History Ireland

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Museum

Situated in a purpose-designed building, the Somme Heritage Centre is dedicated to Ireland and the First World War. Although located in a place with a strong unionist heritage, the centre […]

The Military Strategy of the Wexford United Irishmen in 1798

until recently historians of 1798 regarded the rebellion in Wexford as a spontaneous popular reaction to unwarranted government repression and not part of a larger United Irish conspiracy. Scanty references […]

The Sense of the Past by Seamus Heaney

Its former green is blue and thin,And its once firm legs sink in and in;Soon it will break down unaware,Soon it will break down unaware.At night when reddest flowers are […]

McDOWELL AT EIGHTY

DD: How important was family background and schooling in the development of your historical interests? RBMcD: I was born in the middle of the middle classes, so from the […]

Making a Hole in the Moon: the rescue of Princess Clementina by Tony Canavan

On a cold April morning in 1719 a carriage containing an Irish lady and her maid, escorted by her husband and four companions, left the fortress city of Strasbourg to […]

September 20

1920 Two RIC officers were shot dead in a public house in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, after which the RIC and Black and Tans rampaged through the town, burning business premises and houses. Two suspected republicans were bayoneted to death.
1920 Three British soldiers from the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, including Pte Harold Washington (15), were shot dead by the IRA as they collected bread from Monk’s bakery in North King Street, Dublin. Kevin Barry (18) of H Company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade, was arrested at the scene.
1970 Leo Rowsome, celebrated piper, died suddenly in Riverstown parochial hall, Co. Sligo, while adjudicating in the ‘Fiddler of Dooney’ fiddle-playing championship.
1914 In a speech at Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow, the Irish Parliamentary Party leader, John Redmond, called on the Irish Volunteers to join the British army and fight wherever the war took them.
1803 Robert Emmet, United Irishman, was hanged in Thomas Street, Dublin.
1922 Four Irregulars, including Brian MacNeill, son of Eoin MacNeill, were trapped by Free State forces on Ben Bulben, Co. Sligo, and summarily executed.

Museum

The Military Strategy of the Wexford United Irishmen in 1798

The Sense of the Past by Seamus Heaney

McDOWELL AT EIGHTY

Making a Hole in the Moon: the rescue of Princess Clementina by Tony Canavan

Personal Histories

On this Day

September 20