Nick Maxwell By Clare O’Halloran ‘The stupendous power of steam has, within a very few years, annihilated all previous calculations of time and space.’ The sentiment of this breathless opening line of an all-but-forgotten 1844 history of Drogheda by the barrister and historian John D’Alton was a commonplace of the early age of steam transportation and especially … Read more
By Rob Christie The Moravian village of Gracehill, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim, was established in the 1760s, based on the teachings of two Czech theologians and philosophers, John Huss (1372–1450) and John Comenius (1592–1670). Comenius is considered to be the father of modern education. The Moravians were one of the earliest groups to break with … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons The Valuation Office Archives have an unparalleled coverage of 100% of all households in rural districts, falling to 65% in urban parishes, with evidence on living conditions, housing, employment, land tenure and land ownership. These records are the backbone of family and local history research in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ireland. The Valuation … Read more
By Damian Murphy The Act to Encourage the Establishment of Banks for Savings in Ireland (1817) aimed to regulate what had been until then an amateurish, often risky, savings bank industry by limiting deposits to £50 per annum and requiring deposits to be lodged with the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, the … Read more
By Conor Robison It seems like poetic justice that Ireland’s parting shot at Oliver Cromwell proved to be the blackest day of his storied military career—doubly so, considering that the blow came at the hands of a man known as ‘Black’ Hugh. Cromwell’s silence on the matter speaks volumes about the generalship of his opponent, … Read more