Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
O! BREATHE not his name! let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonoured his relics are laid; Sad, silent, and dark be the tears that we shed, As the night dew that falls on the grave o’er his head. But the night dew that falls, though in silence it weeps, Shall brighten with […]
Read More
Thirty-six ships arrive at Bantry Bay but do not attempt a landing and return to France, thus preventing what might have been an Irish/French victory over the English. Wolfe Tone writes in near despair of efforts to land French invasion forces at Bantry Bay. High winds and storms would mean the planned landing would be […]
Read More
In the Liturgical Calendar, today is the Feast of St. Stephen as well as Wren day in Ireland and the Isle of Man. In Ireland the day is one of nine official public holidays. 1381 – The sudden death of Edmund Mortimer at Cork leaves the colony without effective leadership and prompts a military crisis. […]
Read More
Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. While the Solstices were not as important to the ancient Irish as the major fire festivals, they were nonetheless celebrated. Of the Solstices and Equinoxes, the Winter Solstice was the most important, since it marked the rebirth of the sun after […]
Read More
‘Never to desist in our efforts until we subvert the authority of England over our country and asserted our independence’. –Wolfe Tone After Wolfe Tone’s capture, he was taken to Dublin and court-martialled. He requested that he be afforded the death of a soldier, to be shot, rather than hanged. His request was denied and […]
Read More
“To unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen in order break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, that was my aim”.” –Theobald Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone was one of the founders of the United Irishmen. In efforts to free Ireland from English rule, he […]
Read More
On the northern bank of the River Crana as it enters Lough Swilly sits the three-story O’Doherty’s Keep, which is the only surviving part of an original 14th-century Norman castle. The first two levels of the keep were built after 1333. In 1601 the O’Doherty’s Keep was described as being a small, two-story castle, inhabited […]
Read More
What is that in your hand?It is a branch.Of what?Of the tree of liberty.Where did it first grow?In America.Where does it bloom?In France.Where did the seeds fall?In Ireland. –Catechism of the United Irishmen. To Edmund Burke, the French revolutionaries were “the swinish multitude”, and his Reflections on the Revolution in France set in motion one of the […]
Read More
O! BREATHE not his name! let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonoured his relics are laid; Sad, silent, and dark be the tears that we shed, As the night dew that falls on the grave o’er his head. But the night dew that falls, though in silence it weeps, Shall brighten with […]
Read More
Thirty-six ships arrive at Bantry Bay but do not attempt a landing and return to France, thus preventing what might have been an Irish/French victory over the English. Wolfe Tone writes in near despair of efforts to land French invasion forces at Bantry Bay. High winds and storms would mean the planned landing would be […]
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.