Tag: Co. Louth

The Legend of Cú Chulainn

30/03/2020.Reading time 34 minutes.

There are a number of versions of the story of Cú Chulainn’s birth. In the earliest version of Compert C(h)on Culainn (The Conception of Cú Chulainn), his mother Deichtine is the daughter and charioteer of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, and accompanies him as he and the nobles of Ulster hunt a flock of […]

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#OTD in Irish History – 26 March:

26/03/2020.Reading time 24 minutes.

1787 – The Tumultuous Risings Act imposed penalties for rioting and for interference with the collection of tithes. 1838 – William Edward Hartpole Lecky, historian and philosopher, was born in Blackrock, Co Dublin. 1854 – Harry Furniss, caricaturist, was born in Wexford. 1856 – Birth of New Zealand statesman and Prime Minister from 1912 to […]

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#OTD in 1955 – Birth of singer/songwriter, Liam Reilly, in Dundalk, Co Louth.

29/01/2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Liam Reilly is an Irish singer/songwriter and a member of the popular Irish rock band Bagatelle. After receiving an offer from Gus Dudgeon (Elton John’s producer, now deceased) Reilly began a solo career. It didn’t gain much popularity but he wrote some of Bagatelle’s most popular songs during this time such as ‘Somewhere In Europe’. Reilly […]

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#OTD in Irish History – 23 November:

23/11/2019.Reading time 12 minutes.

In the Liturgical Calendar today is the Feast Day of St Columbanus. 1074 – Donatus (or Dunan), the first Bishop of Dublin, dies and is buried in Christ Church Cathedral. Patrick, his successor, is sent to Canterbury for consecration. 1499 – Death of Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne during the reign of King […]

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#OTD in 1845 – The Illustrated London News reported on the early stages of An Gorta Mór that was to decimate Ireland in the coming years.

18/10/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

“Accounts received from different parts of Ireland show that the disease in the potato crop is extending far and wide, and causing great alarm amongst the peasantry. Mr. John Chester, of Kilscorne House, in Magshole, Co Louth, in a letter to the Dublin Evening Post, states that he has a field of twenty acres of […]

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Soldiers Point, Dundalk, Co Louth

26/09/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Bronze sculpture “Sea God Managuan and Voyagers” at Soldiers Point, Dundalk Bay, Co Louth by the artist, Ann Meldon Hugh. Manannan is the Celtic God of the Sea and is the leader of a group of the Fair Folk whose values and ideals are associated with the water element and the deep blue-green light of […]

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#OTD in 1649 – Siege of Drogheda ends | The first siege occurred during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, when Phelim O’Neill and the insurgents failed to take the town.

11/09/2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

Drogheda was one of the best-fortified towns in Ireland. The main part of the town was north of the River Boyne, with a smaller district to the south. The two districts were connected by a drawbridge across the river. The town was protected by a circuit of walls four to six feet wide and twenty […]

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#OTD in Irish History – 4 September:

04/09/2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

1607 – The Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, along with a close circle of family and associates, boarded a ship at Rathmullan on Lough Swilly, bound for Spain. This event has become known as ‘The Flight of the Earls’ and is widely regarded as one of the most enigmatic events in Irish history, virtually defying […]

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#OTD in Irish History – 8 August:

08/08/2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

1588 – The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English, with some Spaniards slain upon reaching the coasts of Ireland and some survivors remaining. 1647 – The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Dungan’s Hill – English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces. 1694 – Birth of Presbyterian philosopher, Francis Hutcheson, […]

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