Sir Ernest Shackleton, the great polar explorer, was born in Kilkea House, Kilkea, five miles from Athy, Co. Kildare, on 15 February 1874. Coming from an Anglo-Irish background with a strong Quaker heritage, he is renowned for his courage and extraordinary leadership skills on the legendary 1914–16 Endurance expedition to the Antarctic. His first expedition … Read more
Historic fourteenth-century manuscript on public display for the first time. A remarkable fourteenth-century manuscript, the Red Book of Ossory, has returned to St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, where it was written 700 years ago. On loan from the Representative Church Body (RCB) Library, the Red Book is on public display for the first time in history … Read more
In one of our podcasts analysing the 2020 general election (link below), historian Brian Hanley was emphatic that the Sinn Féin surge in that election represented a seismic shift in the political landscape. Despite a drop in Sinn Féin’s vote, that remains the case: the two historically dominant political parties have been replaced by three. … Read more