Aughrim need never have been fought. That it happened was due to the Frenchman Charles Chalmont, Marquis de Saint-Ruhe, generally referred to as Saint Ruth who assumed the post of Marshal-General of Ireland, in May 1691. Saint-Ruhe’s command was confined behind the Shannon to Connacht following the 1690 campaign in which William of Orange had … Read more
The early afternoon of Friday, 11 March 1597, was windy but dry in Dublin. The dryness of that springtime was a welcome relief from the succession of cold and wet seasons which had preceded it. At the Liffeyside along Wood Quay and Merchant’s Quay those who laboured at unloading the boats tied up at the … Read more
On 27 April 1923 de Valera and Aiken published peace proposals to end the civil war: all arms should be under control of the executive government responsible to the people through their elected representatives. They insisted that all arms would have to be surrendered. Nevertheless when Fianna Fáil came back into constitutional politics, albeit as … Read more
Just over seventy years ago in the early evening of 22 August 1922 a car stopped at Newcestown church County Cork and its principal passenger wandered alone in the churchyard. Then driver and passenger set off north-eastwards and turned left at Quarry Cross to take the road to Bealnablath and then on to Cork. The … Read more
But such is Collins’ continued celebrity that images of him are not confined to the illustrative plates of biographies and histories relating to his life and times. If one wanders along Westmoreland Street or Stephen’s Green in Dublin it is possible to buy reproductions of some of the more famous photo-journalism of the revolutionary period. … Read more