AMONG THE MOST INFAMOUS EVENTS OF THE EASTER RISING WAS A SERIES OF MURDERS COMMITTED BY CAPTAIN J.C. BOWEN-COLTHURST. HIS MOST FAMOUS VICTIM WAS FRANCIS SHEEHY-SKEFFINGTON, SUMMARILY EXECUTED ON THE MORNING OF 26 APRIL IN PORTOBELLO BARRACKS, ALONGSIDE TWO NEWSPAPER EDITORS, PATRICK MCINTYRE AND THOMAS DICKSON. BUT WHO WAS THOMAS DICKSON? By Conor Morrissey The … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons Irish prisons were some of the first to make a photographic record of inmates before they were legally required to do so under the Habitual Criminals Act of 1869.In Ireland the earliest known prisoner photographs were taken in August 1857 in Mountjoy Jail. Other Irish prisons followed suit: Londonderry in 1865, Enniskillen … Read more
THE LONELY PLANET GUIDE TO HAWAII RECOMMENDS A VISIT TO GREENWELL FARMS COFFEE PLANTATION AND THE ADJOINING ‘CLEVER MUSEUM’ CALLED H.N. GREENWELL STORE MUSEUM. VISITORS ARE SHOWN A TYPICAL GENERAL STORE OF THE 1890S, COMPLETE WITH GOODS AND EQUIPMENT FROM THE PERIOD. ANOTHER REASON TO VISIT IS TO CONSULT THE JOURNAL OF HENRY NICHOLAS GREENWELL, … Read more
THIS YEAR MARKS THE 800th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF ONE OF ENGLAND’S MOST NOTORIOUS KINGS, AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ENGLISHMEN IN THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, KING JOHN. By Colin Veach and Tadhg O’Keeffe John has long split historical opinion. Some see him as an evil tyrant, through whose presence Hell itself is … Read more
By Damian Murphy The history of the Strokestown Park estate dates back to the sixteenth century and a castle destroyed in 1552 by Mac Diarmada. The present estate, however, began to take shape in the seventeenth century when land previously owned by the O’Conor Roe was acquired by the Mahon family. Captain Nicholas Mahon (d. … Read more