The recent article on Dorothy Macardle (HI 15.3, May/June 2007) mentions other accomplished Irish female historians of the Free State period, including Mary Hayden. She is one whose long and active life deserves to be better known. Like Macardle, she wrote one history book. A short history of the Irish people, published in November 1921 … Read more
The National Portrait Gallery in London is home to many thousands of portraits, photographs and sculptures of the great and the good, as well as those who travelled on the darker side of history. Earlier this year it hosted a small exhibition in the Porter Gallery called Between Worlds: Voyagers to Britain 1700–1850. The exhibition … Read more
On 14 August 2007 a Viking longboat arrived in Dublin amidst much fanfare. While this would have been fairly unremarkable during Dublin’s heyday as a Viking trading port, in 2007 the novelty of the event guaranteed crowds of onlookers, an army band, at least one overly enthusiastic traffic cop and numerous public representatives. The longboat … Read more
According to documents placed on the Department of the Environment website by the current minister, John Gormley, the Lismullen site is a circular enclosure 80m in diameter, formed of a double row of stake-holes, about 2m apart. Each stake-hole is about 10–15cm in diameter. The site was discovered as topsoil was being stripped as part … Read more