Historic Shipwrecks in Northern Ireland: Discovery, Investigation and Protection

Dr Rory McNeary (DfC Historic Environment Division, Northern Ireland) is a Senior Inspector of Historic Monuments at HED and works on secondment with DAERA Marine and Fisheries Division as their Marine Historic Environment Advisor. He is responsible for curatorial advice to support marine planning and ensuring significant marine cultural heritage assets are managed and protected through licensing, designation, investigation and the promotion of appropriate policy and guidance. Rory holds a MSc in Maritime Archaeology from Ulster University and is a member of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. He has previously worked for the Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Ulster University; the Irish national archaeological research body, The Discovery Programme; and, as a researcher and project diver for the Irish Government’s Underwater Archaeological Unit, attached to the National Monuments Service. Rory is a past licensee of the Girona wreck, NI’s only wreck protected under the PWA 1973; and was involved in the scheduling of HMS Drake in 2017, the first wreck to be scheduled in NI under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995.