Recorded on the 1 Feb 2024, at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street.
Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 1500th anniversary of the passing of St Brigit, Ireland’s most notable female saint. But who was she?—a figure of history or of myth and legend?—a goddess and/or a feminist icon? With Edel Breathnach, Elva Johnston, Bairbre Ní Fhloinn and Niamh Wycherley.This Hedge School is supported by the National Library of Ireland
To what extent did the Irish Free State’s joining the League of Nations a century ago realise Robert Emmet’s ambition? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney, Michael Kennedy and Zoë Reid.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.
(Recorded at Maggie’s Tavern, St Johnston, Co. Donegal, on Saturday 28 October ’23)
Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 421st anniversary of the passing of Red Hugh O’Donnell, the ‘Fighting Prince of Donegal’.But no discussion of Red Hugh would be complete without consideration of the real ‘mover and shaker’ in these events, the power behind the throne, his mother Iníon Dubh—with Billy Kelly, Matthew McGinty, Tomás Ó Brógáin and Éamonn Ó Ciardha.
This Hedge School is supported by the Red Hugh O’Donnell Society and Donegal County Council.
Listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham for a lively and interactive discussion on how the Irish Civil War was depicted on film, both at the time (newsreels) and subsequently (Michael Collins, The Wind that Shakes the Barleyand other films), and how this has affected our understanding of the period—with Ciara Chambers, Dennis Condon, Brian Hanleyand Kevin Rockett.
(Recorded at the Irish Film Institute on Wed 11 Oct ’23 as part of the Dublin Festival of History)
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.
This Hedge School, recorded at the Electric Picnic, September 2023, was preceded by a performance of Paddy Cullivan’s The Two Murders of Wolfe Tone, which can be viewed at paddycullivan.com.
‘He landed in France with one hundred guineas in his pocket and had come near to altering the destiny of Europe’—so said Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, of Theobald Wolfe Tone, who died 225 years ago. To discuss Tone’s life and legacy, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Paddy Cullivan, Sylvie Kleinman, Tim Murtagh and Fergus Whelan.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group.
For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
Belfast: The story of a city and its people is a lively and inviting history of Belfast—exploring the highs and lows of a resilient city. Join Tommy Graham, editor of History Ireland, in conversation with the author, Fergal Cochrane.
Belfast: The story of a city and its people is published by Yale University Press.
What were the economic challenges faced by the new state? How did it perform? How did it compare with other newly independent states in Europe? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Frank Barry, Mary Daly, Seán Kenny and Mícheál Ó Fathartaigh.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.
What do these two elections tell us about Ireland’s political landscape before and after the Civil War? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Elaine Callinan, Mel Farrell, Michael Laffan and Martin O’Donoghue.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.
Organised labour had played a leading role (strikes, boycotts etc.) in the Irish revolution, and that was reflected in a substantial vote in the June 1922 general election. Yet a year later that vote had almost halved. Why? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Adrian Grant, Brian Hanley, Theresa Moriarty and Emmet O’Connor.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.
Are historians visually illiterate? Does colourisation bring old photographs to life or is it just a passing fad? ‘Coffee-table’ history books—good or bad? In conjunction with the ongoing People & Places: Ireland in the 19th & 20th centuries exhibition at the National Photographic Archive, these are some of the questions that will be posed by editor, Tommy Graham, to Donal Fallon (historian, writer and broadcaster), Emily Mark Fitzgerald (UCD), and Sara Smyth (exhibition curator, National Library of Ireland).
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the National Library of Ireland. (Recorded at the National Photographic Archive, Temple Bar on the 31 May 2023)
How was the Civil War memorialized—by both sides? Who won the ‘memory war’? To address these and other questions listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Conor Dodd, John Dorney, Mary McAuliffe and Caitlin White.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative and by Phibsborough Community Arts Festival (Phizzfest).
Archbishop John Charles McQuaid—a reassessment
John Charles McQuaid, archbishop of Dublin from 1940 to 1972, was a colossus of the Catholic Church in his day, famous (or infamous) for his opposition to health minister Noel Browne’s Mother and Child Scheme. Less well known is his pioneering work on Irish emigrant welfare in Britain and his influence on the architecture and planning of Dublin. Join editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Brian Harvey (social researcher), Mary Kenny (The way we were: Catholic Ireland since 1922), David McCullagh (biographer of Eamon de Valera) and Ellen Rowley (architectural historian).
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the National Library of Ireland
Available 7 April 2023
History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, and the Hedge School panel—John Dorney, Brian Hanley, Colum Kenny and Mary McAuliffe—field questions from Leaving Cert students in Coulson Theatre, Gonzaga College, Dublin (recorded on 2 March 2023).
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 Initiative.
The violence and divisions caused by the Irish Civil War were more vicious, bitter and protracted in County Kerry than anywhere else in Ireland. Why? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Dorney, Mary McAuliffe, Owen O’Shea and John Regan.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
Reflections on the Decade of Centenaries
What is the relationship between commemoration and historical scholarship? How has this worked out in practice in the Decade of Centenaries? What were the opportunities taken? What were missed? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney, Brian Hanley, Heather Jones and Fearghal McGarry.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
A century ago, in December 1922, at the height of the Civil War, poet W.B. Yeats was nominated to the Senate of the newly established Irish Free State. In January of that year he had participated in the cultural programme of the Irish Race Congress in Paris. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, a major boost to the prestige of a nation after the trauma of civil war. He was to serve for six years in the Senate. In the 1930s he briefly flirted with Eoin O’Duffy’s Blueshirts. How are we to assess Yeats’s relationship to the Irish Free State? To address this and other questions, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Lucy Collins, Theo Dorgan, Darragh Gannon and Katherine McSharry.
To be published on Friday 9 December 2022
To be aired on TG4, 9.30pm, Wednesday 7 December 2022
Over three nights in April 1922, thirteen Protestant men were shot dead in West Cork. According to Peter Hart’s 1998 book The IRA and its enemies, they were shot because they were Protestants—sectarian killings carried out by members of the IRA—and ‘the nationalist revolution had also been a sectarian one’. Hart’s controversial conclusions sparked a ‘history war’ that has raged ever since. Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham to discuss the documentary with Brian Hanley, Simon Kingston, Eve Morrison and Jerry O’Callaghan.
Click here to see the programme on TG4
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by TG4.
While not in the vanguard of the War of Independence, Donegal became the scene of the last stand-up fight between the IRA (pro- and anti-Treaty) and British military (in the ‘Pettigo triangle’), with the latter using heavy artillery for the first time in Ireland since 1916. On the outbreak of the Civil War some of these IRA men, originally mobilised for the now-aborted ‘Northern offensive’, were caught up in the hostilities that followed. Four of them were subsequently executed, the only four executions to take place in the county. To discuss these and related questions join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in conversation with Adrian Grant, Breandán MacSuibhne and Pauric Travers.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
(Recorded at the Allingham Festival, Ballyshannon, 5 November 2022)
How have Irish Travellers fared since the foundation of the state a century ago, and in particular since the 1963 Report of the Commission on Itinerancy? What are the challenges facing the current generation of Traveller activists? How can non-Travellers be effective allies? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Martin Collins, Rose Marie Maughan, and Patrick Nevin.
Available from 21 October 2022
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group.
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
At the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June 1922 the anti-Treaty IRA numbered some 15,000, holding key positions in Dublin and throughout the country, in particular behind a defensive line running from Limerick to Waterford (the so-called ‘Munster Republic’). Their pro-Treaty opponents in the newly-formed National Army numbered less than half that. Why then did the pro-Treaty side win? To address this and related questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Bill Kissane, John Dorney, Mary McAuliffe and Gareth Prendergast.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group.
Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative.
For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
On 22 August 1922, Michael Collins was killed at Béal na Bláth, Co. Cork. But what if he had survived? Would he have become a military dictator? (Was he one already?) Would he have been more or less ruthless than his successors in prosecuting the Civil War? Would he have torn up the Treaty and launched an invasion of the North? What if he and not Eoin O’Duffy had later become leader of the Blueshirts? And if he, rather than Dev, had become Ireland’s dominant statesman, would his economic or social policies have been any different? Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Paddy Cullivan, Brian Hanley, David McCullagh, Fearghal McGarry and Margaret O’Callaghan.
This Hege School was recorded at the Electric Picnic 2022 immediately after Paddy Cullivan’s historical entertainment, ‘The Murder of Michael Collins’. Details here www.paddycullivan.com.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group.
For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
It is nearly 40 years since Margaret Ward’s pioneering Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism, 1880-1980 (1983) first appeared. How has women’s history, and history written by women, fared in the meantime, particularly in this ‘decade of centenaries’? Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Síobhra Aiken, Leeann Lane, Sarah-Anne Buckley and Margaret Ward. Recorded at the Electric Picnic 2022.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group.
For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
Born in West Cork in 1890, Michael Collins joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) as a teenager while working as a clerk in London. He fought in the GPO in 1916, and rose to prominence by the War of Independence, combining the positions of Dáil minister for finance and IRA director of intelligence. How can his meteoric rise be explained? Why did he sign the Treaty? Did he intend to tear it up and invade the North? Was he by the outbreak of the Civil War effectively a military dictator? Why are the circumstances of his death at Béal na Bláth, exactly a century ago, still disputed? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with John Borgonovo, Gemma Clark, Dominic Price and John Regan.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
Available from 22 August 2022
So said Michael Collins, yet despite his central role in the development of the Irish nationalism from which the Irish State would emerge, Arthur Griffith has had to settle for a side-line role in the national historical memory. How fair or accurate are accusations of anti-Semitism, misogyny or ‘selling the pass’ at the Treaty negotiations? How stands his reputation today a century on from his untimely death, aged 51, on 12 August 1922? To address these and related questions listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Frank Barry, Brian Hanley, Colum Kenny and Margaret Ward.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
Available 12 August 2022
One of the most engaging figures of the revolutionary period, Harry Boland, along with his brother Gerry, joined the IRB in 1904 and participated in the 1916 Rising. He was centrally involved in the subsequent reorganization of Sinn Féin and the Volunteers and was uniquely close to the two dominant figures of the period, Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins. Having taken the anti-Treaty side, he was killed in controversial circumstances exactly a century ago on 1 August 1922. To discuss his life and times join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in conversation with Tim Crowley, Donnacha DeLong, Liz Gillis and Éamon Ó Cuiv.
(Recorded at Glasnevin Cemetery Museum on Mon 1 August 2022)
This Hedge School is supported by the Harry Boland Centenary Committee.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
On 22 June 1922 Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson, former Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Unionist MP for North Down, was assassinated outside his London home in Eaton Square. The anti-Treaty IRA were blamed and six days later, under pressure from the British, Michael Collins ordered the bombardment of the Four Courts, the opening salvos of the Irish Civil War. But who was Henry Wilson? Was he, as was alleged, the mastermind behind the anti-Catholic pogroms in Belfast 1920-22? And who ordered the hit? To address these and other questions listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with John Dorney, Caoimhe Nic Dhaibhéid, Padraig Óg Ó Ruairc, John Regan.
(Recorded at St Peter’s, North Main Street, Cork, as part of the National Civil War Conference, UCC, on Saturday 18 June 2022)
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Irelandand the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
As part of the so-called ‘Northern Offensive’, on 27 May 1922, a combined force of pro-Treaty National Army and anti-Treaty IRA occupied the ‘Belleek/Pettigo triangle’, an enclave of Fermanagh/Northern Ireland only accessible over-land through Free State territory. Less than two weeks later they had been ejected by regular British Army troops; the ‘Northern Offensive’ was over. But how serious was it in the first place? Or was it just a ruse to keep the anti-Treaty IRA on-side? To address these and other questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Edward Burke, Margaret O’Callaghan and Éamon Phoenix..
This Hedge School is supported by Donegal County Council, Fermanagh & Omagh District Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative.
Given their activism in the revolutionary period, now widely acknowledged by historians, why were Irish women and their organizations on the margins of deliberations on the Treaty? Why were Irish women under 30 denied the vote in the June 1922 general election? To what extent were they the victims of gendered violence (by either side) during the Civil War? Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Síobhra Aiken, Leeann Lane, Mary McAuliffe and Margaret Ward.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
(Recorded @ Phizzfest [Phibsborough Community Arts Festival], Sun 15 May 2022, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum)
In this centenary year of its publication, the History Ireland Hedge School considers James Joyce’s Ulysses, set in Dublin on a single day, 16 June 1904. What was the history of the book? What is the history in the book? Join Tommy Graham in discussion with Sylvie Kleinman, Felix Larkin, Katherine McSharry and Dan Mulhall.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School supported by the National Library of Ireland.
Over the course of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, nearly 300 ‘Big Houses’ (those belonging to aristocrats with in excess of 2,000 acres), 20% of a total of c. 1,500, were burned to the ground. Why? AuthorTerence Dooley, Professor of History at Maynooth University and Director of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates, in conversation with History Ireland editor Tommy Graham, provides some answers.
Burning the Big House—the story of the Irish country house in a time of war and revolution is published by Yale University Press.
Further information: https://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300260748
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
The Anglo-Irish Treaty sparked turmoil within the IRA. Some accepted it and joined the ranks of the Provisional Government’s new ‘National Army’; some remained neutral; the majority opposed it, but with the added twist that on the eve of the Civil War there were two anti-Treaty factions of the IRA, not one. Two Army Conventions, on 26 March and 18 June 1922, failed to resolve these differences. To make sense of these complexities, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Síobhra Aiken, John Borgonovo, John Dorney and Brian Hanley.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
While an uneasy peace prevailed in the South following the Truce of July 1921, in Northern Ireland communal violence continued to rage, exemplified most notoriously on 24 March 1922 by the killings of a ‘respectable’ Catholic family, the McMahons, by an RIC ‘murder gang’. Was this a ‘one-off’ by a ‘rogue’ element or part of a wider policy of intimidation? And as the Treaty split drifted towards civil war in the South, how did events in the North and along the border affect the situation? To discuss these and related questions, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Kieran Glennon, Paddy Mulroe, Seán Bernard Newman and Margaret O’Callaghan.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
So said the long white apron of suffragette and socialist Margaret Buckmaster at a protest in July 1921 organised by the Peace with Ireland Council (PIC). How significant were such anti-colonial solidarity movements in Britain in the revolutionary period? How effective were they? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Darragh Gannon, Angus Mitchell and Mo Moulton.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Reconciliation Fund.
When the Civic Guard—later renamed An Garda Síochána—was founded in February 1922, the force it replaced, the Royal Irish Constabulary, was itself barely a century old. How much of the culture of the latter passed over to the former? What was the law-and-order situation in 1921/22? Why and how was it possible to set up an unarmed police force during a civil war? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Elizabeth Malcolm, Fearghal McGarry and Liam McNiffe.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative.
Within weeks of the ratification of the Treaty by Dáil Éireann an ‘Irish Race Congress’ assembled in Paris representing Irish organizations from twenty-two countries. Inevitably the Treaty split overshadowed its proceedings. Did global Irish experiences moderate or radicalise expectations of Irish independence? What legacy did Irish sovereignty bequeath to the historical memory of the Irish diaspora? To address these and related questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Darragh Gannon, Donal McCracken, David Brundage, and Anne Marie O’Brien.
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative.
Available from 21 January 2022
Under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, a Provisional Government, led by Michael Collins, was to oversee the transition of power until the Irish Free State formally came into being in December 1922. What was involved in the ‘handover’ that took place on 16 January 1922? Who was involved and what were their roles? To address these and related questions join Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney, Kate O’Malley, Edward Madigan, and Padraig Óg Ó Ruairc.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Office of Public Works.
Podcast available from 16 January 2022
The Handover: Dublin Castle and the British withdrawal from Ireland, 1922 by John Gibney and Kate O’Malley is published by the Royal Irish Academy. Further details: https://www.ria.ie/handover-dublin-castle-and-british-withdrawal-ireland-1922
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