Historical Happenings

On a hill in County Meath stands a monument to the early settlers of Ireland and their civilization.  The remarkable structure, built more than 5000 years ago, at first appears to be just a huge mound on a hilltop in the Boyne Valley, but closer investigation reveals a man-made structure surrounded by enormous standing boulders.  A magnificently carved kerbstone lies before the entrance to a 65-foot passage which runs to the center of the mound and three chambers formed of interlacing stones.  The passage is inclined at precisely the proper angle to align astronomically with the rays of the … [Read more...] about Newgrange

History is written by the victors and is not always as portrayed; one example of that is Thanksgiving.  According to the story that surrounds it, heroic Christian pilgrims arrived in America and shared what little they had with their poor Indian neighbors in thanksgiving for their successful arrival.  The truth of the matter is that the Indians weren’t poor, and if they hadn’t shared their bounty with the pilgrims, the pilgrims might not have survived.  After all, yams, corn, and the rest were all Indian dietary staples and the turkey was an American bird.  It was Chief Massasoit and the … [Read more...] about An Echo from Irish History

The Rising of 1798 was brutally put down so that the Irish might never think of rising again.  Although it succeeded in putting an end to the larger organized rebel societies like the Defenders and United Irishmen, the spirit of opposition to rents, tithes and taxes still prevailed among the oppressed Irish tenantry and smaller, clandestine societies continued to operate against the landlords. These local societies were called by many names such as Whiteboys, for the means they chose to identify themselves on night raids, to Levelers, for their tactic of filling in the ditches used by … [Read more...] about Origins

The organized colonization of Ulster by settlers from England and Scotland began in 1609 by King James I.  Half a million acres of the best land in Ulster were confiscated to settle colonists who had to be English-speaking and Protestant.  After 32 years of land theft by anti-Catholic settlers, the Irish rose on September 23, 1641 to seek terms to end the oppression.  The rising took England by surprise and to incite support against the Irish, a story of a great massacre of 600,000 innocent Protestant settlers was propagated.  Recent research has suggested that the number is more in the region … [Read more...] about What We Need To Know About 1641

By the mid 1800s, most of the fertile land in Ireland was in the hands of landlords, forcing the Irish to survive on smaller and smaller plots.  It was a situation that forced dependence on the one crop that could produce maximum yield in minimum space - the potato.  It was a boring diet to be sure, but it was a healthy one for potatoes are a remarkable source of vitamins and minerals.  Although they weren’t starving, it was a difficult time.  Then on August 20, 1845, Dr. David Moore, reported that potato fungus had been discovered at the Dublin Botanical Gardens.  The following day, August 21 … [Read more...] about A Queen's Visit