Arklow Maritime Museum

The Arklow Maritime Museum opened in 1976 inside the antique technical college on Saint Marys Road in Arklow, County Wicklow. Its original purpose became to have fun the city's rich seafaring historical past, described with the aid of the late maritime historian John de Courcy Ireland in a letter to the museum as "Ireland's Most Maritime Town". In 2009, the museum moved to its current location at the Bridgewater Shopping Centre. As the Irish economic system improved, antique approaches had been being regarded upon more as painful reminders of monetary problems than evidence of a rich historical past.

Most families in Arklow had some connection with the sea, whether or not it changed into fishing, coasting or deep-sea sailing. Houses in each street and lane had souvenirs added again from all corners of the globe. By the Seventies, such items were being discarded. Aware that this essential alternate in mind-set might see Arklow's maritime heritage disappear, a set of humans were given together to save what they might for destiny generations. A one off exhibition was held in the Marlborough Hall on St. Mary's Road round 1970 or 1971. This event showed the amount and maritime importance of among the objects still in people's houses.