By Brian Smyth A bequest by Francis Andrews, the provost of Trinity College, Dublin, enabled the building of Dunsink Observatory in 1785 and the foundation of the Andrews Professorship in Astronomy. The first Andrews Professor was Revd Henry Ussher, who was appointed in 1784. Ussher died suddenly in 1790, and Revd John Brinkley (1766–1835) was … Read more
By Clodagh Tait When the earls of Tyrconnell and Tyrone and their associates left Lough Swilly in the ‘Flight of the Earls’ in September 1607, some people were left behind. One was a son of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and his fourth wife, Catherine Magennis. Conn O’Neill was born in around 1601 or 1602, … Read more
By Andrew Totten Around AD 590, somewhere along the east coast of Ireland, St Columbanus was waiting to go into exile. On reaching Burgundy—one of the kingdoms of Merovingian Gaul—he would found a series of monasteries to which people would flock. Eventually falling foul of the king, he travelled through France and Germany to Switzerland, … Read more
By Sergio Fernández Redondo Íth mac Bregoin athchonnairc hÉrinn ar tús, fescor gaimrid, a mulluch Túir Bregoin; dáig is amlaid is ferr radharc duine, glan-fescor gaimrith. (‘It was Íth, Breogán’s son, who first saw Ireland from the top of Breogán’s tower on a winter afternoon; as this is the best way to see it, on … Read more
JOHN CUNNINGHAM, BRIAN HANLEY, MARY MULDOWNEY and SONJA TIERNAN (eds) Irish Labour History Society €35 ISSN 03321169 Reviewed by Conor McCabe Dr Conor McCabe is a researcher at DCU School of Law and Government. For the past 50 years the Irish Labour History Society (ILHS) has produced Saothar, an annual journal that reflects on the … Read more