For many people archaeology is primarily concerned with Ireland’s prehistoric past, and many archaeologists do indeed investigate and interpret monuments associated with our earliest ancestors. Other archaeologists concentrate on the Early Christian and medieval period—on sites associated with Ireland’s early historic past—when documentary sources become available to assist, compliment or contradict the evidence revealed from … Read more
The collection known as the ‘Rebellion Papers’ in the National Archives, Dublin, has been described as ‘the largest single source for the study of the 1790s’. The material ranges from the early 1790s to 1808, a period which witnessed developments that were to shape modern Ireland: the spread from revolutionary France of republicanism as a … Read more
HM: What inspired you to do history? NC: My father, a primary school teacher, was interested in history and was an avid listener to Thomas Davis lectures on the radio. As an undergraduate at University College Galway I was inspired by Gerard Hayes-McCoy. He wasn’t a particularly good performer in the classroom—in fact he dictated … Read more
The conventional image of the diocesan church in late medieval Ireland is one of decay and decadence. One historian posited a degree of disorder ‘not far short of [the] total breakdown of organised religion in that…country’. However, a series of recent studies is revealing a very different picture: a church endeavouring to meet the pastoral … Read more
Among the various terms applied to works of reference, ‘atlas’ has now become the most user-friendly, more companionable than ‘companion’ and certainly less repellent than ‘dictionary’, ‘directory’ or ‘encyclopaedia’. To match its changing semantic context, the typical modern atlas has fewer and simpler maps than its mid-century predecessors; it also has more non-cartographic illustrations, especially … Read more