History

George Noble Plunkett

Dermot Carmody A hundred years ago, Count George Noble Plunkett led the TDs into the first Dáil in the Mansion House. He had won the election in Roscommon largely because of his son, Joseph Mary Plunkett (Joe), a signatory of […]

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Surgeons, Starlets and Suffragettes at Ringsend Library

By Dermot Carmody NewsFour attended a talk given on Wednesday July 3rd by Maeve Casserly, Historian In Residence for Southeast Dublin, about notable women associated with the area from mainly 20th century history. Maeve’s talk was entitled Surgeons, Starlets and […]

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Shakespeare in the Dail? The Holinshed Chronicles and other treasures

Geneva Pattison This year, the Oireachtas Library displayed the oldest book in its collection The Holinshed Chronicles, for the entirety of May. Originally housed in the library of the Chief Secretary of Dublin Castle, The Holinshed Chronicles of England, Scotland […]

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Mrs Carter’s eventful Irish visit

Dermot Carmody In 1977 ‘Miss Lillian’ Carter, mother of the then recently-elected President of the USA, Jimmy Carter, made an eight-day visit to Dublin as part of a Friendship Force visit by a group of around 250 people from Des […]

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Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry About To Disappear?

By Eoin Meegan Only last month Dublin City Council gave the green light for the demolition of the former Magdalene Laundry at the Crescent, Donnybrook, to make way for 44 new apartments. For over 150 years women and girls who […]

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Archie Goodall The cast-iron footballer

By Gavan Bergin Archie Goodall was born in Belfast in 1864 and grew up in Kilmarnock in Scotland. As a boy he learned to play football along with his brother John, who went on to be an England international player. […]

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Is It Time To Resurrect The Ancient Fair of Donnybrook?

By Eoin Meegan The ancient fair at Donnybrook, once an annual event on the village green (now the site of Bective Rangers, Old Wesley, and part of Herbert Park), had earned itself the reputation of being infamous; a place of […]

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Seeking Edgar Aplin: The Singing Chemist

By Geneva Pattison Pigeon House Road was once home to a Mr. Edgar Aplin. He was a chemist by trade with a passion for all things musical. The historical Gresham Hotel seemed like an appropriate setting to interview his granddaughters […]

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WB Yeats funeral footage rediscovered

By David Prendeville Previously undiscovered film of WB Yeats’s funeral has been found. The colour footage has been donated by Alan Aston to the Yeats Society in Sligo. Yeats, who was, of course, born in Sandymount, died in France in […]

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The darker side to Valentine’s Day

By Eoin Meegan With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you may think it’s all about chocolates and roses and, hopefully, for you it will be. However, there is a much darker side to this day. On February 14th in […]

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