#OTD in 1981 – Twenty-seven-year-old Michael “Mickey” Devine, from the Creggan in Derry dies on the 60th day of his hunger strike.

Fuar siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Mickey Devine was the third INLA Volunteer to join the H-Block hunger strikers and he was the last of the group to give their lives in order to retain their status as political prisoners. Twenty-seven-year-old Mickey Devine, from the Creggan in Derry city, was the third INLA […]

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#OTD in 1981 – After 71 days on hunger strike, Kevin Lynch dies at Long Kesh prison.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. The eighth republican to join the hunger-strike for political status, on 23rd May, following the death of Patsy O’Hara, was twenty-five-year-old fellow INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch from the small, North Derry town of Dungiven who had been imprisoned since his arrest in 1976. Image | Mural to Kevin […]

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#OTD in 1872 – John Mitchel returns to Ireland from America.

John Mitchel was born at Camnish, near Dungiven, Co Derry. The Irish nationalist, writer for The Nation and founder of The United Irishman newspaper openly preached rebellion against England. Convicted of treason in 1848, Mitchel was sentenced to fourteen years’ transportation in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). In 1853, he escaped to America, where he published […]

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Brehon Laws and the Establishment of Copyrights

Copyright law actually began with the Brehon Laws of Ancient Ireland over 1000 years before it appeared in English legislation. It started and ended in a bitter and brutal dispute over royalties. The dispute arose in 563 AD between two of the top contributors in the monastic schools of Ireland: Saint Colmcille and Saint Finian, […]

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The Priest’s Chair (Glenshane Mass Rock) | Glenshane Forest, Co Derry

The origin of this mountain’s name, and indeed the mass rock itself, is from The Penal Times of the 17th and 18th centuries. The mountain is part of the Sperrins, a range of mountains that stretch from Strabane in Co Tyrone in the south, northwards to Limavady and beyond in Co Derry. The mountain’s name, […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 5 July:

1581 – The Wexford Martyrs were Matthew Lambert, Robert Myler, Edward Cheevers, Patrick Cavanagh and two unknown individuals. In 1581, they were found guilty of treason for aiding in the escape of James Eustace, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass and refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy which declared Elizabeth I of England to be the head […]

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#OTD in 1981 – Mickey Devine begins his hunger strike in the H Blocks of Long Kesh prison.

Fuar siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Mickey Devine was the third INLA Volunteer to join the H-Block hunger strikers and he was the last of the group to give their lives in order to retain their status as political prisoners. Twenty-seven-year-old Mickey Devine, from the Creggan in Derry city, was the third INLA […]

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#OTD in 1956 – Birth of Kevin Lynch, an Irish Republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) from Park near Dungiven, Co Derry.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Kevin Lynch  was a republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) from Park near Dungiven, Co Derry. The Dungiven Hurling team was renamed Kevin Lynch’s Hurling Club in his honour after his death. Lynch’s older brother, Frank, was an amateur boxer and he also […]

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#OTD in 1981 – Francis Hughes, Irish political prisoner, dies on hunger strike in Long Kesh Prison.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann! The death of Francis Hughes at the age of 25 after a 59 day hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. Hughes was such an effective guerrilla fighter that British authorities at one stage named him as the most wanted man in the north of Ireland. […]

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