There will be a double celebration this weekend at Grange Castle, Edenderry, when supporters of the Tyrell Trust get together to mark progress in their restoration programme. The trust's ultimate objective is the promotion of a better understanding of the two main cultural traditions in Ireland, using the Grange Castle site, near Edenderry.
It is a living monument, through its different buildings, to the development of domestic life in Ireland from the 15th to the 19th century.
The site was never cleared or abandoned, but at each different stages additions were made to the castle and its environs, making the place very unusual in an Irish context.
The timing of the celebration could not be better following the resounding endorsement of the Belfast Agreement here. The guest of honour will be Mr Grattan Knox Tyrell, of Sun City, Arizona, whose grandfather, William Tyrell, emigrated from Grange Castle to Canada in 1836 and founded the town of Weston, Ontario.
The Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada, is called after one of William's sons, Joseph Burr Tyrell, the world-renowned palaeontologist. It was the Tyrell and Bermingham families who controlled the castle with its outbuildings, walled enclosures and timbered grounds.
The Tyrell Trust believes that by restoring the castle and its environs and opening it up to the public, it will become a special educational resource for children and adults to explain Irish history.
Educational and cultural programmes based at Grange, in which both young and older people from Britain, North America and Ireland can participate, are being established.
The venture has already attracted Government support. The Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, has allocated £250,000 to the restoration of the castle. The trust has raised a local contribution of £140,000 to go towards the development of the site around the castle, which is expected to cost £750,000.
Interest in the development has also come from Northern Ireland and Britain. The Public Records office in Belfast has agreed to lend the Tyrell Papers for display at Grange. These are part of a collection of archives known as the Downshire Papers which deal with the history of the surrounding area from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
The trust also hopes to display items from a collection of ancient Irish bronzes, known as the Murray collection, which are held at Cambridge University.