The Feast Day of St Brigid | Imbolc | The traditional first day of Spring in Ireland

31/01/2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

St Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland (c. 451-525) is one of Ireland’s patron saints along with Saints Patrick and Colm Cille. Her feast day is 1 February or Imbolc, the traditional first day of spring in Ireland. She is believed to have been an Irish Christian nun, abbess, and founder of several convents. […]

#OTD in 1972 – Éamon ‘Ned’ Broy, agent for Michael Collins, and later Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, passed away.

22/01/2021.Reading time 4 minutes.

During the Irish War of Independence, Ned Broy was a double agent within the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), with the rank of Detective Sergeant. He worked as a clerk inside G Division, the intelligence branch of the DMP. While there he copied sensitive files for Michael Collins. On 7 April 1919, Broy smuggled Collins into […]

#OTD in 1796 – A French invasion fleet set sail from Brest with the aim of bringing revolution to Ireland.

15/12/2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

“If the men of property will not support us, they must fall. Our strength shall come from that great and respectable class, the men of no property”. –Theobald Wolfe Tone The founder of the United Irishmen had an abiding hatred of England declaring his objective was “to subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to […]

#OTD in 1887 – Birth of Irish patriot and poet, Joseph Mary Plunkett, in Dublin.

21/11/2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Joseph Plunkett, one of the leaders of the 1916 rising and a signatory of the Proclamation is born into a privileged background. His father was a Papal Count. A gifted writer, he met Thomas MacDonagh when he was tutored by him in Irish in preparation for the University College, Dublin, matriculation examinations. MacDonagh was to […]

#OTD in 1798 – Theobald Wolfe Tone is tried and convicted of treason.

10/11/2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

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 […]

Bliain an Áir | Year of the Slaughter

02/11/2020.Reading time 12 minutes.

The Irish Famine of 1740–1741, Bliain an Áir (Year of Slaughter), in Ireland was perhaps of similar magnitude, or equally destructive (in fact, it killed a greater percentage of the population in a shorter period of time) to the better-known An t-Ocras Mór of 1845–1852. An t-Ocras Mór where more than a million died in […]

#OTD in 1798 – French fleet intercepted off Donegal and Wolfe Tone is captured when the Hoche strikes its colours.

12/10/2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

“To unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen in order break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, that was my aim”.” –Theobald Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone was one of the founders of the United Irishmen. In efforts to free Ireland from English rule, he […]

#OTD in 1968 – Champion racehorse, Arkle, is retired to see out the rest of his days in Bryanstown, Kildare.

09/10/2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

It was a famous Irish Thoroughbred racehorse; a bay gelding by Archive out of Bright Cherry, his grandsire was the unbeaten (in 14 races) flat racehorse and prepotent sire Nearco. Arkle was bred at Ballymacoll Stud, Co Meath by Mrs. Mary Alison Baker of Malahow House, near Naul, Co Dublin. Owned by Anne Grosvenor, Duchess […]

#OTD in 1928 – The last active Fenian, John Devoy, dies in Atlantic City, NJ.

29/09/2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Fenian, John Devoy, whom the London Times called ‘the most dangerous enemy of this country Ireland has produced since Wolfe Tone’. John Devoy was born in Kill, Co Kildare, on the 3 September 1842. He worked for a short time as a clerk before joining the Fenian organisation. In 1861 Devoy travelled to France where […]

#OTD in Irish History | 22 September:

22/09/2020.Reading time 11 minutes.

1601 – Battle of Kinsale. 1626 – Charles I offers twenty-six concessions (“graces”) to the Irish in return for subsidies to expand his army. 1798 – Colonel Trench marches from Castlebar and takes Ballina. 1821 – Birth of Confederate General, Patrick Moore, in Galway. 1864 – Col. James Mulligan, who commanded “Mulligan’s Irish Brigade,” dies […]

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

Tag: Co. Kildare

The Feast Day of St Brigid | Imbolc | The traditional first day of Spring in Ireland

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#OTD in 1972 – Éamon ‘Ned’ Broy, agent for Michael Collins, and later Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, passed away.

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#OTD in 1796 – A French invasion fleet set sail from Brest with the aim of bringing revolution to Ireland.

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#OTD in 1887 – Birth of Irish patriot and poet, Joseph Mary Plunkett, in Dublin.

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#OTD in 1798 – Theobald Wolfe Tone is tried and convicted of treason.

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Bliain an Áir | Year of the Slaughter

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#OTD in 1798 – French fleet intercepted off Donegal and Wolfe Tone is captured when the Hoche strikes its colours.

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#OTD in 1968 – Champion racehorse, Arkle, is retired to see out the rest of his days in Bryanstown, Kildare.

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#OTD in 1928 – The last active Fenian, John Devoy, dies in Atlantic City, NJ.

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#OTD in Irish History | 22 September:

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