Nick Maxwell The Irish Prison Registers 1790–1924, held at the National Archives of Ireland, are one of the greatest untapped resources for tracing Irish ancestors. They contain over 130,000 pages which include nearly three million records of imprisonment providing a wealth of information on each prisoner, including name, address, place of birth, occupation, religion, education, age, physical … Read more
Minding our language I am grateful to Ian Chapple (‘Letters’, opposite page) for giving me the opportunity to clarify our policy on submissions in the Irish language. The publication of two articles (‘Anocht is Uaigneach Éire’ [‘Ireland is Desolate Tonight’] by Breandán Ó Buachalla and ‘Cuntas Thaidhg Uí Chaináin at Thuras Deoraíochta na dTaoiseach Ultach, … Read more
Hilda Tweedy, founder of the Irish Housewives’ Association, was born in Clones, Co. Monaghan, in 1911. Recognising the importance of Tweedy’s work, Alan Hayes of Arlen House sought to honour her memory. Hayes’s vision has culminated in an exhibition and a book publication, which will be launched at a symposium celebrating Tweedy’s life and work … Read more
Sir, —In the July/August 2007 issue of History Ireland (Flight of theEarls special) Prof. John McGurk, who in an earlier issue of yourjournal had drawn freely on my Kinsale for his account of the battle(HI 9.3, Autumn 2001), either was unaware of my chapter, ‘Outward boundfrom Portnamurray’, in E. García Hernán et al. (eds), Irlanda … Read more
Sir, —There is no doubt that Mr Pat Cooke is keen to court controversywith his pseudo-philosophical deconstruction of Tara and its landscapein his ‘platform’ piece, ‘Plato’s landscape: the quarrel over Lismullenand the Tara/Skryne valley’ (HI 15.5, Sept./Oct. 2007). Fewcommentators would be foolhardy enough to seriously dismiss thenational significance of Tara’s landscape on the basis of … Read more