#OTD in 1856 – Birth of Sir John Lavery, an Irish painter best known for his portraits, in Belfast.

20/03/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

John Lavery was born in Belfast, the son of a wine and spirit merchant, but was orphaned at the age of three and for a number of unsettled years wandered between Moira, Magheralin, Saltcoats, Ayrshire and Glasgow. Finally he started working by touching up photographic negatives in Glasgow and attended evening classes at the Haldane […]

#OTD in Irish History – 27 February:

27/02/2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

1495 – Garret Mór Fitzgerald, Eighth Earl of Kildare, is arrested in Dublin by Sir Edward Poynings, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 1760 – François Thurot holds the castle and the town of Carrickfergus until this date. 1792 – The Irish House of Commons is partly destroyed by fire. 1841 – William Bruce, Sr., the last […]

#OTD in 1366 – The Statutes of Kilkenny are passed in an attempt to prevent Norman settlers becoming ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’.

18/02/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

The Anglo-Irish parliament met in Kilkenny and produced a body of royal decrees that became known as the Statutes of Kilkenny. The statutes aimed to prevent English colonists living in Ireland from adopting Irish culture and mandated that the Irish conform to English customs before they could obtain certain social, legal, and religious rights. In […]

#OTD in Irish History – 14 February:

14/02/2019.Reading time 12 minutes.

St Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is a holiday observed on 14 February. Many churches claim to be Valentine’s final resting place, including the Carmelite Church on Whitefriar Street in Dublin. According to the story told there, the St’s remains were given to Fr John Sprat by Pope Gregory XVI and a shrine still […]

Dame Alice Kyteler – Kilkenny’s Medieval Witch

22/01/2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

Dame Alice Kyteler was born at Kyteler’s House, Kilkenny in 1280 to wealthy Norman parents. Forty-four years later, in 1324, she fled to England to escape being burned as a witch and in July of that year, her property, including Kytelers Inn was confiscated. In the intervening years Dame Alice had married four times, had […]

#OTD in 1941 – Death of painter, Sir John Lavery, in Kilkenny.

10/01/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

#OTD in Irish History – 14 December:

14/12/2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

1585 – Death of Nicholas Walsh, Bishop of Ossory. The son of Patrick Walsh, Bishop of Waterford, Nicholas Walsh was consecrated a priest in 1567. He introduced prayer-books and catechisms printed in Irish. He was appointed Chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1571. Starting in 1573, Walsh worked on translating the New Testament into Irish. […]

#OTD in 1920 – IRA officer, Ernie O’Malley, was captured by British forces in Co Kilkenny with a notebook containing names of his IRA colleagues.

09/12/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

‘On the base of the Pillar was a white poster. Gathered around were groups of men and women. Some looked at it with serious faces, others laughed and sniggered. I began to read it with a smile, but my smile ceased as I read, ‘Poblacht na h-Eireann, the Provisional government of the Irish Republic – […]

In the Liturgical Calendar, today is the Feast of St Nicholas. St Nicholas (Naomh Nioclás) is believed to have been buried in Newtown Jerpoint in Kilkenny some 800 years ago.

06/12/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

According to local Irish legend, St Nicholas is buried in Co Kilkenny. The grave is said to be in the ruined Church of St Nicholas, Jerpoint. The church is all that remains of the medieval village, Newtown Jerpoint, that fell to ruin by the 17th century. The village was surrounded by the Cistercian Jerpoint Abbey, […]

#OTD in Irish History – 24 October:

24/10/2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

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 […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: Kilkenny