By Laura Marriott The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were a golden age for English theatre, with writers such as Shakespeare and Marlowe drawing in the London crowds. Soon cities and towns outside the capital began to build their own theatres. Performances attracted a remarkably diverse group of people, from every socio-economic class. Theatre was a … Read more
By Ian Campbell Ross and Anne Markey When Benedict Kiely published his biography of the Tyrone-born novelist and short-story writer William Carleton, he called it Poor scholar (1947). The title was apt and, in line with the book’s subtitle, ‘A study of the works and days of William Carleton’, powerfully evocative of the hedge school … Read more
Irish names in the Legacy of British Slave-ownership (LBS) database (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/). By Sylvie Kleinman ‘I do not envy his father his £79,000’, said Daniel O’Connell of the young William Gladstone to abolitionists in London in March 1838, ‘nor the feelings aroused in his breast’ when hearing of the famishing negro on his estate. They were … Read more
By Michael Brabazon In 1974, a young man by the name of Mike Brennan was exploring a dilapidated, derelict house in Swinford, Co. Mayo. He made his way up the Georgian mansion’s rickety staircase to the first floor, where he discovered a small, hidden cupboard set into the wall. Prising it open, he found a … Read more
Church Lane, Kilkenny By Colm Murray The premises now occupied by the Heritage Council stand on a historic site. The former bishop’s palace in Kilkenny forms part of the St Canice’s Cathedral precinct and, together with the cathedral and round tower, the library and deanery, occupies an elevated position overlooking the medieval city. Work … Read more