Ireland in Story and Song

An epic saga of the Irish diaspora, BRIDEEN tells the story of the author's real-life ancestor. Bridget Sweeney was a survivor of the Great Hunger of 1847, and her subsequent life was swept up in the great upheavals of the 19th century: the industrial revolution in England, the Civil War in the U.S., and the European settlement of the American Midwest. The book’s narrative is punctuated with...

An original folktale. It came to me in a dream - honest! Click on "Transcript" if you'd like to read the text. 

My ancestors all came from Ireland to the USA (in some cases by roundabout routes) in the 19th century. I’ve become particularly interested in finding out more about my great-grandmother, Bridget Sweeney McDonnell, who was born in County Mayo and left there at the height of the famine in 1847. In the course of researching life in Mayo during her time there, I came across accounts – some eyewitness...

Storytelling and Song about my search for my Great-Grandmother, who left Ireland at the height of the famine in 1847.  The opening bars of "Lord Mayo" played by Duncan Cameron.