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THE 1755 LISBON EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI AND THE IMPACT ON THE COAST OF CORK

By Michael Gibbons The recently published Coastal atlas of Ireland suggests that the Lisbon earthquake and subsequent tsunami on All Saints’ Day, 1 November 1755, caused significant changes to the […]

‘HUGON COME ERINDWARDS’—JAMES JOYCE’S HUGUENOTS

By Martin Green In Finnegans Wake, the main ingredient in Shaun’s ‘stockpot dinner’ is a ‘round steak, very rare, Blong’s best from Portarlington’s Butchery’. The reference is to a butchery […]

CASTILIAN–IRISH TRADE IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

By Gonzalo Franco-Ordovás On 16 March 1545, the Valladolid court of justice resolved a dispute between the inhabitants of the Castilian coastal village of Castro de Urdiales. The conflict had […]

ST SUNNIVA—IRELAND’S MEDIEVAL MARTYR-QUEEN

By Meredith Cutrer The 7th of September 1170 marked a momentous occasion in Bergen, Norway: the relics of the Irish martyr-queen Sunniva were transferred from the island of Selja, off […]

July 27

1920 Recruitment began, mainly from among demobilised British Army officers, into a new force—the ‘Auxiliary Division’—to augment the RIC.
1939 Michael Longley, poet, notable for ‘Gorse Fires’ (1991), ‘The Weather in Japan’ (2000) and ‘The Stairwell’ (2014), born in Belfast of English parents.
2004 Bob Tisdall (96), Olympic gold medal-winner in the 400m hurdles (Los Angeles, 1932) in a world record time of 51.7 seconds—which was not recognised under the rules at the time because he had hit a hurdle—died.
1866 The SS Great Eastern completed the laying of a transatlantic telegraph cable between Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, and Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.

THE 1755 LISBON EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI AND THE IMPACT ON THE COAST OF CORK

‘HUGON COME ERINDWARDS’—JAMES JOYCE’S HUGUENOTS

CASTILIAN–IRISH TRADE IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

ST SUNNIVA—IRELAND’S MEDIEVAL MARTYR-QUEEN

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On this Day

July 27