Oíche Shamna Shona Daoibh! Happy Halloween!
#OTD in 1921 – Eithne Coyle, May Burke, Linda Kearns and Aileen Keogh, escape from Mountjoy Prison.
Eithne Ní Chumhaill (Coyle O’Donnell), from Killult, near Falcarragh, Co Donegal, became a member of Cumann na mBan in 1918. As head of the Co Donegal branch of Cumann na mBan Coyle played a leading role in mobilising her members to canvass on behalf of Sinn Féin for the 1918 general election. Between 1918 and […]
Read More#OTD in 1993 – Greysteel massacre | the UDA, using the covername ‘Ulster Freedom Fighters’ (UFF), claimed responsibility for a gun attack on the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel, Co Derry.
In what was one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles, a night on the eve of Halloween in 1993, UDA gunmen entered the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel, Co Derry (an Irish Catholic, nationalist area) and shot dead seven people and wounding thirteen. Another man died later from his injuries. Before opening fire, one […]
Read More#OTD in 1846 – Cork Examiner reports death by starvation.
‘A Coroners inquest was held on the lands of Redwood, in the Parish of Lorha, on yesterday, the 24th, on the body of Daniel Hayes, who for several days subsisted almost on the refuse of vegetables, and went out on Friday morning in quest of something in the shape of food, but he had not […]
Read More#OTD in Irish History | 30 October:
1751 – Birth in Dublin of dramatist and orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 1816 – Sir Richard Quain, physician to Queen Victoria, is born in Mallow, Co Cork. 1846 – Cork Examiner reports death by starvation. 1865 – Birth of Rose Maud Young (Róis Ní Ógáin) at Galgorm House, Ballymena, Co Antrim. She was educated at […]
Read MoreThe Ghost of George ‘Bloody’ Hutchinson
George Hutchinson is commonly remembered for his role in crushing the local United Irishmen during the 1798 Rebellion. In 1798, magistrates were encouraged to deal harshly with offenders. Those found guilty of insurrection risked being given a public lashing, transportation to the penal colonies or execution by hanging. Hutchinson is alleged to have ordered the […]
Read More#OTD in 1998 – In tribute to emigrants who sailed to the New World on coffin ships, Coillte announces plans for the establishment of the Forest of Dunbrody on the outskirts of New Ross, Co Wexford.
The story of Ireland is, in many ways, a story of continuous migration. Many disparate groups came to Ireland over the millennia, each one leaving their mark on the character of the island. Early Stone-age settlers came, and were followed by the Iron-age Celts. Viking traders founded the first towns in Ireland. Christian missionaries built […]
Read More#OTD in 1923 – The Oriel House CID is disbanded and its members transferred to the Dublin Metropolitan Police.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the Irish Free State was an armed, plain-clothed counter-insurgency police unit that operated during the Irish Civil War. It was organised separately from the unarmed Civic Guard. The unit was formed shortly after the truce with the British (11 July 1921) and disbanded in October 1923. The CID was […]
Read More#OTD in Irish History | 29 October:
In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast Day of St Colman Mac Duagh. Born in Co Galway, he was the son of the Irish chieftain Duac. With King Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin of Connacht he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh. The ‘leaning tower of Kilmacduagh’, is almost twice as old as the famous tower […]
Read MorePeg Washington’s Lane, Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny
Reputed to be the smallest lane in the world! In the early 1800’s, the widow Peg Washington watched anxiously as new buildings were erected between her home and the Duiske River. Fearing that these buildings would cut off her water supply, she asked Chief Magistrate of the town, David Burtchaell, for a gap between the […]
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