By Brian Smyth The National Committee for Commemorative Plaques in Science and Technology (NCCPST) was formed in 1997 to celebrate achievements across science, technology, engineering and mathematics in Ireland. Over the past 25 years the committee has erected 75 plaques, and it aims to erect at least a further 125 to commemorate those who have … Read more
BY AODHÁN CREALEY JANUARY 28/1547 King Henry VIII (55) died. Popularly remembered for his six marriages and his despotism (it’s estimated that he judicially murdered some 1,500 of his subjects, from humble servants to queens), it was Henry, of course, who introduced the Reformation to these islands. In 1534, when Pope Clement VII refused him … Read more
By Brian Trench Just over 130 years ago, on 25 November 1892, Douglas Hyde delivered a lecture that was a landmark in the Irish Revival. ‘The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland’, later published as a pamphlet, underpinned the formation of the Gaelic League less than a year later. For this lecture Hyde had the platform of … Read more
There are certain resonances between past and present in the current issue (30 years on from our first, in spring 1993, incidentally). Thomas P. Power’s article on the Pastorini prophecy (pp 26–9), which predicted the destruction of Protestantism in 1825, reminds us that irrational conspiracy theories—whether it be Pastorini, the Protocols of Zion or, in … Read more
Athy, Co. Kildare By Damian Murphy The skyline of Athy was transformed in the early 1960s when both of its nineteenth-century Catholic churches, St Michael’s and St Dominic’s, were replaced. The new St Michael’s (1960–4), the larger parish church, took its inspiration from Italy, with its basilica plan and slender multi-stage bell-tower given Romanesque openings … Read more