Ellen Prendergast


Ellen M. Prendergast was Ireland's first female professional archaeologist.

Career

Prendergast was born near Paulstown, County Kilkenny as one of a pair of twin girls. She was educated in the Brigidine Convent school in Mountrath. She took up a post as Technical Assistant at the National Museum of Ireland, and attended University College Dublin where she completed a BA, and in 1947 an MA, in Celtic Archaeology.
Prendergast spent her professional life working in the National Museum of Ireland, specialising in areas including burials of the later Neolithic period, prehistoric pottery and Early Bronze Age cist burials. She remained deeply interested in the archaeology of County Kilkenny and was a regular contributor for the Old Kilkenny Review, and she was a member of the Irish Archaeological Society committee from 1945.
In addition to her involvement in history, Prendergast was known as a feminist and trade unionist, and a supporter of the Irish language.
When she retired in 1983 Prendergast returned to live in Kilkenny.

Papers