#OTD in 1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurred in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English-Americans and Irish-Americans.

Boston was a huge seaport, and eventually a melting pot. Irish immigration began in the late 1700s. Many Irish immigrated to Boston during The Great Hunger that occurred between 1845 and 1852 in Ireland. There was a lot of friction between English and Irish Americans, which smoldered in Boston for more than 100 years. This […]

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#OTD in 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion | In the first Battle of Enniscorthy, the rebels take the town.

The Battle of Enniscorthy was a land battle fought between forces of the British Crown and a force of Irish Rebels at Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. The attack began at about 1pm, when the Rebels drove a herd of cattle through the towns’s Duffry gate, creating disorder among the loyalist defenders. After a defense of about […]

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#OTD in 1318 – Richard de Clare, Lord of Thomond, a descendant of Strongbow, is killed while commanding his forces at the Battle of Dysert O’Dea.

The Normans were very unsuccessful in trying to establish themselves in Clare. They had but one small section in Bunratty guarded by a strong Castle of the same name. In 1318 Richard DeClare occupied the Castle of Bunratty. In May of that year he was joined by some Irish traitors and they proceeded with a […]

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#OTD in 1366 – The parliament, alarmed at the apparent undermining by native influences of the settler population’s Englishness, passed the ‘Statutes of Kilkenny’.

The Statutes of Kilkenny were a series of thirty-five acts passed at Kilkenny in 1366, aiming to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland. This aims to halt the widespread adoption by the Norman-Irish, especially in frontier areas, of Gaelic Irish culture, customs and language. It bans the use of the Irish language […]

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Ruins of the O’Davoren Law School | Cahermacnaghten, Co Clare

The Ó Duibhdábhoireann (O’Davoren) family were scholarly clan of Corcomroe, Thomond (modern-day Co Clare), active since medieval times. Famed for their sponsorship of schools and knowledge of history and Early Irish law, the Uí Dhuibh dá Bhoireann were known throughout Ireland as a literary family and held estates in the Burren down to the mid […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Anti-Treaty IRA officer Charlie Daly and three other Republican fighters are executed by Free State troops at Drumboe Castle, near Stranorlar in Co Donegal where they had been held since January.

They were shot in retaliation for the death of Lt. Cannon, a pro-treaty National Army soldier, in an ambush at the barracks at Creeslough. CHARLIE DALY, THE KERRYMAN WHO DIED IN FAR DONEGAL (By Seamus G O’Kelly) It was the summer of 1920. Republican forces in Munster, particularly in Cork and Kerry, were being hard […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 7 February:

1873 – Death of journalist, novelist, and short story writer, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, in Dublin. He is often called the father of the modern ghost story. Although Le Fanu was one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era, he is not so widely read anymore. His best-known works include Uncle Silas (1864), […]

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Celts | Becoming a Seer

The gift of the ‘sight’ was highly valued by the Celts. But this gift could cause the possessor great sorrow, especially if he or she foresaw the death of someone close to them. On the other hand, the seer might be able to avert catastrophe after receiving a premonition of danger. The most famous see […]

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