Irish History Podcast

This is the first of two podcasts which looks at the story of Otto Skorzeny, a notorious Nazi with a long but forgotten connection to Ireland. It is set in the aftermath of World War II to the intriguing backdrop of the hunt for Nazi war criminals after the war. Once labelled the most dangerous man in Europe the focus of the podcast, Otto Skorzeny, was a man plagued with rumours of war crimes, gun...

Believe it or not the first Irish person to visit China left Europe in 1318 arriving. His fascinating journey would take several years. Known only as 'James of Ireland' this a story embroiled in the rise of the Mongols, medieval papal diplomacy and the tediously slow world of medieval travel.  Hear his story in this podcast... This podcast is brought to you by Irish Newspaper Archives Become...

Over the coming weeks I am taking a break from the Great Famine Series to make a mini series entitled 'Outsiders'. These podcasts will focus on people who for one reason or another lived at the peripherary of Irish society.  First up is Ireland's last executioners. These were members of a family who included one of the most prolific hangmen of all time. This is the story of the Pierrepoi...

The crumbling ruins of workhouses are one of the last visible reminders of the horrors of the Great Hunger in the Irish landscape. During the Great Famine they became home to the unwanted in Irish society. Ultimately over 300,000 people Irish people died in these institutions during the Great Hunger.  While they may have been unwanted by the late 1840s very few of the so called 'inmates' of w...

This show opens with the fascinating story of communities in Mayo who resorted to piracy to survive in 1847. This is only a prelude however before we look at two pivotal events later in the year.  After two years of starvation, the only election held during the Great Famine took place in August 1847. In some constituencies this poll was more like a blood sport than modern elections.  Tha...

This podcast continues our journey through the summer of 1847 as we reach one of the pivotal moments in the history of the Great Famine. The British government finally realise a new policy is needed in Ireland but will it help or hinder? Decisions taken in this podcast overshadow life Ireland for years to come.  Tune in to find out more.  This episode is brought to you by Irish Newspaper...

Transportation was a particularity cruel punishment. For centuries those condemned to this fate were shipped to penal colonies on the far side of the globe to serve out their sentences. It has become synonymous with injustice during the famine when many caught stealing food suffered this fate.   For this podcast I dug deep into the archives and found the story of the Nangle family w...

Dublin is often forgotten in the story of the Great Famine. While death rates in the capital were not as severe as the west of Ireland, the city suffered nevertheless. The show follows the story of the Mulherins, a family who fled famine in their home in Co Leitrim and settled in the Smithfield - Stoneybatter area of Dublin. They quickly found life in the capital city was very different but not ne...

From January 1847 Irish people desperately trying to flee the famine began to leave the island in huge numbers.  220,000 left in that year alone and by 1853 more than one in six people who had lived in Ireland in 1845 had emigrated. While we know a lot about where they went and the horrendous conditions they faced, we know less about the lives they left behind. This show tells that story thro...

This series continues the story of the Great Famine into the notorious year of Black '47 by returning to the town of Skibbereen. Looking at how life in the town changed it details the horrifying lives many had to endure. However starvation was not the only way the famine changed Ireland and the show begins by looking at the unusual story of James Dillon, a coroner in Co Offaly who was tasked with...

As the situation deteriorated in Ireland in late 1846, the two Cork towns of Youghal and Skibbereen experienced the unfolding horrors in very different ways. The people of Youghal, due to local dynamics, were in a position to rise up against some of the causes of famine. Through the Autumn of 1846 they launched an insurrection in a desperate bid to stop food being exported. However at Skibbereen&n...

Many travellers who visited the west of Ireland in the 19th century considered it as a frontier of sorts. They were more often than not deeply racist, yet we still rely heavily on their accounts to reconstruct a picture of life at the time. In this show I question how reliable their accounts are. In an effort to create a more vivid picture of life in the 1840s I have interviewed with two arch...

Join Fin as he treks around Achill island visiting Ireland's newest beach and the ruins of a famine era village. Become a supporter & access dozens of exclusive podcasts Patreon www.patreon.com/irishpodcast Acast https://plus.acast.com/s/irishhistory 📢June 2023 Update - New Walking Tour 📢 I am thrilled to announce my brand new walking tour in Ireland's oldest city, Waterford. Join me and exp...

Through the summer of 1846 Ireland had endured terrible hunger and suffering. However against the odds the numbers who had starved to death were few. As many waited in great anticipation for the coming harvest, disaster struck when the potato blight returned on a much wider scale than in 1845. As the Irish MP Daniel O'Connell stated a 'death dealing famine' was on the cards. This show begins with...

Become a supporter & access dozens of exclusive podcasts Patreon www.patreon.com/irishpodcast Acast https://plus.acast.com/s/irishhistory 📢June 2023 Update - New Walking Tour 📢 I am thrilled to announce my brand new walking tour in Ireland's oldest city, Waterford. Join me and explore 1,000 years of history from the Vikings to Cromwell & Strongbow to the Irish Revolution.  Enhanced...

The summer of 1846 was a tense time in Ireland. As food grew scarce lawlessness, riots and violence became frequent. Everyone eagerly awaited May 15th when the British Government would open it's emergency food depots. Perhaps then the tensions and anxiety at the heart of Irish society would ease? However would the food in these emergency depots be enough to stave off famine until the harvest was r...

This show takes you through the winter of 1845 through to April 1846 as the situation in Ireland deteriorates. Food riots and protests become common, while the Famine crisis facing Ireland is consumed in bitter political disputes around free trade in London.  While the show follows the fate of millions through increasingly uncertain times it begins (as is often the case now) in a quite seclud...

As the harvest of 1845 approached in Ireland, rumours circulated that a mysterious disease was attacking the potato crop. While well informed botanists in London grew increasingly anxious about what lay ahead, many Irish peasants dependent on potatoes had little idea what was happening. When the harvest did fail, the Great Famine had begun. Terror gripped the population and I look at what the...

1845 is famous for one thing in Irish history – the beginning of the Great Famine. However contrary to what you might expect, if you lived in Ireland through most of 1845 there was little evidence to suggest Irish society stood on the brink of one of the greatest famines in history. This episode looks at the highs and lows of life in Ireland as the Famine approached. To this end we follow the life...

Lola Montez, born Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert, was one of the most scandalous women of the 19th century. She took Europe by storm with 'dances' that left little to the imagination - she was known to wear nothing beneath her tutu. Married three times she also had a string of famous lovers including a king, the composer Franz Liszt and the author Alexander Dumas. Were she alive today her friends would...

In 1845 the population of Ireland was heading towards 9 million with many people surviving on a diet of potatoes. This has lead many to claim that the island was overpopulated. In this podcast I head to a remote village of Inver in Erris to see how the population has changed over the past 150 years. I also investigate exactly how many people lived in Ireland, what was the standard of living and wh...

The series on the Great Famine got off to a bloody start with the story of Anne Devlin and the rebellions of 1798 and 1803. By the end of the first episode, Ireland had been incorporated into the United Kingdom under the Act of Union.  In this show we will see what life in Ireland was like after the Act of Union. Within a few decades inequality was soaring. Strikes, riots and assassination we...

This podcast, the first in my new series on the Great Famine, gives a background to Ireland in the 19th century. Entitled 'Rebel Island' it focuses on the life of one extraordinary Irish rebel - Anne Devlin. She lived a remarkable life and was involved in the 1798 and 1803 rebellions. These reshaped Ireland and had profound consequences impacting life right up to and during the Great Famine....

Over the past few months I have been preparing a major podcast series on the Great Famine of the 1840s and its finally here! This short episode is an introduction to the series, what you can expect from it and why I am making it. Basically its like an introduction to a book. If this isn't your thing and you want to crack on with the series the first episode - Rebel Island is available for patrons...

In the opening line of his novel The Go Between the writer L.P. Hartley famously quipped ‘ The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there ’. For me history is about attempting to visit this foreign country L.P. Hartley talked about and seeing what life was like. In this podcast I have trawled through eye witness accounts of travelers to early 19th century Ireland to give you...