#OTD in 1865 – Two weeks after being arrested, James Stephens escapes from Richmond prison, Dublin.

The Richmond General Penitentiary was a prison established in 1820 in Grangegorman, Dublin as an alternative to transportation. It was part of an experiment into a penitentiary system which also involved Millbank Penitentiary, London. Richmond and Millbank penitentiaries were the first prisons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it was at […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 24 October:

1641– Sir Felim O’Neill of Kinard the leader of the Irish Rebellion issues his Proclamation of Dungannon justifying the uprising and declaring continued loyalty to Charles I. 1642 – Irish Confederate rebels establish government in Kilkenny. The Confederate’s constitution was written by Galway lawyer, Patrick D’Arcy. 1789 – Work begins on the construction of the […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 17 October:

1171 – Henry II, fearful that Strongbow will grow too powerful in Ireland, lands at Waterford with an army. The Normans, Norse and Irish all submit to him, except for the most remote Irish kings. 1738 – In a duel at Mullingar, Arthur Rochfort, MP for Co Westmeath, shoots Dillon Pollard Hampson in the stomach. […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 11 October:

In the Liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St Canice. St Cainnech of Aghaboe (also known as Saint Canice in Ireland, St Kenneth in Scotland, St Kenny and St Canicus). A native of Glengiven, he was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and an abbot of great virtue, who preached across Ireland […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 31 July:

1661 – The Act of Settlement confirms some adventurers’ landowning rights but allows claims from ‘innocents’ and royalist supporters. 1689 – Robert Lundy, Governor of Derry, advises surrender at the approach of James’s army but is overruled and allowed to escape. The city holds out under siege for 105 days and is relieved on this […]

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#OTD in 1848 – A gunfight takes place between Young Ireland Rebels and police at Widow McCormack’s house in Ballingarry, Co Tipperary.

The Young Irelander Rebellion was a failed Irish nationalist uprising led by the Young Ireland movement, part of the wider Revolutions of 1848 that affected most of Europe. It took place on 29 July 1848 in the village of Ballingarry, South Tipperary. After being chased by a force of Young Irelanders and their supporters, an […]

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#OTD in 1642 – A Catholic confederacy (‘the Confederation of Kilkenny’) is instituted to administer Catholic-controlled parts of the country pending a final settlement.

The Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland held a national synod at Kilkenny in Leinster to discuss ways of controlling the Irish Uprising and of achieving national unity against the Protestant invaders. With representatives of the native Irish nobility and the Catholic “Old English” aristocracy in attendance, an alternative government for Ireland was proposed. Asserting their […]

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#OTD in 1652 – Oliver Cromwell published a declaration that Irish Wolf Dogs or Irish Wolfhounds were prohibited to be exported and insisted that locals continue to breed sufficient numbers of the mighty hounds to hunt wolves.

In 16th century Ireland, the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains were overrun with wolves and bounty hunters arrived from England, Scotland and Europe and wolf hunting became a profitable holiday adventure. In the mid-17th century, Oliver Cromwell published a declaration in Kilkenny on this date that Irish Wolf Dogs or Irish Wolfhounds were prohibited to be […]

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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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