#OTD in Irish History – 23 September:

23/09/2018.Reading time 10 minutes.

1586 – At the Battle of Ardnaree in Co Mayo, Sir Richard Bingham, governor of Connacht, surprises a force of redshanks (Scottish mercenary light infantrymen) engaged by the Burkes of Mayo; 1,000 redshanks and 1,000 camp followers are killed. Bingham hangs the leaders of the Burkes. 1922 – Anti-Treaty fighter Michael Neville, is taken from […]

#OTD in 1939 – Death of Mick the Miller, the greatest greyhound in the history of the sport.

05/05/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Mick The Miller is the most famous greyhound of all time. He was born in 1926 in the village of Killeigh, Co Offaly, Ireland at Millbrook House, the home of parish curate, Fr Martin Brophy. When he was born, Mick was the runt of the litter but Michael Greene, who worked for Fr Brophy, singled […]

#OTD in Irish History – 8 March:

08/03/2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

International Women’s Day 1574 – Captain William Martin lays siege to Gráinne Ní Mháille in Rockfleet castle. 1594 – English expedition sets out from Galway to kill pirate queen, Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O’Malley). Pádraig Pearse rewrote the lyrics to Óró Sé do Bheatha ‘Bhaile as a rallying call to Irish nationalists leading up to […]

#OTD in Irish History – 4 December:

04/12/2017.Reading time 14 minutes.

1831 – Birth of Robert Horatio George Minty. Westport born Minty would become a Civil War Brevet Major General in the Union army. His campaigns included Chickamauga and Atlanta. Minty was in command of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry that captured fleeing Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis at Irwinsville, Georgia on 9 May 1865. 1879 – […]

#OTD in Irish History – 31 October:

31/10/2017.Reading time 14 minutes.

Halloween/Samhain Eve/Oíche Shamhna. Samhain is a festival on the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, with aspects of a Festival of the Dead. It is popularly regarded as ‘The Celtic New Year’. The term derives from the name of a month in the ancient Celtic calendar, in particular the first three nights of […]

#OTD in Irish History – 23 September:

23/09/2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

1586 – At the battle of Ardnaree in Co Mayo, Sir Richard Bingham, governor of Connacht, surprises a force of redshanks (Scottish mercenary light infantrymen) engaged by the Burkes of Mayo; 1,000 redshanks and 1,000 camp followers are killed. Bingham hangs the leaders of the Burkes. 1920 – Sinn Féin County Councillor John Lynch of […]