Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
‘Merry Ploughboy’ / ’Off to Dublin in the Green’ (Dominic Behan) Performed by The Dubliners Oh, I am a merry ploughboy and I plough the fields all day Till a sudden thought came to my head, that I should roam away For I’m sick and tired of slavery since the day that I was born […]
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Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts it doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892. Today, an estimated 40 percent of all Americans can trace their roots through Ellis Island, located in New York Harbour off the New Jersey coast and named for merchant Samuel Ellis, who owned the land […]
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“SIR– On Friday last, the day for distributing a scanty ration, a large body of those who have been looked upon as “able-bodied,” but who are now in reality infirm from hunger, assembled around the issue-shop, in the vain hope that a few “crumbs” might remain for them. Their hope was vain. Even some of […]
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1798 – In the early morning hours on the day he is due to be executed, it is discovered that Wolf Tone inflicted a deep wound in his neck; a French emigrant surgeon was called in, closed the wound and reported that, “as the prisoner had missed the carotid artery, he might yet survive, but […]
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Mary Mallon was born in 1869 in Cookstown, Co Tyrone. She emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1884. Mallon became the focus of one of the best-known episodes in the history of communicable disease when U.S. health officials identified her as a healthy carrier of the organism causing typhoid fever. Mallon, who refused […]
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Martinmas 1171 – Henry II holds his court in Dublin from this date to 2 February 1172. 1718 – Birth of Thomas Waite, MP and Under Secretary for the Civil Department: pillar of the Irish administration 1747-80. 1841 – Death of The Venerable Mother Catherine Elizabeth McAuley at Stormanstown House, Dublin. She was an Irish […]
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Pádraig Pearse was born in Dublin to an English father (he was a sculptor) and an Irish mother. Pearse became interested in the heritage and history of Ireland at a very early age and joined the Gaelic League when he was 21 years old. The purpose of the league was to promote Irish tradition and […]
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The Stephen Whitney was a passenger carrying sailing ship which was wrecked on West Calf Island off the southern coast of Ireland on 10 November 1847 with the loss of 92 of the 110 passengers and crew aboard. The disaster results in the construction of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse. The 1034 ton ship left New […]
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St Martin of Tours (France) was much venerated in Ireland, mainly on account of his connection with St Patrick. He was Patrick’s tutor, and according to some, he was his uncle and had a hand in sending him to Ireland. St Martin was a Roman soldier who was baptised as an adult and became a […]
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Wolfe Tone was one of the founders of the United Irishmen. In efforts to free Ireland from English rule, he had encouraged a French invasion of Ireland which due to bad planning and bad luck was never successful. In October 1798, French forces consisting of eight frigates were intercepted by British ships off Buncrana, Co […]
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