53-55 Crumlin Rd, Belfast www.crumlinroadgaol.com By Tony Canavan For such a grim building with such a grim past, Crumlin Road Gaol presents a merry face to the world. As well as having a café and a restaurant, it is host to grand balls and concerts by the likes of Garth Brooks and Abba tribute bands. … Read more
Underground Films, RTÉ1, 21 December 2016 By John Gibney Strange occurrences in a small Irish village, made by the same team who created the award-winning One million Dubliners, was released in cinemas last August. Aoife Kelleher’s second feature-length documentary shares an aesthetic style and broad thematic approach with its predecessor, not to mention a willingness … Read more
Dock Road, Limerick By Emma Gilleece The Rank Silo overlooking the docks in Limerick city is one of the last surviving structures of Shannon Mills, once one of the largest flour-milling complexes in these islands. Joseph Rank Ltd, today Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM), was founded by Joseph Rank (1854–1943) in Hull in 1875, and expanded … Read more
As the Battle of Britain raged across the skies following the capitulation of France in June 1940, the Irish state had not prepared for the possibility of paratroopers, spies and belligerent aircraft crash-landing on its soil By Luke Diver On 20 August 1940, the lack of preparedness of the Irish state was highlighted when a … Read more
The IRA’s Civil War campaign against Dublin’s cinemas and theatres By Gavin Foster A few nights after St Patrick’s Day 1923, two men arrived at the Bohemian Picture House in Phibsborough, a suburb on the north side of Dublin. The Irish Free State was still in the throes of civil war, but social life was … Read more