The focus of the Bantry Bay Summer School, held at St Goban’s College 1-5 July under the genial auspices of Jenny McCarthy, John A. Murphy and Sean Ó Coileáin was the fate of over fifty ships and 15,000 seasoned French troops which almost landed two centuries ago, one of the great might-have-beens in Irish history. … Read more
‘Barony’ was the Irish term for the former administrative subdivisions of the county, corresponding to the English ‘hundred’ or ‘wapentake’ and, like the county, was part of the Anglo-Norman administrative system. In Meath and Louth the term seems to have been employed from the beginning. In the south of Ireland, however, the term ‘cantred’ (from … Read more
Little did the Russians realise when they sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million that it would become one of history’s greatest bargains. Even many Americans were doubtful about its worth and ridiculed William H. Seward, the Secretary of State who had pushed for its purchase, by calling the new acquisition … Read more
The heretics now gave way and took flight. The Irish gave forth their battle-cry. The General rode before and among his well-ordered army urging them on; the killing continued till the shades of evening and new night descended. A large number of them was drowned in the Blackwater and in Knocknacloy Lough. Thus did the … Read more