Sir,—In an otherwise informative and apparently well-informed piece on public access to the Durrow high cross, Michael Byrne (HI 32.6, Nov./Dec. 2024) states that ‘Mrs [Alice Stopford] Green visited the monastic site at Durrow, the only one in Ireland founded by St Columcille …’. Surely no one doubts that the foundation at Derry was Columcille’s, or questions that this place, though not in Ireland the republic, is indeed in Ireland the island. Usage on this point is currently changing, so that Ireland for many nowadays can be used to refer to the republic. But historians, of all people, should be able to keep track of the broad outlines of Irish history and ignore the present-day border when referring to periods prior to Partition.—Yours etc.,
KEVIN McCAFFERTY
Norway