BITE-SIZED HISTORY

BY DONAL FALLON MEN OF THE SOUTH COME TO LIFE The impact of modern technology on Irish museums is explored in our current Museum Eye (pp 56–7) and in our recent review of the Book of Kells Experience (March/April 2024). Beyond museums, developing technology is now making its presence felt in art galleries. At the … Read more

ON THIS DAY

BY AODHÁN CREALEY JULY 01/1690 The Battle of the Boyne. The scene that morning near the village of Oldbridge was quite a spectacle. On the northern bank was King William, Prince of Orange, who had accepted the English throne two years earlier on the invitation of England’s Whig political élite. His 36,000-strong army was an … Read more

Sarah Purser—a pivotal figure in Irish art

By Marie Bourke Sarah Purser, painter, illustrator and stained-glass artist, was born in Dún Laoghaire in 1848 to Benjamin and Anne Purser of Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. She was related to the artists Frederic Burton and Walter Osborne. Although she had a comfortable upbringing and was educated in Switzerland, a decline in family fortunes resulted in … Read more

How many died in the Irish Civil War?

By John Dorney Catherine Sexton, the 60-year-old widow of a stonemason, was penned into her home in Quarry Lane, Garryowen, during fighting between pro- and anti-Treaty forces in Limerick city in July 1922. During a lull in the fighting, she ventured outside for water and was hit in the arm by a stray bullet. Evacuated … Read more

If it quacks like a duck …

One of the peculiar features of the far-right phenomenon in Ireland is its denial of its own existence. That, apparently, is a trope of the ‘mainstream media’. While it is true that the recent surge in international protection applicants has been badly handled by the government and that many decent people have been caught up … Read more