PC Your father taught history at Queen’s. Did this influence your own enthusiasm for history? JG The endless discussions at home about modern history and politics were much more influential. I discovered that my father was in a state of almost permanent opposition to the condition of the world, although little was said of Ireland … Read more
The Paris revolution of February 1848 raised unrealistic expectations in famine-ravaged Ireland. The sudden collapse of established regimes across Europe gave new hope to a divided and dispirited Repeal movement. Irish nationalists were led to believe that the Union could be repealed with similar ease. The romantic nationalists of Young Ireland were particularly heartened by … Read more
Among the large number of departmental records made available to researchers in early January this year was one bulky file from 1968 containing correspondence relating to the repatriation of the remains of the Connaught Rangers mutineers who had died in India in 1920. The release of these documents renders timely an examination of their mutiny … Read more
When the potato crop failed due to blight in 1846 it was obvious, in Ireland at any rate, that a major catastrophe was about to occur. The first failure in 1845 had been partial but it left the country debilitated with reserves run down, while individuals had few possessions left to sell or pawn. Few … Read more
This very welcome study by Matthew Stout represents surprisingly the first ever book devoted to the most common field monument of Irish archaeology. During the Early Medieval Period—the Early Christian Period of less secular-minded archaeologists and historical geographers—according to Stout, whose figures must be regarded as authoritative, about 45,000 examples of this homestead-type monument were … Read more