Nick Maxwell

The Leinster Regiment, their depot and how they were commemorated in Birr, Co. Offaly. By Stephen Callaghan Birr, Co. Offaly, is the spiritual home of the Leinster Regiment. The regiment was formed as part of the Childers reforms of the British Army in July 1881, with the amalgamation of the 100th and 109th Regiments of … Read more

By Myles Mac Evilly That a landing of National Army troops at Westport was a possibility was considered by Tommie Heavey, formerly of the West Mayo Brigade but now in Castlebar Barracks with Michael Kilroy in July 1922 at the start of the Civil War. He stated that Michael Kilroy, who was always interested in … Read more

By Fiona Fitzsimons After 1536 the Church of Ireland, as the established church, was responsible for burying all the dead of the community. Most parishes kept only a record of their own faith community. Notable exceptions were St James’s CoI (Dublin) and St Flannan’s CoI Cathedral graveyard, Killaloe (Clare). Some faiths only buried their own … Read more

By Nicholas Rossiter In 1902 people learned about the outside world through newspapers and periodicals. Lighting in the home, outside large urban areas, was by candle, oil-lamp or gas mantle. The reading material was very much text-laden, with few illustrations other than line-drawings. Since the introduction of National Schools in 1831 there had been a … Read more

By Martin Greene In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the leader of the group of vampire-hunters, Van Helsing, is qualified to play this role because he can call on the expertise of his ‘friend Arminius of Buda-Pesth’. The real-life Arminius Vambéry was a professor of oriental languages at the University of Pest and a celebrated explorer of … Read more