Recent discoveries of Scandinavian settlement remains at Woodstown, Co. Waterford, have produced great excitement, and not a little hyperbole. Settlements such as this are described as longphuirt or longphorts in the present literature. But what exactly was a longphort? Michael Gibbons investigates. The early stages of Scandinavian settlement in Ireland and Britain remain difficult … Read more
During the nineteenth century, about 40,000 emigrants left Ireland to colonise the lush yet deserted Argentine pampas and laid the foundation for a flourishing Irish-Argentine community. Edmundo Murray tracks the journey from their home counties and their mode of transport. Most of the Irish emigrants bound for Argentina came from two areas, the coastline of … Read more
On Saturday 11 February 1922 a gun battle at a County Monaghan railway station resulted in the deaths of four Ulster Special Constables, the local IRA commandant and the wounding of numerous other combatants and civilians. What really happened? Robert Lynch investigates. The events at Clones were inevitably interpreted in radically different ways by both … Read more
One May afternoon in 1868, a lanky adolescent in thick spectacles was hunched over some showy Chopin at a piano in Bray. As his fingers scattered notes profusely towards the Dargle, a three-year-old boy called Harry took advantage by secretly and expertly picking his pockets. Aside from the teenage pianist’s unusual virtuosity there was nothing … Read more
Sir, —Liam Ó Ruairc’s interesting review of the work of Peter Hart and Meda Ryan (HI, 12.1, Spring 2004) mentions Tom Barry remaining a member of the IRA from the Civil War until 1938 and also his being a ‘staunch’ supporter of the Provisional IRA. Like so much with Barry’s life the reality is … Read more