WEXFORD’S TOWN WALL

Historical Tours Ireland

During the 12th century, the Norse-Irish town of Wexford underwent many changes. In 1169, the town was besieged by a Norman force that had landed in Bannow Bay. This small army, which was led by Robert Fitz-Stephen and Diarmait Mac Murchada (the recently-deposed King of Leinster), took control of the town after its inhabitants surrendered on the advice of two bishops.

In the years that followed, a wave of Norman influence began to alter the fabric of the town.

One of the most-striking additions to Wexford during this period was the construction of a stone wall, which “looped” around the town in the shape of a “C”, running from West Gate and Selskar Abbey to the site of Wexford Castle in Barrack Street. This wall encompassed an area of roughly 240,000 square metres (24 hectares).

The red dots on the map pinpoint the locations of the town gates, of which there was seven. These…

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How to replace the peace lines with the River Farset

The Treason Felony Blog

Imagine we could replace the fifty year old peace line by re-opening the River Farset? That isn’t as fanciful as it sounds. A significant section of the river along the northern side of Cupar Street (much of it open ground today) while the peace line runs on its southern side. So it would certainly be possible, but is it plausible? As a starting point, here’s a brief overview of the course of the river, it’s heritage and the pre-1969 urban landscape of Belfast.

Here’s a closer look at the course of the River Farset between the Falls Road and Shankill Road. To make it easier to follow, I’ve stitched together a map. Rather than use the modern street layout (there is a reason for this which I will get to), I’ve overlaid it on to the street layout prior to the construction of the peace line in 1969. While enough…

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#OTD in 2017 – President Michael D. Higgins unveiled a memorial commemorating the Great Hunger in Subiaco Park in Perth, Australia.

The memorial sculpture was designed by Charlie Smith and Joan Walsh-Smith, originally from Waterford. In Sydney, the President visited the Australian Monument to the Great Hunger, in the company of the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales.

The sculpture depicts a grieving mother “bent low by the crushing loss of her children” and President Higgins praised the Irish Australians, Charlie and Joan Smith, who designed what he called a, “most beautiful and moving depiction of the sense of desolation.”

There was a shortage of women in the British colony, Australia. In the 1840s, during the Great Hunger, thousands of Irish women were shipped to Australia to marry convicts to become a “Great Hunger Brides”.

Micheal D Higgins continued his exhaustive 24-day tour of Western Australia, and unveiled a new Great Hunger Memorial which paid tribute to these women.

“It is a sobering to think of the desperate situation that these girls faced, where the option of travelling to the other side of the world… to a future that they could scarcely comprehend was preferable to what was around them,” he said. The statue, which shows a woman bent over and keening.

President Higgins added that it was heartening that the communities remembered the women’s contribution to Irish society following their ‘traumatic departure’ from Ireland. “Remembering their lives, and their legacy is important,” he told the crowd.

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

The memorial sculpture was designed by Charlie Smith and Joan Walsh-Smith, originally from Waterford. In Sydney, the President visited the Australian Monument to the Great Hunger, in the company of the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales.

The sculpture depicts a grieving mother “bent low by the crushing loss of her children” and President Higgins praised the Irish Australians, Charlie and Joan Smith, who designed what he called a, “most beautiful and moving depiction of the sense of desolation.”

There was a shortage of women in the British colony, Australia. In the 1840s, during the Great Hunger, thousands of Irish women were shipped to Australia to marry convicts to become a “Great Hunger Brides”.

Micheal D Higgins continued his exhaustive 24-day tour of Western Australia, and unveiled a new Great Hunger Memorial which paid tribute to these women.

“It is a sobering to think of the desperate situation…

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#OTD in 1967 – A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed in Bolivia.

#OTD IN 1967 – A DAY AFTER BEING CAPTURED, MARXIST REVOLUTIONARY ERNESTO “CHE” GUEVARA IS EXECUTED IN BOLIVIA.
Stair na hÉireannHistoryAlberto Korda, Argentina, Che, China, CIA, Co. Clare, Co. Galway, Congo, Cuba, Ernesto Che Guevera, Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna, Fidel Castro, Guatemala, Irish-Argentinian History, Jim Fitzpatrick, Kilkee, revolutionary, Royal Marine Hotel, Soviets, United States, USSRLeave a comment

Socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, aged 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on 8 October while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and assassinated him the following day. His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara’s remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna was born to a well-off family in Argentina in 1928. While studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, he took time off to travel around South America on a motorcycle; during this time, he witnessed the poverty and oppression of the lower classes. He received a medical degree in 1953 and continued his travels around Latin America, becoming involved with left-wing organisations. In the mid 1950s, Guevara met up with Fidel Castro and his group of exiled revolutionaries in Mexico. Guevara played a key role in Castro’s seizure of power from Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and later served as Castro’s right-hand man and minister of industry. Guevara strongly opposed U.S. domination in Latin America and advocated peasant-based revolutions to combat social injustice in Third World countries. He became president of the Cuban national bank and helped to shift the country’s trade relations from the United States to the Soviet Union. Castro later described him as “an artist of revolutionary warfare.”

Guevara resigned—some say he was dismissed—from his Cuban government post in April 1965, possibly over differences with Castro about the nation’s economic and foreign policies. Guevara then disappeared from Cuba, traveled to Africa and eventually resurfaced in Bolivia, where he was killed. Following his death, Guevara achieved hero status among people around the world as a symbol of anti-imperialism and revolution. A 1960 photo taken by Alberto Korda of Guevara in a beret became iconic and has since appeared on countless posters and T-shirts. However, not everyone considers Guevara a hero: He is accused, among other things, of ordering the deaths of hundreds of people in Cuban prisons during the revolution.

Jim Fitzpatrick is an Irish artist famous for Irish Celtic art. Perhaps his most famous piece is his iconic two-tone portrait of Che Guevara created in 1968 and based on the photo by Alberto Korda. As a lifelong communist and supporter of the Cuban Revolution until his death, Alberto Korda claimed no payment for his picture. The modified version of the portrait by Jim Fitzpatrick was also reproduced on a range of different media, though Korda never asked for royalties. Korda reasoned that Che’s image represented his revolutionary ideals, and thus the more his picture spread the greater the chance Che’s ideals would spread as well. Korda’s refusal to seek royalties for the vast circulation of his photograph helped it become the ultimate symbol of Marxist revolution and anti-imperialist struggle.

In 2011, Jim Fitzpatrick announced his intention to copyright the iconic red and black Che Guevara graphic, which he initially released copyright-free for intended use among revolutionary groups in Europe and elsewhere. He blamed “crass commercial” use of the image for his decision and handed over the copyright and all rights, in perpetuity, to the family of Guevara in Cuba.

Jim Fitzpatrick met Che Guevara in the Royal Marine Hotel bar in Kilkee, Co Clare, in the summer of 1961. Fitzpatrick was 16 years old at the time, and had travelled down to the seaside village to work in the hotel while on holidays from Gormanstown College, Co Meath.

“When it was announced he had been murdered in 1967, the next day his father was quoted in the Evening Press — I have the paper — as saying, ‘The blood of the Irish revolutionary ran in my sons’ veins’.”

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

Socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, aged 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on 8 October while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and assassinated him the following day. His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara’s remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna was born to a well-off family in Argentina in 1928. While studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, he took time off to travel around South America on a motorcycle; during this time, he witnessed the poverty and oppression of the lower classes. He received a medical degree in 1953 and continued his travels around Latin America, becoming involved with…

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#OTD in 1959 – Birth of musician, Gavin Friday, in Dublin.

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

Birth of Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey) in Dublin. He is a singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter and founder of post-punk band The Virgin Prunes.

Friday was born in Dublin and grew up in Ballygall a neighbourhood located on Dublin’s Northside located between Finglas and Glasnevin where he went to school. When he was fourteen years old and living on Cedarwood Road, he met Bono and Guggi at a party to which he had not been invited. Bono said: “We caught him trying to steal something out of the house. Classic teenage stuff… but we became friends.”

In 1986, after the demise of Virgin Prunes, Friday devoted himself to painting for a while, sharing a studio with Bono, Guggi and Charlie Whisker. This resulted in the exhibition Four Artists – Many Wednesdays (1988) at Dublin’s Hendricks Gallery. Friday, Guggi and Whisker showed paintings, while Bono opted to…

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The Rock of Cashel – Home of the High Kings of Munster

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

Rising from the Golden Vale of Tipperary, steeped in mythology and immersed in over two millennia of history, the Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick’s Rock (Carraig Phádraig), is a historic site in Ireland’s province of Munster. The Rock of Cashel served as the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion, though few remnants if any of the early structures survive. The majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Two of the most famous people of Irish legend and history are associated with the Rock of Cashel. They are St. Patrick whom according to legend, arrived in Cashel in AD 432 and baptised King Aengus who became Ireland’s first Christian ruler. The second was Brian Boru, who was crowned High King in 990. He is…

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#OTD in 1939 – In one of the more intriguing episodes of World War II, German U-Boat 35 under the command of Kapitan Werner Lott disembarked 28 men at Dingle, Co Kerry from the Greek cargo ship Diamantis.

IN ONE OF THE MORE INTRIGUING EPISODES OF WORLD WAR II, GERMAN U-BOAT 35 UNDER THE COMMAND OF KAPITAN WERNER LOTT DISEMBARKED 28 MEN AT DINGLE, CO KERRY FROM THE GREEK CARGO SHIP DIAMANTIS.

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

About 15.40 hours on 3 Oct, 1939, the Diamantis was torpedoed by U-35 and sank 40 miles west of the Scilly Islands. Because the lifeboats were not suited for use in the bad weather, Lott decided to take all crew members aboard and landed them the next day at Dingle, Co Kerry.

On a stormy evening in October 1939 the realities of World War II reached the shores of the Dingle Peninsula. A crowd of local people were amazed that evening when they saw a German submarine coming within 10 yards of the shore at Ventry. What they didn’t know at the time was that they were witnessing a most humane and unwarlike act by the German captain on board the submarine.

Twenty-eight Greek sailors whose ship had been sunk by the Germans were landed at Ventry – two at a time in a small lifeboat. The submarine pulled away…

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National Day of Commemoration (Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta) held on the nearest Sunday to this date commemorating all Irish people who died in past wars or United Nations peacekeeping missions.

In Ireland, the National Day of Commemoration/Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta, commemorates all Irish people who died in past wars or United Nations peacekeeping missions. It occurs on the Sunday nearest 11 July, the anniversary of the date in 1921 that a truce was signed ending the Irish War of Independence. The principal ceremony is held at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin.

The commemoration of Irish soldiers and wars has been fragmented within Ireland for historical and political reasons.

Ceremonies to honour Irish soldiers who fought in the First World War have been held in Ireland in November on Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day since the war’s end. These are mainly organised by the Royal British Legion and ex-servicemen and relatives. The focal points were St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, both in Dublin. Though many Irish nationalists served in the British Army prior to independence, this was not generally held in high esteem by later generations. Independent Ireland remained neutral in World War II, and although thousands of its citizens served in the allied armies, the state did not at first mark this.

Commemoration of the Irish War of Independence was muted by the bitterness of the Irish Civil War that followed from it. The preceding 1916 Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland was the focus, with Easter Day considered the “National Day of Commemoration”. There was a major parade each Easter until 1971, when the Troubles in the north of Ireland made the commemoration of the earlier Irish Republican rebels more problematic in symbolism. Smaller official commemorations persisted at Arbour Hill Prison.

Within the Defence Forces, a Commemoration Day for deceased former members is held on All Souls’ Day, 2 November. 11 July, the anniversary of the 1921 truce, had already been a special Army holiday before being the base date for the National Day of Commemoration.

In 1974, the coalition government proposed Saint Patrick’s Day as a day for commemorating all Irish people who had given their lives in wars, marked with a message from the President, prayer and a moment of silence. The Fianna Fáil opposition objected. In the early 1980s, in response to the Northern Ireland Troubles, the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Co Wicklow was organising “Walks of Remembrance” around sites in Dublin significant to all historical combatants. In 1983, the Irish Defence Forces were represented in the British Legion’s Remembrance Sunday service in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, under the flag of the United Nations. This was controversial and the Fianna Fáil opposition suggested a separate day of commemoration would be more inclusive.

An informal Oireachtas all-party committee was established in late 1984 to examine the question of a single National Day of Commemoration. It held four meetings and reported to the government in October 1985. The view of this Committee was that there should be a religious service and a military ceremony. This has been the tradition since, although Noel Treacy complained that the military presence was “on a small-scale compared with that visualised by the all party committee”.

The first National Day of Commemoration was held on 13 July 1986 in the Garden of Remembrance. Old IRA veterans objected to the venue, which commemorates those who died in “the cause of Irish freedom”, being used to honour British Army veterans. The absence was noted of Leader of the Opposition, Charles Haughey, and Lord Mayor of Dublin, Bertie Ahern, both represented by subordinates. This was ascribed to discontent within Fianna Fáil about the event.

Haughey became Taoiseach after the February 1987 election. He announced the commemoration ceremony would be replaced by separate church services by the various denominations, with no military or government presence. The opposition parties objected, and both sides negotiated a compromise, whereby the ceremony, and the commemorative plaque which had been unveiled in 1986 by President Patrick Hillery, were moved to the Royal Hospital. This, originally a British Army hospital, is now the Irish Museum of Modern Art. However Irish Republicans and IRA veterans of the Irish War of Independence objected to the presence of the British Legion at the ceremony. Subsequent ceremonies have not proved controversial.

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

In Ireland, the National Day of Commemoration/Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta, commemorates all Irish people who died in past wars or United Nations peacekeeping missions. It occurs on the Sunday nearest 11 July, the anniversary of the date in 1921 that a truce was signed ending the Irish War of Independence. The principal ceremony is held at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin.

The commemoration of Irish soldiers and wars has been fragmented within Ireland for historical and political reasons.

Ceremonies to honour Irish soldiers who fought in the First World War have been held in Ireland in November on Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day since the war’s end. These are mainly organised by the Royal British Legion and ex-servicemen and relatives. The focal points were St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, both in Dublin. Though many Irish nationalists served in the British Army prior to independence, this was…

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St. Munchin, the patron saint of Limerick

St. Munchin is the peculiar patron saint for Limerick city as he is renowned for cursing the natives of the city. He is thought to have said:

the stranger would flourish and the native would perish.

This due to the natives of the city not assisting him as he was erecting his church in the city, while those passing through aided him without question.

As for Munchin himself, his background is up for debate and it is possible that there were multiple men called Munchin or Little Monk. One legend states that he was the nephew of Bloid, a king of Thomond while another states that he was one of three sons of Setna, grandson to Cas, and great-grandson to Conell of the Dalgais who came from the area Lahinch and Ennistymon in Co.Clare.

It has been said that he founded the original St Munchin’s Church in Limerick city in 630, where the Church of Ireland church of that name stands today. He was attributed with founding a church called Cill Mainchín on Inis Sibhton. As well a church in the island of Fidh-Inis, which lies within the large estuary where the river Fergus enters the river Shannon. He was supposedly the founder of Mungret Monastery, though this monestry has also been attributed to St Patrick and St Nessan.

He was supposed to be the first Bishop of Limerick, though again this has no foundation. There’s little question that the Church of Limerick had a continued succession of bishops from a very early date as Limerick appears to have held rank among the cities of Ireland.

Though we know nothing factual about the man called Munchin, it is still unusual that although he was famed for cursing the city, that the city held him in such esteem to name him as the patron saint.

The feast day of St Munchin is celebrated on January 3rd.

Mainchín mac Setnai (fl. late 6th century), also anglicised to Munchin, was allegedly the founder of the church of Luimneach (now Limerick), Ireland, and a saint in Irish tradition, acquiring special eminence as patron of Limerick City. Both his origins and the date of his association with the city are debated.

Through his father Sétna, Mainchín is alleged to belong to the Dál Cais, given a pedigree linking him to the ancestors of the O’Brien dynasty. His tutor was the Corco Mruad saint Mac Creicheaccording to the Life of that saint. Mainchín is said to have founded Luimneach when Ferdomnach, king from the Dál Cais, granted him land at Inis Sibtond.

A major problem with the above is that the Dál Cais themselves are unknown by that name before the 930s and are believed by scholars to be the descendants of a Déisi population which migrated into the region at an uncertain period. Before the Dál Cais the greater region appears to have been dominated for a time by another people entirely, the Uí Fidgenti, who eventually found themselves much displaced by the Dál Cais in the second half of the 10th century and following, although after having previously overrun many of the Déisi themselves in the very same territories.

Mainchín is also the patron saint of Brug Ríg, now Bruree, the former royal seat of the Uí Fidgenti.

It has been argued that his appearance in Limerick is actually due to his adoption by the later Norse there, with whom the O’Donovan family, late representatives of the kingdom (although of uncertain origins themselves), were closely associated.

In fact no “successors” of Mainchín in Limerick are known before the 12th century and so his existence there cannot be verified before then.

In the Martyrology of Donegal, Mainchín’s feast day occurs on 29 December. In Bruree, his feast day is commemorated on 2 January, but this date may have been erroneously taken from that recorded for St Manchán (Manchéne) of Min Droichit in the Félire Óengusso. The Roman Martyrology also lists January 2 as Mainchín of Limerick’s memorial.

Kavanagh’s two Dublin seats and an international resting spot

Come Here To Me!

O commemorate me where there is water,
Canal water preferably
Greeny at the heart of summer. Brother…

O commemorate me with no hero courageous
Tomb – just a canal bank seat for the passer-by.

It may come as a surprise, it certainly did to me, that Patrick Kavanagh is commemorated by not one but two seats along Dublin’s Grand Canal.

The one that is known to most Dubliners and tourists is the bench which has a life sized statue of Kavanagh sitting on one side. This was made by the sculpture John Coll and was unveiled in June 1991 by Mary Robinson. It is situated on the north bank of the Grand Canal on Mespil Road.

The second statue predates the first by 23 years and was unveiled only a few month’s after the poet’s death. It is a simple ‘wood and granite’ seat that was designed by the artist

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