Situated in a purpose-designed building, the Somme Heritage Centre is dedicated to Ireland and the First World War. Although located in a place with a strong unionist heritage, the centre is not solely devoted to the 36th (Ulster) Division, although naturally it features strongly. The centre itself is undergoing some important structural and administrative changes … Read more
until recently historians of 1798 regarded the rebellion in Wexford as a spontaneous popular reaction to unwarranted government repression and not part of a larger United Irish conspiracy. Scanty references to the county in the manuscript record and the bitter, apparently localised, character of the Wexford conflict seemed to support this interpretation. Today, inspired by … Read more
Its former green is blue and thin,And its once firm legs sink in and in;Soon it will break down unaware,Soon it will break down unaware.At night when reddest flowers are blackThose who once sat thereon come back;Quite a row of them sitting there,Quite a row of them sitting there.With them the seat does not break … Read more
DD: How important was family background and schooling in the development of your historical interests? RBMcD: I was born in the middle of the middle classes, so from the very earliest days I was aware of how the business world thought and lived. I also grew up in the Protestant world of the North … Read more
On a cold April morning in 1719 a carriage containing an Irish lady and her maid, escorted by her husband and four companions, left the fortress city of Strasbourg to cross the Rhine. As they departed the governor of the city spoke to them, ‘Adieu mes enfants, you are not crossing the Rhine for nothing, … Read more