The Book of Ballymote became O’Gorman’s property when he purchased it for £20 from a millwright’s widow in Drogheda. O’Gorman deciphered the Ogham script and translated it. He asked Gabriel Beranger, a Dutch artist interested in illustrating Irish antiquities, to copy some of its illustrations. He left it with Cathal Ó Conchobhair of Belanagare (The … Read more
The Wexford Traveller and horse-dealer John Cash was a celebrated piper in the late nineteenth century, and descendants of his—particularly the two Doran brothers, Johnny (d. 1950) and Felix (d. 1972)—achieved celebrity status as pipers in the twentieth century. Johnny and Felix played in very different styles; while Felix’s could be related to that of … Read more
Irish pipers and makers abroad, including O’Farrell, Courtney and Michael Egan, have made valuable contributions to the tradition. The post-Famine emigration brought players and makers to the United States, and Irish communities in America produced many superb pipers, including Barney Delaney, Mike Carney and Patsy Touhey. The last named played a set of pipes made … Read more
The Gough collection was catalogued as part of the 2015–16 research studentship, an annual position in the National Library organised in association with the Irish Committee for Historical Sciences. The Gough papers (MS 50,120) cover topics as diverse as detailed accounts of the various military campaigns in which Hugh Gough served, private family correspondence, drawings … Read more
Gough was proud to be an Irishman and when not serving overseas he settled in Ireland, where he owned significant landholdings by his death. Although he was serving in India at the time, he was aware of the horrific conditions occurring in Ireland during the Great Famine of the 1840s. He wrote to his son … Read more