Eoghan Daltun facts for kids

Eoghan Daltun is an Irish artist and farmer. He is well-known for his sculptures and for helping nature grow wild again on his farm. This idea is called rewilding. He even wrote a book about his rewilding work near Eyeries in County Cork.

Early Life and Learning

Eoghan Daltun was born in London in 1967. When he was 5 years old, his family moved to Dublin, Ireland. He grew up mostly in a part of Dublin called Rathmines. He went to school at The High School, Dublin in Rathgar. Later, he moved to London and learned useful skills, including how to weld metal.

His Work and Career

Starting Out

After returning to Dublin, Eoghan worked as a bicycle courier. He also spent time in cities like Paris and Prague, where he taught English.

Later, Eoghan moved to Carrara in Italy. This city is famous for its marble. He studied sculpture there for seven years. He learned how to carve marble and other stones. He also studied how to fix and restore old sculptures. After his studies, he moved back to Dublin. He continued to work on sculpture conservation projects.

His Farm and Rewilding Project

In 2009, Eoghan moved his family to a farm near Eyeries in the southwest of Ireland. The farm was about 33 acres and had different types of land. Some parts were very wild, and some had streams.

Eoghan noticed many native trees growing on his land. He wanted to help them grow even more. He put up fences to protect the trees from animals like sika deer and goats. With the fences in place, the native forest started to grow back on its own. It became like a temperate rainforest, with small plants growing on the trees.

Eoghan lets most of his farm stay wild. This is what rewilding means: letting nature take care of itself. He also manages other parts of the farm in a way that helps nature.

His book about his rewilding project won an award in 2022. It was named the Lifestyle Book of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards. In 2024, he also wrote a chapter for another book about rewilding.

Restoring Old Art

Eoghan Daltun has worked on many important sculpture restoration projects. He helped fix a marble statue of the Madonna from the 1600s at Carrara Cathedral in 2001. He also worked on a monument at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.

His work includes restoring parts of old churches. He helped with the entrances of St Brendan's Cathedral in Clonfert and St Lachtain's Church in Freshford. He also restored ancient Ogham stones and Bronze Age stones at University College Cork. Eoghan also worked on graves at Glasnevin Cemetery and limestone panels at the Pearse Museum. In 2010, he restored many medieval sculptures on Garinish Island.