‘Geographical loyalty’? Counties, palatinates, boroughs and ridings

The existence of the canonical ‘32 counties of Ireland’ (26 in the Republic and six in the North) is taken for granted by most of us and would appear to be easily verified by glancing at a map. Likewise, despite modernisation, globalisation and large-scale immigration, counties continue to command passionate loyalties and on both sides … Read more

Tuam rebuilt

Along with his Catholic counterpart Francis Kirwan, Archbishop Daniel is believed to have overseen the rebuilding of Tuam and its cathedral following the destruction of the Nine Years War. According to the Galway historian John Lynch (c. 1599–1677), he identified the famed relics of Tuam’s patron, St Jarlath, when they were recovered from their ruined … Read more

‘Desirous to be delivered’:prophecy, printing and Puritanism beyond the Pale

Following the escape of the young ‘Red’ Hugh O’Donnell from Dublin Castle and his near-doomed flight over the Wicklow Mountains at the height of the bitterly cold winter of 1591, a prophecy soon spread amongst the native Irish that his escape heralded an imminent victory over the English. Indeed, while passing through Munster in 1599, … Read more