Medieval Ireland | Inishmurray Monastic Site

04/12/2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

“Saved by its ocean walls from ordinary marauders in former times, and from the wanton tourist of today… Inishmurray has retained a larger number of examples of primitive Irish Art than perhaps any other early Christian settlement in Ireland.” ––William Wakeman, A Survey of the Antiquarian Remains on the Island of Inishmurray, 1893 The first […]

Bechbretha | Brehon Law on Beekeeping

08/02/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

In ancient Ireland, beekeeping was so important that there was a complete list of laws dedicated to beekeeping, called ‘Bechbretha’, during the time of our Brehon laws. In the seventh century AD the laws were written down for the first time. Brehon law was administered by Brehons, or ‘brithem’ derived from the Irish ‘breitheamh’ meaning […]

Dame Alice Kyteler | Kilkenny’s Medieval Witch

22/01/2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Dame Alice Kyteler was born at Kyteler’s House, Kilkenny in 1280 to wealthy Norman parents. Forty-four years later, in 1324, she fled to England to escape being burned as a witch and in July of that year, her property, including Kytelers Inn was confiscated. In the intervening years Dame Alice had married four times, had […]

The Celts of Ancient Ireland

08/12/2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

The first historical record of the Celts was by the Greeks about 700 BC, the Celts were a loose grouping of tribes that lived in an area north of the Alps around the Danube river in central Europe. Over the next few hundred years they spread east and west across Europe. The Celts first arrived […]