Nick Maxwell Medieval buildings dominate many parts of the Irish landscape. Castles are the largest surviving structures from medieval Ireland, and monastic buildings and their inhabitants dominate many chapters of Irish history. Accounts of the lives and fortunes of these people and the landscapes they inhabited are found across a wide range of sources—annals, letters, manuscripts—but these … Read more
In the Irish Free State, the land purchase annuities amounted to over £3m per annum, a substantial figure (given that the total revenue intake in the early 1930s was approximately £25m). The average burden of the annuities on the individual farmer was not huge—about 10% of net income—but it was a fixed amount, so the … Read more
There is much talk these days of a ‘decade of centenaries’, but this renewed emphasis on impending commemoration shouldn’t obscure those commemorations that are already established. At this time of year one looms large: Armistice Day, 11 November. To mark it, the Dublin photographer David O’Flynn has compiled a collection of his photographs, available to … Read more
The tour was organised by the unlikely team of physical-force Irish-American republicans and Brian Heron, leader of the newly formed National Association for Irish Justice. An experienced left-wing political organiser, Heron was tolerated by the politically conservative republicans because he happened to be the grandson of James Connolly. Heron tolerated the republicans because their goal … Read more
Residential and territorial segregation have been accepted realities for many Catholic and Protestant working-class communities in Belfast since the seventeenth century. It wasn’t until the summer of 1935, however, that the first physical barrier was built to provide social distancing and separation. The British Army, in response to increased sectarian rioting, constructed a temporary barrier … Read more