Welcome to Magherafelt Walks & Talks
We offer historical tours of the South Derry area to visitors who wish to learn more about the area’s social, cultural and historical development from 1600 to the present day.
Who Are We?
Magherafelt Walks & Talks is led by experienced local historian Seamus O’Brien B.Sc. (Hons.) who has co-authoured a detailed, well reviewed local history book called ‘Around The Loup’…. reviewed in Due North book 2020 as ‘a must read for all local households and an exemplar for groups or individuals from other districts’.
He is a member of Tour Guides Northern Ireland and is invited regularly to deliver talks to various groups and historical societies across Northern Ireland.
Seamus has conducted significant research into Magherafelt Workhouse (1840-1941), and has traced the descendants of young girls who were sent from there to Australia under the Earl Grey Famine Orphan scheme during the height of the famine (An Gorta Mor) in 1847.
He has also researched the famous giants from the area – Charles O’Brien (1760-1788) from The Loup whose skeleton hung in the Royal College of Surgeons Museum in London for over 200 years, and the Knipe twins from near Magherafelt who were famous in London in the late 1780s.