year to develop that research further, I decided to take the chance to try and really deep dive into their history, explore how they were built and what they were used for. I also wanted to find out how they still impact our community in Baltinglass today,” she added.
In addition to her essay, Caitlin also recorded an accompanying audio piece, which impressed the department’s inspectors so much that they have asked her to record an audio presentation on her project that will be published on the department’s website as an exemplar of excellence.
Caitlin completed her project over the course of two months, under the guidance of her history teacher Karen Byrne, as part of the school’s TY heritage module.
St Leo’s College principal Niamh Broderick attended the ceremony and expressed immense pride in Caitlin’s achievement, remarking that she was delighted to be present and enormously proud of Caitlin’s success. Caitlin was joined at the ceremony by her parents and her younger sister Alannah, making the occasion a special family celebration.
