From about 1730 Ireland experienced a series of communications developments that pro-foundly altered the opportunities to move around the island. Road, canal and, later, rail initiatives meant that by about 1860 a communications revolution had occurred. A wide-ranging ‘time–space compression’, as it is termed by some geographers, radically reduced the time, and to some extent … Read more
‘Depression or no depression, the cinema grows more popular everyday in Ireland—already there are more than 30 cinemas in Dublin with more to come. In face of these facts, it may seem perverse to ask if anyone in Ireland is really interested in the cinema at all’ (‘Film Notes’, Irish Times, 29 June 1935, p. … Read more
Wijtschate-Messines Ridge was a battle that some believed presented an opportunity for reconciliation between the two political traditions in Ireland—British unionism and Irish nationalism. If Irishmen could fight and die together, surely they could live together. The symbolism was not lost on politicians, particularly nationalists. In December 1916, Willie Redmond MP wrote to his friend … Read more
Sir, —While Daniel Mulhall’s article on golf’s early days in Ireland (HI14.5, Sept./Oct. 2006) is very interesting, I suspect that heunderestimates the extent of nationalist hostility to golf in theperiod. The relative scarcity of denunciations of golf in nationalistpublications may reflect the fact that its select and often olderclientele meant that it did not compete … Read more