By Lar Joye Since Greek and Roman times armies have displayed captured weapons and flags as a way of celebrating their success. In Ireland we see examples of this in the form of captured Russian cannons on display outside courthouses in Ennis and Tralee. After the Crimean War (1853–6) 21 captured cannons were gifted to … Read more
Norwegian Ole Mørk Sandvik’s 1927 visit to Ireland. By David Toms Ole Mørk Sandvik was unimpressed by Dublin on his arrival in Ireland’s capital in the summer of 1927, describing it as an ‘English city’, and boring for all that. He was equally nonplussed by Cork, which he felt shared much of the same character … Read more
The ‘special position’ of the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglicans and the historians. By Niall Meehan Historians in southern Ireland who examine the interaction of religion with social and political policy tend to fixate on the Roman Catholic Church. Southern Protestants and their socio-economic, political and religious interactions within wider society are often ignored. Though … Read more
Directed by Mike Leigh By Eoin Dillon Mike Leigh’s film Peterloo deals with events in St Peter’s Field in Manchester on 16 August 1819, when between 60,000 and 100,000 organised and disciplined workers, both men and women, from town and field, assembled peacefully to demand parliamentary reform and were sabred down—with perhaps fifteen dead and … Read more
National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar nli.ie By Tony Canavan I have to admit that I was a little surprised by this exhibition (which runs until the end of May 2019), as the publicity surrounding it gave the impression that it was a commemoration of the electoral franchise being extended to women in … Read more