The great voyages of discovery (Columbus, de Gama, etc.) shifted the centre of gravity of European maritime trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Over the same period the conquest of Ireland was completed. By the eighteenth century, Ireland, for centuries on the periphery of Europe, found itself at the centre of this newly formed … Read more
Why was it that Cork (county and city), which accounted for c. 10% of the country’s population, produced nearly 25% of those killed in the War of Independence? What role did its substantial (c. 10%) non-Catholic (mainly loyalist) population play? Did individual IRA commanders like Tom Barry make a difference and what was the significance of the engagements … Read more
Cranwell was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and moved to Ireland around 1969/70 with his Cork girlfriend, Una Cassidy, whom he later married. In 1973 Cranwell won the Leinster Open and received his first cap for the Ireland team. A profile of Cranwell for Squash Review noted that he ‘regards himself as an Irishman—or the … Read more
In Wexford and Limerick, as in Irish counties as a whole, at least seven kinds of place-names with Scandinavian affiliations have been identified by the author. Apart from the more than thirty well-known examples such as the Arklows, Wicklows and Wexfords, the number of definitive Norse place-names to be identified for Ireland may be at least … Read more
The growth of squash in Ireland in the 1970s was partially attributed to the sponsorship by Dunlop of the Irish Open in 1973 and the success of Irish player Jonah Barrington. The Squash Review believed that Barrington ‘did for squash what Muhammed Ali did for boxing’. Barrington was born in Cornwall to Irish parents from … Read more