Chris’s Rambles – Story Archaeology

The Irish Otherworld goes by many names, Tír na mBeo, the Land of the Living, or Emhain Abhlach, the Plain of Apples, for example. It is a world that, in Irish mythology, lies unseen, adjacent to our own, a source of beauty and fertility and occasionally, danger. Join Chis as she explores its boundaries and...

Animal companions have played a variety of important roles in human societies over the millenia. Join Chris as she explores how dogs, cats and even the occasional crane, have been regarded and regulated both in the comprehensive early Irish law texts and Irish stories, mythology and folklore. Links for this Episode

Recent DNA testing on a long ignored jawbone fragment has opened a viewpoint on the distant past to when and how animal companions began to alter the everyday lives of human communities. Join Chris as she explores this new research and wonders, on the way, what ‘pet’ names might they have chosen! I will be...

Dolmens, Barrows, Cairn ? They were built millennia ago to transport the human memory and imagination from one world to another and, in so many different ways, they still do. Join Chris on a personal exploration of these liminal places as she considers not only their archaeological importance but the impact they can still have...

Storytelling in changing times It is always exciting when new scientific research is able to throw a new light on ancient stories. Join Chris in a new and wide-ranging ramble as she explores the extaordinary vistas of the early Irish Cath Maige Tuired (The Battle of Moytura) and contemplates a neolithic tragedy. Links for this...

Stories of The Big Wind of 1839 have been told and retold in Ireland for all of 186 years. Join Chris as she explores what makes weather events such as Oíche na Gaoithe Móire so memorable and considers whether Storm Eowyn, a storm of a similar destructive nature, will still be remembered so far into...

The effects of the die-back disease are slowly destroying most of Ireland’s beautiful ash trees. Join Chris as she explores the sad story of this tree-tragedy that began in Leitrim more than a decade ago now and why it is important that everyone should know what is happening to our woodlands. Links for this episode

Banbha is one of the three Dé Danann sisters, daughters of Ernmas, who gave their names to the land of Ireland, Ériu is the best known of the the three but Banbha has another, older, and less well known story to tell. Join Chris as she celebrates the birth of a new granddaughter named Banbha....