By Damian Murphy The Mallow-born John ‘Johnny’ Roche (c. 1804–84) is remembered as a ‘character of Cork’ not only for his devil-may-care attitude to life but also on the strength of the eccentric architectural legacy that he left in his wake. The young Roche displayed an aptitude for carpentry, ironmongery and stonemasonry on the family … Read more
By John Stocks Powell How many people in Cork in 1677 would have known the story of the Boscobel oak tree in Shropshire and how Charles II hid from his enemies high in its branches after the defeat of Royalist forces by the Parliamentarians after the Battle of Worcester in September 1651? Yet this image … Read more
By James W. Houlihan In the early summer of AD 697 the Law of the Innocents—Lex Innocentium in the annals, also known as Cáin Adomnáin—was proclaimed at Birr, Co. Offaly. (See HI 23.1, Jan./Feb. 2015, pp 14–17.) It was a law for the protection of innocents, what we call today non-combatants, primarily—though not exclusively—in times … Read more
Daniel Noel Kissane, a patron of History Ireland, passed away on 1 May 2024. Noel worked for over 30 years in the National Library of Ireland, where he held the positions of Education Officer and Keeper of Manuscripts. His doctorate was for his edition of the Metrical Life of St Brigid. Among his many publications … Read more
Sir,—‘On This Day’ in the last issue (HI 32.3, May/June 2024) discusses the British army ambush of IRA volunteers at Loughgall, where eight members of the IRA were shot dead. The short piece fails to mention Anthony Hughes, a civilian, who was shot dead by the SAS in the same incident, and his brother, who … Read more