Aficionados of the seventeenth century are alerted to the new OpenUniversity series Princes and Peoples on BBC 2 on Mondays at 12midnight. It will examine buildings in their historical context,including several in Ireland, e.g. Wentworth’s mansion at Jigginstown,the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham, the fort at Kinsale, as well as others in Britain and France. Those … Read more
British War Office files on the 1916 Rising—which were marked secret for 100 years—have been discovered by researchers examining records on courts martial from both world wars. The files contain personal letters, court notes and details of the execution of rebel leaders, including Connolly and Pearse. Among themis a signed message from Connolly saluting the … Read more
In the early summer of 1795 Russell, Neilson, Simms, McCracken and one or two more of us, on thesummit of McArt’s Fort, took a solemn obligation—never to desist in ourefforts until we had subverted the authority of England over ourcountry. Tone, Autobiography. The Society of United Irishmen Commemoration Committee is organising aguided walk to McArt’s … Read more
The letters of Irish emigrants in Australia (featured in the ‘sources’section of HI Winter 1994), steeped in local idiom and nuance, deserveto be heard as well as seen. A ninety-minute cassette, based on aseries of radio programmes produced by Cathal Póirtéir, has beenreleased in conjunction with David Fitzpatrick’s Oceans of Consolation:Personal Accounts of Irish Migration … Read more
At the second Burren Law School in Ballyvaughan, County Clare (31March-2 April 1995), on the theme Crime and punishment, Muireann NíBhrolcháin gave background information on the judicial system in theBrehon law period from the eighth to the twelfth centuries where theoffences common today also existed. She claimed the system was morevictim-orientated as monetary compensation was … Read more