Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
1264 – The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in Co Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature. 1329 – The Bishop of Ossory is charged with fomenting feuds among the magnates; he flees to England and then, when summoned before the king, he flees to Rome. The king (Edward III, aged […]
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1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Rebels capture Tinahely, Co Wicklow and burn the town. Tinahely is unusual in that there is no Church in the village. Most of the village dates from the early part of the 19th century as it was rebuilt by Lord Fitzwilliam after it was burnt during the 1798 rebellion. The […]
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In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of St. Colman McRoi, a sixth-century abbot in Dublin. Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 […]
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1555 – After Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick’s Cathedral it is restored on this date. 1698 – Count George de Browne, governor of Livonia, Latvia, and field marshal in the Russian army, is born in Camas, Co Limerick. 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: The Rebel’s main division marches to Mountpleasant. 1828 – […]
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In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of Caomhán of Inisheer, a 6th-century saint. Caomhan is the patron saint of Inisheer (Inis Oírr), the smallest of the Aran Islands. Even though he is “by far the most celebrated of all the saints of the Aran Islands”, little is known about him. He is […]
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1713 – Jonathan Swift becomes Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. 1748 – Sir Robert King, MP for Boyle, Co Roscommon, is created Baron Kingsborough. Earl of Kingston is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1768 for Edward King, 1st Viscount Kingston. He had already succeeded his father as fifth […]
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In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of St. Christian O’Morgair, brother of St. Malachy, and Bishop of Clogher. 1731 – The Revenue Commissioners report the robbery of the Golden Lyon’s cargo at Ballyheige. One of the robbers is caught and turns king’s evidence; the Danish Asiatic Company offers a reward of 10 […]
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1534 – Thomas Garrett (Lord Offaly and grandson of Garret Mór Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare), rides through Dublin with a large band of followers. Known as ‘Silken Thomas’ because of the silk worn on his followers’ helmets, he has heard the false rumour spread by Henry VIII that his father, Garrett Óg has been executed […]
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1642 – The first regularly constituted presbytery in Ireland constituted by Scottish army chaplains meets at Carrickfergus. 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Rebels capture Maynooth in Leinster and Bangor in Ulster. 1834 – Alfred Webb, writer and traveller, is born in Dublin. 1842 – The first number of James MacKnight’s “Banner of Ulster”, the newspaper […]
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In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of St Columba (St Colmcille, ‘dove of the church’). He was an abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution […]
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