Chris Lawlor

Dr. Chris Lawlor is an award-winning historian and author of short stories. He is a former head of the history department of Méanscoil Iognáid Rís, Naas, County Kildare, and lives in Dunlavin, Co. Wicklow. He is married to Margaret and they have three sons, Declan, Jason and Michael. Chris holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Maynooth University and a Ph.D. from St. Patrick’s College, D.C.U. Chris continues to write and publish during his retirement. He is a prolific author of history books, and a contributor of articles, essays and stories to magazines, journals and anthologies. He won the Dunlavin Festival of Arts Short Story Award in 2001, the Lord Walter Fitzgerald Prize for Original Historical Research in 2003 and the Irish Chiefs’ Prize for History in 2013. He also won the 2022 Ireland’s Own Short Story Competition. Chris is treasurer of the West Wicklow Historical Society and co-editor of the society’s biennial Journal.

In addition to writing, Chris has lectured in many parts of Ireland, and in places as diverse as the Irish Centre, Hammersmith, London and the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has spoken on radio in Sydney, and has been a contributor on historical television programmes. These include a documentary on R.T.E. (Ireland’s national broadcaster) entitled Great Irish journeys – Michael Dwyer and an episode of Irish TV’s Wicklow County Matters series, which featured a section on the history of Dunlavin. He was a principal contributor to the Bodhrán Films documentary Dunlavin Green, which was released on D.V.D. Chris also worked as a historical consultant on television programmes, including the Aughavannagh episode of the series Cé a Chónaigh i Mo Theachsa? (which was aired by Irish-language broadcaster T.G.4.), the West Wicklow episode of Lesser spotted Ireland (shown on U.T.V. Ireland), and the Emma Willis episode of Who do you think you are? (which was broadcast on B.B.C.1).

BOOKS.

The massacre on Dunlavin green: a story of the 1798 rebellion (Naas, 1998).

Canon Frederick Donovan’s Dunlavin 1884-1896: A West Wicklow village in the late nineteenth century (Dublin, 2000).

From the Norman moat to the Spanish field: a history of Naas Christian Brothers’ School (Naas, 2002).

In search of Michael Dwyer (Naas, 2003).

[Co-edited] General O’Brien: West Wicklow to South America (Naas, 2006).

The longest rebellion (Dublin, 2007).

An Irish village: Dunlavin, County Wicklow (Naas, 2011).

The little book of Wicklow (Dublin, 2014; reprinted 2022).

The little book of Kildare (Dublin, 2015; reprinted 2024).

With much quiet fervour: a brief history of Dunlavin Roman Catholic parish and St Nicholas of Myra church (Naas, 2018).

Dunlavin diversions (Naas, 2020).

A revolutionary village? Dunlavin, County Wicklow 1900-25 (Naas, 2021)

FORTHCOMING: Robert Barton: A Remarkable Revolutionary (December, 2024)