Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
‘The most dangerous enemy of this country [Britain] Ireland has produced since Wolfe Tone’. –The London Times John Devoy was born in Kill, Co Kildare in 1842 just prior to The Great Hunger (1845-1852) which saw approximately one million Irish starve to death and another million emigrate to America and elsewhere. After Irish defeats by […]
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Although not a direct participant in the 1916 Rising, Batt O’Connor was sentenced to be shot by British authorities but was sent to Wandsworth Jail and later Frongoch internment camp in North Wales. During the War of Independence he ran a number of safe houses and hid funds and documents for the IRA. He was […]
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“To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissections, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter—these were my means.” ―Theobald Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone’s place in Irish history can scarcely be overstated as he is regarded as […]
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A force of 400 troops, with two pieces of artillery, was sent out from Trim on 18 June to locate and destroy the rebel army led by William Aylmer. When Alymer received news of the offensive, he decided to rally his forces and engage the approaching military head-on, choosing to fight at Ovidstown Hill, about […]
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The United Irishmen’s rebellion in 1798 was strongly supported in the Kildare area, and it was on the Curragh of Kildare that the worst atrocities and suppression of the rising were witnessed. The rebels took over a number of towns in the Kildare area and having held the government forces at bay for over a […]
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Christy Moore is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. In 2007, he was named as Ireland’s greatest living musician in RTÉ’s People of the Year Awards. The former lead-vocalist and chief songwriter of Planxty and Moving Hearts, Moore helped to bring the musical traditions of Ireland up to modern standards and […]
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The effectiveness of the Ulster unionist movement’s opposition (1912-14) to the granting of self-government to Ireland by Britain’s Liberal government was heightened by the support it received from elsewhere in the United Kingdom. In 1912, the Conservative Party backed it even in its formation of a paramilitary force (the UVF) to defy Westminster legislation. Meanwhile, […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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“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 […]
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