The Incomparable History Of Ireland

Send us Fan Mail Patrick "Pat" O'Callaghan was an Irish athlete and Olympic gold medallist. He was the first athlete from Ireland to win an Olympic medal under the Irish flag rather than the British flag.  He was also the youngest doctor ever and his life story is a wonderful tale Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail On 27 October 1927 a number of local fishermen died when a strong gale rose without warning. The fishermen were fishing for mackerel in the Atlantic Ocean, near Cleggan in county Galway.  Many men came from the nearby village of  Rossadilisk which resulted in the fishing village becoming abandoned. Nine of the men came from the island of Innisbofin and twenty from County Mayo. Due...

Send us Fan Mail These are the last three young men to die on hunger strike in 1981.  These brave and convicted young men turned history.  This episode shares a little about their lives, their story Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail Martin Hurson and Kevin Lynch were the next two die on hunger strike.  Here are their stories Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail Patsy and Joe were the two hunger strikers I most related to when they were in the news in 1981.  Here is a little bit about them Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail Francis was the the 2nd young man to die in the hunger strike of 1981.  Raymond McCreesh was the 3rd.  This is their stories.  A little about them and how they were arrested Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail Bobby Sands rose to international prominence in 1981 when he embarked on a fatal hunger strike while imprisoned for activities related to the IRA’s armed campaign against the British government. Sands’s rough childhood, which included several assaults by unionist paramilitaries and local Protestant gangs, led to his decision to volunteer for the IRA in 1972. Sands was arrested twi...

Send us Fan Mail Hunger Strike is an old Celtic tradition going back to the Brehon Laws.  It was how you publicly displayed your desire for restitution for wrongs done against you.  The first time it was used as political protest was in 1913 by James Connolly.  In May of 1981 the young prisoners who died on hunger strike changed the history and the direction of Northern Ireland in the decades that...

Send us Fan Mail Hunger Strike is an old Celtic tradition going back to the Brehon Laws.  It was how you publicly displayed your desire for restitution for wrongs done against you.  The first time it was used as political protest was in 1913 by James Connolly.  In May of 1981 the young prisoners who died on hunger strike changed the history and the direction of Northern Ireland in the decades that...

Send us Fan Mail An Gorta Mor, the great hunger of 1845-1852.  All over Ireland's landscape there are ruins and grave yards that bear testimony to this horrific period in the World's history.  Mass graves and heaps of moss-covered stones that use to be thriving villages dot the countryside.  Historians cannot agree to the number that died but estimates range between 1-3 million.  The deb...

Send us Fan Mail An Gorta Mor, the great hunger of 1845-1852.  All over Ireland's landscape there are ruins and grave yards that bear testimony to this horrific period in the World's history.  Mass graves and heaps of moss-covered stones that use to be thriving villages dot the countryside.  Historians cannot agree to the number that died but estimates range between 1-3 million.  The deb...

Send us Fan Mail Under the Penal Laws, the Irish Catholics could not hold commission in the army, enter a profession, or own a horse worth more than five pounds. Catholics could not possess weaponry and arms, could not study law or medicine, and could not speak or read Gaelic or play Irish music.  The law around land ownership and how it was inherited cause 90% of the population to own only 10% of...

Send us Fan Mail Beltane or Bealtaine is the Gaelic May Day festival, marking the beginning of summer. It is traditionally held on 1 May, or about midway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between supporters of James II and his successor, William III, it resulted in a Williamite victory. It is generally viewed as a related conflict of the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. Two great Irish songs about the Jacobites are in the links below: https://youtu.be/PSQviNwi3gg?si=P0DyOZ1ba-11qzts...

Send us Fan Mail The Irish are all about weather and they describe it and their natural world very poetically and thoroughly.  The Irish have words for every sort of wave, tide, shift in weather and the different sounds of the sea.  The old irish could look at the moon and sun, birds, the ocean and forecast weather.  They passed alot of this down in proverbs. A great site to here regional words fo...

Send us Fan Mail Celtic culture existed in Ireland from the late prehistoric era until the 17th century and the Anglo-Norman Invasion.  For most of its history, Gaelic Ireland was a  scattered [ hierarchy of territories ruled by a hierarchy of kings or chiefs, who were chosen or elected.  Wars between  were common. Traditionally, a powerful ruler was acknowledged as the High King of Ireland.  The...

Send us Fan Mail Cromwell remains a controversial figure due to his use of the army to acquire political power, and the brutality of his 1649 campaign in Ireland.  He had men torched taking refuge in a church and slaughtered civilians.  He also, instituted the Penal Laws. The penal laws were, according to Edmund Burke, Anglo- Irish statesman and philosopher  "a machine of wise and elaborate c...

Send us Fan Mail The Irish Confederate Wars were a series of clashes between Irish Catholics and British Protestant settlers that lasted from 1641 to 1653 . This conflict was profoundly murderous, massacring thousands of Irish people over a period of more than 12 years. Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century , when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanctioned by the papal bull Laudabiliter.   The Anglo-Norman invasion was a watershed in Ireland's history, marking the beginning of mor...

Send us Fan Mail The Nine Years' War, sometimes called Tyrone's Rebellion, took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. It was fought between an Irish alliance led mainly by Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell against English rule in Ireland, and it was the end of Gaelic order and the Ulster plantation to populate Ireland by lowlander Scots and Brits.  The F...

Send us Fan Mail This episode I cover the 1500s and the 1700s and heroes who led rebellions.  Thomas Fitzgerald and the Silken/Kildare rebellion.  I then Move the heroes of 1798 and another Fitzgerald, Edward.  I include some poems and quotes in honor of these men.  Wolfe Tone is seen as the Father of Republicanism.  I know I am skipping a big part of History - the 1600s but the next episode will...

Send us Fan Mail On Easter Monday 1916, Irish nationalists launched an armed revolt against British rule in Ireland . Although quickly suppressed by the British Army, the rising was a seminal moment in modern Irish history, helping pave the way to the nation's independence in 1922. Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Send us Fan Mail The Saint Patrick’s Battalion is a group of men that fought for Mexico in the Mexican-American War (1846 to 1848). The name come from the battalion’s Spanish name Batallón de San Patricio , with the battalion often being referred to as the San Patricios . The battalion’s members included many who had deserted or defected from the U.S. Army, and was primarily composed of Irish Cath...

Send us Fan Mail In 1980, the most documented UFO sighting in the world took place in England close to an Air Base.  One of the witnesses said he touch it and binary code was burnt into his mind.  He had the binary code decoded for him and it gave the coordinates of ancient structures like the pyramids and a place called Hi-Brazil. As early as the 12th century, the Irish believed in the existence...

Send us Fan Mail The Iconic Leader of Ireland.  The Most revered king of the Island defeated the viking invaders and took command of all of Ireand.  The Catholic church called him the Emperor of the Irish.  If you are an O'Brien, this is the story of the greatest of your clan and how the clan was renamed after him. Support the show Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions