BY AODHÁN CREALEY JULY 11/1792 The Belfast Harp Festival, a three-day event, opened in the Exchange Rooms. Perhaps the first attempt in Ireland to actively rejuvenate Gaelic culture occurred in Presbyterian Belfast, then known as the ‘Athens of the North’, a century before the Irish Literary Revival. Organised by a committee chaired by Dr James … Read more
By Dermot Scott It may seem strange that there should have been a connection in the early nineteenth century between Ramelton, a small provincial town in north-west Ireland, and a Caribbean island. In early 1825 Revd Edward Reid, minister of Ramelton Presbyterian Church, despairing of finding local career opportunities for his numerous family, decided to … Read more
By Tom Sigafoos On 22 September 1884, HMS Wasp, a Banterer-class gunboat of the Royal Navy, ran onto the rocks at the foot of the Tory Island lighthouse, broke apart and sank a few minutes before 4 a.m. Forty-six crewmen and four officers drowned. Five men scrambled up the mast and dropped to safety on … Read more