Nick Maxwell By Catherine Wright Until the formation of county councils under the Local Government (Ireland) Act of 1898, the grand jury was the most important local body in rural Ireland. Originating in medieval times, it was originally responsible for the justice system, but its remit was gradually expanded to include the provision and maintenance of roads, … Read more
By Seán Whitney John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in a letter from Armagh in 1769 warned his followers not to take snuff, and noted that the Irish were like ‘no other nation in Europe in such vile bondage to this silly, nasty, dirty custom’. Whether it was in the form of snuff or pipe … Read more
By Saskia Vermeulen In this issue we discover the Guinness Film Society Film Group, an amateur film-making group set up in February 1968 when Mike Lawlor, then chairman of the Guinness Film Society, proposed its establishment to the committee. The Guinness Film Society, in existence since the early 1950s, was one of a number that … Read more
By Barry Sheppard The year 1949 marked a watershed in post-war America. According to theologian Richard Gribble, in the years immediately following the Second World War Americans lived through an unprecedented period of prosperity and fear. A united push behind the war effort had been able, at least temporarily, to smooth over some of the … Read more
By Fintan Lane At an art auction in Skibbereen last year I acquired a small watercolour painting (14cm x 12cm) that is a useful visual source for the working lives of fishing communities in nineteenth-century coastal West Cork. Inscribed underneath is the title: ‘Mackerel industry, Castletownshend, Co. Cork, Ireland, salting fish’. The painting probably dates … Read more