E Estyn Evans

Born Emyr Estyn Evans in Shrewsbury, on 29th May 1905, educated Welshpool Country School and the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; lectureship at QUB, 1928, Chair of Geography, 1945-68, the first such academic post in Ireland; chairman of Ancient Monuments Council; co-fonder Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, Co. Down, 1963; first Director of Institute of Irish Studies, 1970; President Institute of British Geographers, and of the Archaeology and Geography sections of British Association for the Advancement of Science; Victorian Medal of Royal Geographical Society and Merit Award of Association of American Geographers; made extensive excavations at the late Neolithic site at Lyles Hill in Co. Antrim; described traditional life in Ireland as 'a treasure-house of old ways unrivalled elsewhere in western Europe'; engaged in controversy with Ruaidhrí de Valera over direction of 'court tomb' people's migration, holding Scotland to be the origin of the pattern; identified the conflict between native and newcomer as 'the clash that struck the sparks of Irish culture'; retired from QUB, 1970.

Location of plaque:100a Malone Road, Belfast

Date Unveiled: 29 May 2005

Report of Plaque unveiling available HERE