Three Rivers of Ireland: History and Culture
Chapter 1: A Short History of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
Introduction
Very Early History of Ireland
Early Christianity in Ireland (400 – 795)
Viking Invasion and the Kingdom of Dublin
The Norman Invasion (1169) and the Lordship of Ireland (1171-1541)
Kingdom of Ireland (1542 – 1800) and the Tudor Invasion
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1922)
The Road to Independence and Partition
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Chapter 2: Two Countries – One Island
The Republic of Ireland
Northern Ireland
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Chapter 3: The River Liffey and Dublin
The River Liffey
Dublin
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Chapter 4: Boyne River Valley History and Culture
River Boyne
Drogheda
The Hill of Tara
Slane Village and the Hill of Slane
Monasterboice
Mellifont Abbey
Battle of the Boyne
New Grange
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Chapter 5: The River Foyle, Derry, and the North
River Foyle
Derry
Giant’s Causeway
Dunluce Castle
Glenveagh Castle and Gardens
Bushmills Village and Distillery
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A Short History of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
INTRODUCTION
Today, there is one island of Ireland, but two “nations”. They share a common land, a common
beginning, a common history, but divergent contemporary political systems. Their shared land
and history can be traced back some 10,000 years ago. Their current political systems are less
than 100 years old.
The Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland encompasses approximately five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The
country shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom,
and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea to the east, St. George's Channel
to the southeast, and the Celtic Sea to the south.
The country consists of 26 counties in the historic provinces of Leinster, Munster, and
Connaught (Connacht) and part of the province of Ulster. The rest of Ulster, which occupies the
northeastern part of the island, constitutes Northern Ireland, a constituent part of Great Britain.
The Republic of Ireland has a total area of 27,136 sq. mi. The population of Ireland, about 4.3
million people, is predominantly of Celtic origin. No significant ethnic minorities exist, although
diversity has increased since Ireland joined the European Union in 1973.
The capital and largest city is Dublin, with a population of slightly under one million. Cork is
the second largest city and a major port, with a population of 175,000. Other cities important
primarily as trading centers for produce include Limerick (80,000) and Waterford (42,000).
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About 94% of the people of the Republic of Ireland are Roman Catholics, and less than 4% are
Protestants. Protestant groups include the Church of Ireland (Anglican) and the Presbyterian and
Methodist denominations. Freedom of worship is guaranteed by the constitution.
Almost all the people speak English, and about one-fourth also speak Irish, a Gaelic language
that is the traditional tongue of Ireland. Irish is spoken as the vernacular by a relatively small
number of people, however, mostly in areas of the west. The constitution provides for both Irish
and English as official languages.
The government of Ireland is based on the constitution of 1937, as amended. This document
proclaims Ireland a sovereign, independent, democratic state. The constitution also defines the
national territory as the whole of Ireland. The country became a republic in 1949.
Executive power under the Irish constitution is vested in the government (cabinet), consisting of
about 15 members. The government, responsible to the lower house of the national legislature, is
headed by the Taoiseach, or Prime Minister. This official is nominated by the lower house and
appointed by the President. The members of the government head the various administrative
departments, or ministries. They are nominated by the Prime Minister and, subject to the
approval of the lower house, appointed by the President. The President of Ireland is the head of
state and is elected by direct popular vote for a 7-year term.
Legislative authority is vested in a bicameral legislature known as the Oireachtas. This is
composed of a 166-member lower house, or Dail Eireann (Assembly of Ireland), and an upper
house, or Seanad Eireann (Senate). The members of the Assembly are elected for terms of up to
five years by proportional representation. Eleven members of the Senate are selected by the
Prime Minister and six members are elected by the universities. The remaining 43 members of
the Senate are elected by an electoral college consisting of about 900 members from the county
borough councils, county councils, the Assembly and the Senate. The elected members of the
Senate are chosen from candidates representing national culture, labor, agriculture and fisheries,
public administration and social services, and commerce and industry. The Senate may not veto
legislation enacted by the Assembly and is otherwise restricted in authority.
During British rule and initial independence, Ireland was one of Western Europe's most
impoverished countries and suffered high levels of emigration. However, in contrast to many
other states during that period, it remained democratic and financially solvent. The protectionist
economy was opened in the late 1950’s and Ireland joined the European Union in 1973. An
economic crisis led to large-scale economic reforms in the late 1980’s, as taxation and regulation
were dramatically reduced. The economy experienced rapid economic expansion between 1995–
2007, a period known as the Celtic Tiger period, before falling into recession made worse by the
global financial crisis of 2007-2010.
Today, Ireland is one of the world's most developed countries, and is ranked fifth in the Human
Development Index, first in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index, and sixth on
the Global Peace Index. The country is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom
and democracy and political freedom.
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Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the northeast of
the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. In
2001, its population was 1.8 million, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and
about 3% of the population of the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland was for many years the site of a violent and bitter ethno-political conflict.
Northern Ireland consists of six of the nine counties of the original Irish province ofUlster. It
was created as a distinct division of the United Kingdom on May 3, 1921 under the Government
of Ireland Act, although its constitutional roots lie in the 1800 Act of Union between Great
Britain and Ireland. For over 50 years it had its own “devolved” government andparliament. A
devolved government is one that is granted its powers and authority by the central government of
a sovereign state. The authority granted to the devolved government often is limited to financial
matters but can also be the authority to legislate for the area that the devolved government
covers.
A violent period of civil unrest, known as the Troubles, were primarily conflicts between
nationalists, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and unionists, who are predominantly
Protestant. They were caused be institutionalized discrimination of the Catholic population by
the Protestant government, and by different visions for the future of Northern Ireland. Unionists
want Northern Ireland to remain as a part of the United Kingdom, while nationalists wish for it to
be politically reunited with the rest of Ireland, independent of British rule.
The authorities given to the devolved government are not constitutional, but are granted through
legislation and can be taken away through additional legislation. And that is what happened, as a
result of the Troubles, in 1972 when the government of Northern Ireland was suspended and
finally abolished in 1973.
Repeated attempts to restore self-government finally resulted in the establishment in 1998 of the
present-day Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly as a result of the “Good
Friday Agreement.” The Assembly operates on democracy principles requiring crosscommunity support. Most of the paramilitary groups involved in the Troubles have ceased their
armed campaigns.
Due to its unique history, the issue of the symbolism, name and description of Northern Ireland
is complex, as is the issue of citizenship and identity. In general, unionists consider themselves
British and nationalists see themselves as Irish, though these identities are not necessarily
mutually exclusive.
VERY EARLY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Some 20,000 years ago Ireland was almost totally covered by a thick ice sheet stretching southwest from Scotland. Throughout this period the buildup of ice on land across the world caused
the sea level to drop, and 20,000 years ago, it had dropped to a level 400 feet below the level it is
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today. This retreat of the waters meant that Ireland and Britain were once joined together and
also with continental Europe.
Over the next 2,000 years the expansion of the ice slowed, reached equilibrium and then began to
retreat. By 15,000 years ago only the northeast portion of Ireland was still buried under the
dying ice sheet. Although the rising sea levels had begun to flood the lower lands, a land bridge
still connected the southeastern tip of Ireland to southwestern England. Trapped between this
land bridge, and the ice sheet in the north, the Irish Sea formed a vast freshwater lake.
The land bridge between Ireland and Britain was finally overwhelmed by the sea 12,000 years
ago, flooding the fresh water Irish Sea with salt water.
As the ice melted, rivers and lakes formed in the new land left by the glaciers. All the ice was
gone by 10,000 years ago. The weight of the ice (several hundred tons per square yards) had
pressed the land surface down by 8-10 feet. Once gone, the north of the island began to rise.
The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age
The first humans in Ireland are thought to have crossed from Scotland in wooden boats, to what
is now county Antrim around 8,000BC. There is a cultural continuity between the Mesolithic
remains found in northern Ireland and those in southern Scotland. Ireland was one of the last
parts of Western Europe to have been settled by humans, and the human presence in Ireland is
perhaps only about 10,000 years old.
Although the evidence suggests that Ireland was initially populated from Scotland, there must
surely have been some migration from Wales and southwest England.
The people of Mesolithic Ireland were hunters and gatherers - farming was not invented until the
Neolithic period. The key elements of a Mesolithic life were flint weapons, a meat-rich diet, a
nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle and skin huts.
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The Neolithic or New Stone Age
The key invention that ushered in the Neolithic Age was farming. Ireland's Mesolithic hunters
were displaced or assimilated by Neolithic settlers who gradually arrived in Ireland from Britain
and brought the technology with them. It appears they arrived in Ireland via the Scotland-Antrim
link between 3,900 BC and 3,000 BC. The Neolithic settlers set about clearing upland forest in
order to build their permanent farms. As Ireland did not have many native cereal crops, and wild
pigs were the only farm animals native to Ireland, the settlers brought with them cows, goats and
sheep. It is conjectured that these animals were transported across the Irish Sea on wooden rafts
towed by skin-boats or dugout canoes. They also brought wheat and barley which they planted in
their farms. The newly-cleared upland was used for agriculture, but erosion and overgrazing was
soon to cause it to stagnate, acidify and eventually evolve into peat bogs. Thus most of Ireland's
upland peat bogs (although not the lower ones) are actually artificial features inadvertently
created by Neolithic farmers. Neolithic farmers may have lived in larger communities and to
have built larger and more permanent dwellings than the Mesolithic Irish did, with a number of
families living in a cluster of houses with perhaps a larger multi-purpose building in the center.
One final technology that the Neolithic settlers brought to Ireland was pottery.
Neolithic Megaliths: One of the most important legacies left by the Neolithic farmers was their
megaliths, or large earthen constructions, used primarily as burial places. They are the only
things to have survived largely intact from the Neolithic era; nevertheless, with over 1,500
recorded megalithic tombs still in existence in Ireland, it is an important aspect of Irish history.
Their construction began several centuries after the first arrivals, around 3,500 BC.
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New Grange, a passage tomb in County Meath, is arguably the most famous passage tomb in the
world. The front half of it has been painstakingly restored to look as it probably did when first
built 4,500 years ago. This date makes New Grange at least as old as the Egyptian Pyramids and
older than Stonehenge in England.
New Grange passage tomb
Bronze Age
Additional settlers from France arrived in Ireland around 2,000 BC, bringing the knowledge of
metal working, mostly bronze, with them. The existing inhabitants learned the trade from them.
Slowly the culture of these bronze-working settlers merged with that of the Neolithic Irish and
gave birth to the Irish Bronze Age. Ireland was blessed with relatively rich copper deposits,
allowing large quantities of bronze to be produced on the island. Counties Cork and Kerry, on
the south-west tip of the island, produced the bulk of Ireland's copper. One of the few Bronze
Age mines known anywhere in Europe, dating from between 1,500 BC and 1,200 BC, is in
County Cork.
Ireland exported a lot of copper during the Bronze Age. By contrast, there is not much tin in
Ireland, and most of the tin that was needed to make the bronze seems to have been imported
from what is now England. Of course, metal was not the only material used in Bronze Age
Ireland. Stone tools were still very important and there was a large pottery industry.
At the same time as this, Ireland's population density was rising and this put increased pressure
on the land. The only solution was to cut lowland forests, but this required better tools, and the
invention of bronze axes came just in time to solve this problem. Thus the Bronze Age in Ireland
marks the beginning of the end for Ireland's lowland forests which were systematically cleared
over the coming centuries. Many of the myriad of lowland lakes left by the ice age also began to
be choked by peat, forming the raised bogs that characterize many parts of lowland Ireland
today.
It was during the Bronze Age that earthen circles known as henges were constructed. These
were probably used for ceremonial purposes. Henges were constructed by scraping soil from the
center of the circle to form a ridge all around. These henges can measure 330 to 660 feet across.
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Henge
Stone Circle
Towards the end of the Bronze Age, there appeared another type of ceremonial structure, the
Stone Circle. There were constructed in Ireland as well as Britain, and were constructed in large
numbers.
Celtic Ireland (500 BC)
The limits of the Irish Bronze Age are difficult to state precisely, but it is generally accepted to
have died away around 500 BC when other people from Europe, belonging to the superior IronAge culture, arrived in Ireland. The people of this culture are more popularly known as the Celts.
Developing in the Alps of Central Europe, the Celts spread their culture across modern-day
Germany and France and as far south as Turkey. They arrived in Britain and Ireland around 500
BC, and within a few years Ireland’s Bronze Age culture had all but disappeared, and the Celtic
culture was in place across the entire island.
Whether or not the arrival of the Celts in Ireland was an actual invasion or a more gradual
assimilation is an open question. Current academic opinion favors the theory that the Celts
arrived in Ireland over the course of several centuries, beginning in the late Bronze Age. The
Celts had one major advantage - they had discovered Iron.
The language spoken by the Celts in Ireland was a variant of the Celtic languages which were
used across Europe.
By the late Celtic period, Ireland was ruled by a series of perhaps 100 to 200 kings, each ruling a
small kingdom. The kings came in three recognized grades, depending on how powerful they
were. A rí túaithe was the ruler of a single kingdom. A 'great king', or ruiri, was a king who had
gained the allegiance of, or become overlord of, a number of local kings. A 'king of over kings',
or rí ruirech, was a king of a province. Ireland had between 4 and 10 provinces at any one time,
because they were always in a state of flux as their kings' powers waxed and waned. The High
Kings of Ireland were traditionally installed on the Hill of Tara.
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Most kingdoms, or Tuath, in Ireland had a hilltop fort which was used either as a permanent
residence for the king or as a temporary refuge in times of conflict. They are typically built on
the top of a hill and surrounded by a stone wall.
In the last centuries BC, the rest of Celtic Europe fell to the expanding Roman Empire. The Celts
of southern Britain were conquered in 43 AD. The Romans never invaded Ireland. However,
Ireland did come under heavy Roman influence, even if not under its rule. In the first and second
centuries AD, there is evidence that there was sporadic trading between the Irish and the Romans
of Britain.
A village existed at the site of Dublin since the Roman occupation of Great Britain in 1 BC. The
writings of the Greek astronomer and cartographer Ptolemy provide perhaps the earliest
reference to human habitation in the area now known as Dublin. In around 140 AD he referred
to a settlement he called Eblana Civitas. Ptolemy’s map of Ireland, published in Geographia,
was compiled in the second century AD.
Ptolemy’s map of Ireland
Towards the end of the pre-Christian period, the Irish took advantage of the decline of the
Roman Empire and its colony in Britain, and began raiding and colonizing western Britain and
Scotland. Most of these colonies were all defeated by the Britons within the next century or so,
although Irish kings seemed to be still ruling in south Wales as late as the tenth century.
By 400 AD there were probably between half a million and one million people living in Ireland.
EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN IRELAND (400 – 795 AD)
Christianity started in Palestine (what is now Israel) around the year 1 AD. The early missions
around the eastern Mediterranean are chronicled in the book of Acts in the Bible, as well as the
letters of St Paul. Despite widespread persecution under the Romans, during which time
thousands of Christians were thrown to the lions or crucified, the Roman Empire ultimately
adopted Christianity as its religion. From the Mediterranean it spread northwards into Gaul and
it reached Ireland around the late 300’s or early 400’s.
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For some unknown reason, the conversion from pagan worship to Christian worship was
bloodless in Ireland, as was not the case in the rest of Europe at the time. It is often misstated that
St. Patrick brought the faith to Ireland, but it was already present on the island long before
Patrick arrived.
The first recorded missionary to Ireland was Palladius, who was probably from Gaul (France).
He was sent by Pope Celestine I to be bishop to the "Irish who believe in Christ". Although St.
Patrick stated that Palladius' mission was a failure, other historical documents from outside
Ireland indicate that the mission of Palladius was very successful, at least in Leinster, and that he
set up a number of churches. Tradition says that Palladius' visit to Ireland was in the year 431,
and was probably active in Ireland until the 460’s.
Many of the traditions later ascribed to Saint Patrick were likely associated with Palladius. This
has led to the idea that their really were two “Saint Patrick’s” and the histories of each became
woven together over time. This referred to as the “Two Patrick’s” theory.
Palladius was not the only early cleric in Ireland at this time. The Irish born Saint Ciaran Saighir
(the Elder) lived in the late 4th century (352–402 AD) and was the first bishop of Ossory, a
region of southeast Ireland. Ciaran the Elder, along with Saints Auxilius, Secundinus and
Iserninus are also associated with early churches in Munster and Leinster.
St. Patrick
Perhaps the most famous missionary to Ireland was St. Patrick. However, a small point of
caution is needed here. It is widely believed by historians that the missions of St. Patrick were
embellished and enshrined by Patrick's monastery at Armagh in their ultimately successful bid
for primacy over the church in Ireland. In creating what is referred to as the 'Cult of Patrick',
Armagh exaggerated the importance of Patrick and diminished the importance of the other
missionaries, possibly even attributing some of the work of these other missionaries to Patrick.
Nevertheless, St. Patrick is such an important part of Irish culture that it would be a mistake to
ignore him. It is quite true that when St. Patrick did come to Ireland paganism was the
predominant belief and that at his death it had been supplanted by Christianity.
We know very little for certain about Patrick. The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with
certainty, but on a widespread interpretation he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the
second half of the 5th century.
Two Latin letters survive which are generally accepted to have been written by Patrick. These
are the Declaration (in Latin: Confessio) and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus (in Latin:
Epistola). The Declaration is the more important of the two. In it Patrick gives a short account
of his life and his mission.
Patrick was born in Roman Britain - probably near Hadrian's Wall in northern England - the son
of a wealthy official. His mother may have come from Gaul (France). When he was 16,
sometime in the early 400’s, he was kidnapped by an Irish raiding party and sold into slavery in
Ireland. As Roman Britain collapsed, it was increasingly common for Irish and other raiders to
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pillage its coastal settlements and it seems that Patrick fell victim to one of these raids. Patrick
worked as a slave for 6 years tending sheep, traditionally believed to be on Slemish Mountain,
county Antrim. However, it seems possible that he was, in fact, somewhere near the Atlantic
Ocean in County Mayo or Sligo.
Patrick says in his Confession that he discovered God during his time of captivity and took to
praying a hundred times a day. After 6 years, Patrick managed to escape from captivity, walked
the 200 miles to the east coast and managed to negotiate passage aboard a trading ship to Gaul
(France). There, he probably trained to be a Christian Priest and spent time in Auxerre. He then
received prophetic dreams where he heard the people of Ireland near the 'western sea' call him to
come and walk among them again. He then travelled to Ireland as a missionary, and it seems
that he never left. The year traditionally given is 432, but it seems more likely to have been
around 460.
Patrick concentrated his work in northeast Ireland, and his first church was at Saul, near presentday Downpatrick. He preached to the Kings and their households and met with varied levels of
success. One of his methods was to 'Christianize' the Celtic Pagan festivals. For example,
Patrick reputedly lit an Easter bonfire on Slane Hill near the Hill of Tara while the King was
having his own Pagan bonfire nearby. The King was enraged, but Patrick took the opportunity to
preach and managed to make some converts. He is famously said to have used the 3-leaved
Shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity: God as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (although
this story is almost certainly a myth). Patrick died in Ireland and is traditionally believed to be
buried on the Hill of Down in Downpatrick, county Down. A stone marking the traditional
burial spot was added in 1901 and the site is now a popular tourist attraction.
One of St. Patrick's highest priorities was to establish a native ministry. For this purpose he
selected the leading men, men likely to attract the respect of the people, and ordained them, after
a little training, and often with minimal education. In about 450 a college was established at
Armagh under Benignus; other schools arose at Kildare, Noendrum, and Louth; and by the end
of the fifth century these colleges sent forth a sufficient supply of trained priests.
According to the latest reconstruction of the old Irish annals, Patrick died in AD 493 on March
17. Therefore, Saint Patrick's Day is observed on March 17, the date of Patrick's death. It is
celebrated both in and outside of Ireland, as both a liturgical and non-liturgical holiday. In the
dioceses of Ireland it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation and outside of Ireland, it
can be a celebration of Ireland itself.
The Rise of Monasticism
The holy men who labored with St. Patrick and immediately succeeded him were mostly bishops
and founders of churches. The churches set up by Patrick and other missionaries were fairly
simple affairs. During the late 400’s, hundreds of churches were set up. They were unlike the
churches that we would recognize today. Most were small wooden buildings, with the
occasional small stone structure and would not have accommodated more than a few dozen
people at a time. Each tuath (petty kingdom) had a 'bishop' to oversee the church's work in it.
Supported by a grant of land from the chief of the clan and by voluntary offerings, bishop and
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priests lived together, preached to the people, administered the sacraments, and settled their
disputes.
In time, the Irish church matured and by the 500’s a number of monasteries were set up. A
Celtic monastery was not of the church-and-cloisters type that appeared in the Middle Ages.
Rather, it usually consisted of an enclosure with a small stone church and a number of cells
where the monks lived individually. By their nature, some were in the most remote areas
imaginable. Sceilg Mhicil was perched on an outcrop of rock in the stormy north Atlantic off the
coast of county Kerry. Many monasteries were set up in connection with the ministry of Patrick,
for example the great monastery of Armagh.
Initially intended to be places of retreat from the world, Monasteries attracted the patronage of
the kings and the rich and became influential institutions in their own right. Monasteries were
soon invaded by others anxious to share their penances and their vigils, and to learn wisdom at
their feet. Each newcomer built his little hut, a church was erected, a grant of land obtained.
Their master became abbot, and perhaps bishop, and thus arose monastic establishments the
fame of which soon spread throughout Europe. Noted examples in the sixth century were
Clonard, founded by St. Finian, Clonfert by St. Brendan, Bangor by St. Comgall, Clonmacnoise
by St. Kieran, Killeaney by St. Enda; and, in the seventh century, Lismore by St. Carthage and
Glendalough by St. Kevin.
In time, some monasteries extended control over other monasteries, with Armagh ultimately
claiming primacy over all churches in Ireland. The network of buildings that eventually grew up
on monastic settlements - the hired workers, craftsmen and artisans - were, in a sense, the first
'towns' in Ireland.
As Ireland's monastic establishments grew, they became centers of learning as well as of
evangelism. During the early decades of the seventh century many Anglo-Saxon nobles were
educated at Irish monasteries in northern Britain, specifically at Iona. The Irish willingly
welcomed the English students, gave them food, and provided them with books and instruction,
without seeking any payment. When these Irish-educated English nobles returned to England,
they invited Irish missionaries into their pagan kingdoms to evangelize. Missionaries from
Ireland to England and Continental Europe spread news of the flowering of learning, and
scholars from other nations came to Irish monasteries. It is for this reason that Ireland has been
termed the land of "Saints and Scholars".
One of the most important works of the Irish monasteries, besides catering for the needs of the
local population, was in the production of books. These are the great illuminated manuscripts,
such as the Book of Kells, which were hand written copies of the Bible and other books.
Beautifully decorated by hand, these books were usually written in Latin, which were introduced
by Patrick. Although Latin was the language of education, Celtic-Irish remained the language of
everyday life.
One of the most prominent Irish Saints was St. Colum Cille (also known as St Columba and St
Colmcille). Colum Cille was of the province of the northern Uí Néill (in present-day Donegal), a
prominent relative of the King who became a Christian and evangelized in the Irish colony of the
Dal Riata in Scotland. Colum Cille believed in people becoming "Exiles for Christ," by leaving
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their homes to go and live with other Christians in isolated places, thereby coming closer to God.
He set up monasteries in Ireland, such as that at Derry, before setting up the monastery of Iona
off the western Scottish coast in the year 563. Colum Cille's establishment successfully
converted the Dal Riata before converting Northumbria (Northern England) by 627. The great
Northumbrian monastery of Lindisfarne was founded in 635. Thus, Britain was Christianized by
a missionary from northwest Ireland. Iona and Armagh together became the most influential
monasteries in Ireland.
After Colum Cille, and his evangelical successor Aidan, had set up the monasteries in Scotland
and Northumbria (northern England), the Irish turned their attention to southern England. St.
Fursa preached in East Anglia (eastern England) in the 6th century before travelling to Gaul
(France) and setting up churches there. St. Columbanus, of Bangor Monastery in Northern
Ireland, went to Gaul in 591 and founded two monasteries in France before travelling through
modern Germany, Switzerland and Italy. He is buried in a Monastery he founded at Bobbio, in
northern Italy. By the 9th century, Irish scholars followed the missionaries and managed to gain
important academic roles in the courts of Kings such as Charlemagne of the Franks. Irish
foundations can be found in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy and their
influence was been left in places as far afield as Vienna, Rome and eastern Germany.
Although many of the monks and eventual Saints were men, women were not left out of the
contest for holiness. St. Brigid is a name still dear to Ireland, and she, as well as St. Ita, St.
Fanchea and others, founded many convents.
Everyday Life in early Christian Ireland
All through the early Christian period, the dynastic quarrels between the Celtic kings of Ireland
continued. By the early 700’s, the spread of Christianity and continued growth of the concept of
a 'province' meant that the Kings of individual petty kingdoms (tuaths) ceased to be regarded as
kings, and were referred to increasingly as dukes or lords. The provinces evolved from being
federations of dozens of petty kingdoms, to being more closely knit units whose king was from
one of the more prominent families. It became more common, then, for there to be dynastic
disputes within provinces over which family held the kingship. A province can be almost
regarded as an independent country, although without the well-delineated borders of today.
As a result, society in early Christian Ireland was heavily tiered. At the top of society were the
kings. These were the rulers of the large Provinces. They lived in large enclosures, often
fortified, and had a large retinue of staff. The kings maintained their position by ensuring the
loyalty of the lords in their province, although it was not unknown for a lord to challenge the
sitting king for the position. Below the kings were the lords. The lords were the heads of the
individual petty kingdoms established in the pre-Christian period. A lord owed allegiance to the
king, and usually paid his dues in the form of military service. It was not common for the
peasantry to engage in warfare. Some lords may have lived in crannógs, which are artificial
islands built from wood in lakes. Easily defended, but hard to build, crannógs were apparently
built in two intense phases of 420-650 and 720-930. Some crannógs survive, but most have been
destroyed.
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Below the lords were the commoners. Commoners were attached to a lord by clientship ,which
was similar to medieval feudalism. The landlord gave the commoner a payment and a certain
number of animals and in return the commoner gave various food products to the lord at regular
intervals. For the lord, having many clients increased his prestige and ensured a steady supply of
food. For the client, it provided a source of food and protection. It was not without its perks.
By law, the commoner was entitled to one night's feasting at the lord's residence each year - not a
trivial expense. In general, extended families lived together in early Christian Ireland. The
poorer commoners would have lived in wooden houses in the open countryside. Wealthier
commoners would have built their houses within an earthen enclosure about 100 feet in diameter.
So-called ring forts are amongst the most common historical features in Ireland, and are readily
identifiable. There are almost 50,000 known examples although these are being rapidly
destroyed by urban growth and agricultural mechanization.
Below the commoners were the cottiers and landless men who were free men but did not have
any land and hired themselves out as laborers either to lords, commoners or to monasteries. At
the bottom of the hierarchy were the hereditary serfs who were part of the estate of their
landlord. Slavery was widely practiced in Ireland at the time. The slaves were usually supplied
by traders, who acquired them from raiding trips in Britain. Alternatively, some families sold
children into slavery during times of famine. In some cases, prisoners escaped their fates by
being taken on as manual labor by a monastery.
In terms of agriculture, most farmers had animals. Cows were grazed on common land and beef
provided the bulk of meat that was eaten. This was supplemented by some pork and mutton for
the poorer people. The cows also provided dairy produce which formed a large part of the diet in
the form of milk, salted butter and cheeses. Unfenced strips of arable land were found nearer the
houses. These were used for cereal crops such as oats, barley, wheat and rye. These were eaten
in the form of porridge, bread or ale. The grain was usually stored in pits or so terrains, because
it was common for enemies to burn the grain of your peasantry at time of war. Wild fruit and
vegetable growing provided the remainder of the diet. Survival was almost purely subsistence,
and if there was a bad year for both animals and crops there was a famine. Famine was all too
common in this era, probably causing the population to fluctuate continuously. New technology
aided the farmers somewhat: the horizontal mill and a more efficient plow were adopted in the
400’s.
Marriage was very unstable - divorce and remarriage was common. In all tiers of society, but
most notably with the nobility, polygamy was practiced. Despite the best efforts of the church,
this trend persisted all through the period. The effect of polygamy was that the lords had huge
families, not all of which could maintain the lordship status. This resulted in a general drift of
lineages down through the ranks of society.
VIKING INVASION (795) AND THE KINGDOM OF DUBLIN (839-1171)
In the 700’s, pressure on land in Scandinavia had forced many nobles and warriors to seek land
elsewhere. The invention of the longboat made it possible for these warriors to sail across the
North Sea to attack Britain, France and Ireland. In these areas they became known as the
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"Norsemen" (literally, north-men) and also as the "Vikings". The Vikings who first attacked
Ireland were Norwegian.
The Vikings did not have any respect for Christian symbols and sites, and often first raids in a
country were against great monasteries. In Ireland, Rathlin Island monastery was burned by the
Vikings in 795. Other prominent monasteries were also attacked.
For the next 30-40 years, the Vikings engaged in hit-and-run raids where they landed a small
number of ships at a settlement, spent a few days pillaging and burning it before heading back to
Scandinavia to sell their booty - riches and slaves. There was about one attack per year and the
probability of being attacked in any given year was actually quite low. Life went on as normal in
Ireland.
However, the Vikings were soon to improve their methods of pillaging. Instead of landing 3 or 4
boats, raiding nearby settlements and going back to Scandinavia, they decided to scale-up. They
brought between 50 and 100 boats of Viking warriors, landed, and set up a camp. They pillaged
monasteries, churches, the fortresses of Irish Lords, and farms.
It was the Vikings that founded the town “Dubh Linn” around 841, after invading the territory in
838. In addition to Dubh Linn, the Viking established the towns Cork, Vadrefjord (Waterford),
and Youghal.
The Irish Kings seemed to be able to do little to prevent the wholesale destruction of large tracts
of their Provinces. However, just as it looked as if Ireland was about to be conquered by the
Vikings, and just as the Irish began to develop tactics with which to more effectively attack
them, the raids died away. The last major Viking raid of this phase was in 851
Meanwhile, many of the Viking settlements developed and grew into towns. Their town of Dubh
Linn had a thriving Norse community by the second half of the 800s, and had become the
principal supplier of slaves in the British Isles. In time it became a great merchant town, until it
was defeated, briefly, by an Irish attack in 902. After that, the Vikings moved their power base to
the Isle of Man and to the growing territory that the Vikings were carving out of Anglo-Saxon
England.
Other Viking towns had also been defeated by the Irish, including Cork in 848, Vadrefjord
(Waterford) in 864 and Youghal in 866.
A second phase of raiding began in 914, with the arrival of a large fleet of Viking ships in
Waterford harbor. They promptly re-captured their settlement of Vadrefjord (Waterford) from
which the Irish had expelled the first Vikings half a century earlier. Reinforced by a second fleet
which arrived the following year, the Vikings launched a series of offensives deep into Ireland.
In 917, the Vikings re-captured the settlement of Dubh Linn (Dublin) which the Irish had
captured in 902. Repeated attempts by various Irish kings to defeat the Viking failed. It was not
true to say that it was "the Irish against the Vikings". In fact, some Irish kings formed alliances
with Vikings to attack other Irish kings.
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The Vikings continued to raid inland from their towns of Dubh Linn, Cork and Vadrefjord. In
921, they founded a new town on the south-east tip of Ireland called Weisfjord (Wexford) and a
year later founded the town of Limerick near a ford at the mouth of the River Shannon on the
west coast.
While trying to consolidate their control over Great Britain, the influence of the Vikings in
Ireland declined. They concentrated more on developing Dubh Linn as a trading city and by 934
exercised controls over the other Viking towns in Ireland. In its day, Dubh Linn was one of the
most important cities in the Nordic world, as a trading and slaving center. In 952, Dubh Linn,
which had been ruled by Viking kings located in England, split from control by these kings and
from then on Dubh Linn had its own dynasty of Viking Kings. With the exception of the period
of time from 902 to 917, a succession of Norse Kings ruled the “Kingdom of Dublin” from 839
until the Norman invasion in 1171, although over time the rulers of Dublin became increasing
Gaelicized.
During the Viking raids, many of the hand-written illuminated manuscripts that Ireland is so
famous for (the Book of Kells) produced at the monasteries were burned by the Vikings. They
had no commercial value and the Viking had no regard for them. Most of the monasteries in
Ireland were able to resurrect themselves, unlike in Britain and France, where the monastic
communities disappeared after the Viking raids.
Prior to the Viking raids, the monasteries were earthen structures with a
church, various buildings and the monk’s residences. They were easy to attack
and ransack. The monks learned how to build tall stone towers known as
round towers, with doors placed at least one floor up. During the raids, the
monks would gather food and valuables, and used ladders to climb into the top
of the towers. Once the ladders were pulled up, they were safe from the
Vikings.
It was during this time that the High Celtic Crosses appeared. Monasteries
commonly had wooden crosses, but from 700’s onward the crosses were
carved from stone.
Round Tower
High Celtic Cross
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The Vikings eventually settled down in the lands they had conquered. By 950, the Vikings had
stopped raiding in Ireland and developed instead as traders and settled in the lands around their
towns. The Vikings and the Celts co-existed and the two cultures merged. The Vikings left
many place names in Ireland including: Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford,
Strangford, Leixlip, Carlingford, Youghal, Howth, Dalkey and Fingall.
As mentioned previously, the region outside of Dublin was divided into a multiplicity of
kingdoms controlled by a complex series of High Kings who ruled over lesser kings. Around
950 AD Ireland was divided into five main kingdoms, each under the overriding influence of a
great Irish dynastic families. They were Ulster (Ui Neill/O’Neill), Munster (Ui Briain/O’Brien),
Leinster (Mac Murchadha-Caomhanach/MacMurrough-Kavanagh), Connacht (Ui
Conchobhair/O’Conor), and Mide or Meath (Ui Maeilsheachlainn/O’Melaghlin). Several kings
of single petty kingdoms were under the rule of over kings, who themselves were under the rule
of provincial over kings. The High King was really a ceremonial overlord who exercised actual
power only within the realm of which he was actually king. During some periods of time, the
various Kings ruled in a harmonious ways, but many times much of the island was fractious with
regional conflicts.
So in 976, Mathgamain, Lord of a kingdom on the River Shannon in the Province of Munster,
was attacked and killed by the Vikings of Limerick, who had converted to Christianity and ruled
the settlement at the time. His brother, Brian Boruma (Brian Boru) succeeded him as the Lord,
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attacked the Vikings in Limerick, and slaughtered them. He next formed a strategic alliance with
the Vikings of Vadrefjord (Waterford) and conquered the Provinces of Connacht and Leinster.
The Vikings were in decline after 980 and were absorbed by the Irish. However, the various
kings of Ireland continued to battle for their own supremacy.
In 988, Mael Sechnaill mac Domnaill, one of the High Kings of Ireland, led the Irish conquest of
Dublin. In 999, Brian Boru, sacked the City of Dublin. He dethroned Mael Sechnaill mac
Domnaill as the High King of Ireland in 1002. Brian Boru was a strong King who tried to unify
Ireland.
The Viking, in alliance with the Irish from the Province of Leinster, raised an army to defeat
Brian Boru. In 1014, Brian Boru, with his army, attacked the Vikings and Leisterman at Clontarf
a short distance northeast of Dublin. Brian Boru’s army won the battle and the Vikings took to
their boats and fled to the Island of Man. However, Brian Boru himself was killed in the battle.
The power of the Vikings was broken, and Dublin was in the hands of the Irish. The 11th century
Dublin became an important acquisition for any King with an eye to becoming the High King.
By the end of the 1000’s, Dublin has replaced Tara to become the de-factor capital of the island.
In the 11th century, Irish politics became more like those of the rest of Europe. Kings spent
longer times away from home fighting battles. They employed staff to govern their kingdoms. It
became common to reward allegiances and encourage subservience by granting land to
noblemen. Other land was given to the church. After the Battle of Clontarf, Mael Sechnaill mac
Domnaill was restored as the High King, and he died in 1022. With his death, confusion reigned
and all of the various Irish kings fought for power. An unprecedented phase of dynastic warfare
and general upheaval ensued.
At the start of the 1100’s, there were four main kingdoms: Munster in the southeast ruled by the
O’Brien dynasty; Connacht in the west ruled by the O’Connor dynasty; Ui Neill (Ulster) in the
northeast ruled by the Mac Lochlainn dynasty; and Leinster in the east ruled by the Mac
Murchada dynasty.
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For the first 66 years of the 12th Century, the Irish kings fought for control of the remaining
Kingdoms, until 1166 when the King Dairmait Mac Murchada of Leinster was driven out of
Ireland. He appealed to the King of England for help, an appeal that put the island under British
rule for the next 800 years.
THE NORMAN INVASION (1169) AND THE LORDSHIP OF IRELAND (1171-1541)
Ireland came under Norman rule in 1171. The Normans were the descendants of the Vikings
who had settled in an area of northern France. At the Battle of Hasting in 1066, William the
Conqueror became William I of England, the first Norman King in Britain. The invasion of
Ireland by the Normans came in two stages starting a century later.
In 1166, the former King of Leinster, Mac Murchada, was driven out of Ireland. He asked King
Henry II for help in regaining his kingdom. Henry was reluctant to help, but authorized Mac
Murchada to privately recruit anyone he could from England. Mac Murchada recruited the Earl
of Pembroke, Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, also known as Strongbow. He promised Strongbow
his daughter in marriage and his kingdom after his death if Strongbow would help.
On May 1, 1169 a group of Norman Knights, arrived on the shore of the island and took the city
of Wexford. Mac Murchada asked Strongbow to send further troops, and in August 1170,
Strongbow arrived in Ireland and took the city of Waterford. He married Mac Murchada’s
daughter, and when Mac Murchada died in 1171, Strongbow was crowned King Richard of
Leinster. There were a few battles with other Irish Kings, but Strongbow prevailed, and became
the first non-Irish born king in Ireland.
The first invasion by the Norman knights was so successful that King Henry II feared that
Strongbow would become too powerful, hence the second invasion of Ireland. On October 18,
1171 Henry II landed a larger army in Waterford and took over Ireland.
Prior to the Norman Invasion of Ireland, Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope, had issued a
decree giving Henry authority to invade Ireland. That was in 1155. When he landed in
Waterford, Henry II became the first King of England to set foot in Ireland. Waterford and
Dublin were declared Royal Cities.
Strongbow immediately submitted to Henry’s authority. In November, the other Kings of
Ireland also submitted to Henry. The Kings of Ireland saw it as an opportunity to curb the
expansion of both the Normans and Strongbow. Henry carefully divided up parts of Ireland,
appointing some of his supporters as Lords to rule those areas. Strongbow received most of the
Kingdom of Leinster, but when Strongbow died in 1176, his Lordship was passed back into the
hands of King Henry. Henry granted all of his rights to his son Prince John. Prince John was
Lord of Ireland until he became King of England in 1199, when he also became King of Ireland.
Dublin became the island’s primary city following the Norman Invasion.
The Norman Invasion continued, with various knights invading various parts of Ireland and
carving out kingdoms for themselves until the end of the 13th century. The Normans introduced
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feudalism to Ireland, but the administration of government evolved with the expansion of the
colony under different rulers. Thus different parts of Ireland were ruled in different ways. In
1210, a decree was issued that made all laws passed in England valid in Ireland, thus uniting the
two legal systems.
Although at the start, the Normans were in Ireland to acquire power, this soon turned to a desire
to make money. Faced with a population explosion across medieval Europe, the Norman barons
intended to use Ireland to grow food to sell and, thereby, become rich and powerful. They
established a feudal system of agriculture, under which peasants were employed in, and lived on,
the estate as tenants. Some barons who had larger amounts of land tried a more adventurous
approach. They set up a town with a market, and granted between 3 to 10 acres of land to each
tenant. They used these market towns to sell their agricultural surplus. Many of these towns
thrived, and some, such as Kilkenny, Trim and New Ross still exist today.
A medieval town in Ireland had walls. Inside the town, people would have lived in wooden twoor three-story houses with wealthier merchants having stone houses. Streets were narrow and
winding - today there is often not enough room for two cars to pass on these streets! The towns
thrived on their markets, which were crowded, bustling and exciting affairs and most people
would have had a trade, such as bakers, blacksmiths, tailors and shoemakers. Sanitation was a
major problem, as people threw their waste onto the streets below and there were no sewers other
than a ditch in the road which only worked when it rained
A medieval peasant (also called a villein) and his family lived in a one-room house made from a
wooden frame with a thatched roof and wattle-and-daub walls. There were no windows. Cooking
was done on an open fire in the middle of the house and the smoke escaped through a hole in the
roof. A fence in the middle of the house separated the animals from the people, because animals
usually spent the night indoors. The concept of sleeping people and animals separately was a
post-medieval idea, so this did not seem odd at the time. Some houses had a platform in the roof
space for sleeping on. People slept on straw-stuffed mattresses and the only other furniture
would have been a table with stools. Surrounding the house were perhaps 20 to 30 other houses.
Surrounding this community (called a village because it was occupied by villeins) were two or
three large fields, up to 200 acres in size, where the peasant grew crops. Each peasant was
allocated a number of strips in each field which they could farm. Most of the crop was given to
the lord as rent, with the remainder being kept for food. Usually the village had a forest where
fallen wood could be collected for fires and pigs could be grazed. An area of land that nobody
owned (called a common) could be used by everyone for grazing. The people were not rich and
their coarse clothes were holey and must have been cold.
The decline of the Norman colonies in Ireland started around 1250. There were not enough
dedicated Normans in Ireland to occupy the land they had acquired. The King in England had
lost interest in Ireland. The Normans had become “Irishized” by marrying Irish people and
learning the language and traditions.
By 1250, half of Ireland was ruled by Norman lords and half by Irish kings and lords.
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The Irish lords started to attack the property of the Norman Lords, and had considerable success
through the rest of the 13th century. Edward Bruce, the brother of Robert Bruce who has gained
Scottish independence from England, was recruited to help defeat the remaining Normans. He
successfully invaded Ireland, defeated the Normans in the central part of the country, and was
crowned King of Ireland in May, 1316. However, in spite of early success, Edward was finally
defeated and killed by the Normans on October 14, 1318.
The Normans were, however, weakened, and the Irish felt they could defeat the remaining
English by themselves. King Edward III in 1360 sent his son Lionel to reverse the decline of the
Normans. Lionel died in 1367 without being successful.
Richard II became King in 1377, and landed a massive force of 10,000 men in Ireland. Many
Irish Lords submitted to the King, although some did not. When Richard left in 1399, war broke
out. Henry IV soon became King after he murdered Richard. By 1450, English control of
Ireland had been reduced to a 20 mile wide strip around Dublin, known as the Pale.
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The Pale was surrounded by a fence to keep the Irish out, and the Irish were unable to drive the
English off the Island. The phrase “beyond the pale” refers to being outside of the fence around
the Pale. The people living in the Pale had their own Parliament.
In 1485, Henry VII became King, and tried restore more control over Ireland, but was largely
unsuccessful. Later, Henry VIII became King of England, and adopted a peaceful approach. He
held talks with many Irish Lords and most signed peace treaties with England that recognized
Henry as their King and agreed to accept English law. In return they were allowed to live free of
threats from England. However, Henry’s troubles with the Catholic Church were to interfere.
KINGDOM OF IRELAND (1542-1800) AND THE TUDOR (ENGLISH) INVASION
In 1541, Henry VIII went against the expressed wishes of the Pope and made himself the King of
Ireland as well as England. The Kingdom of Ireland was established in 1542 when the
parliament of Ireland passed the Crown of Ireland Act 1542. This act replaced the Lordship of
Ireland. King Henry VIII thus became the recognized King of Ireland. Why was it necessary to
create the Kingdom of Ireland?
Way back in 1155, Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope, decreed that the King of England, at
that time Henry II, could invade Ireland in order to bring the island into the European sphere.
This led to the Norman Invasion and the Lordship of Ireland. The decree was reconfirmed by
Adrian’s successor Pope Alexander III in 1172. So the authority to rule Ireland was granted by
the Pope.
However, in 1533, and again in 1538, King Henry VIII was excommunicated by the Catholic
Church, making uncertain the constitutional position of the Lordship of Ireland granted to the
King by the Church. He declared himself the head of the Church of England, and refused to
recognize the Catholic Church’s vestigial sovereignty over Ireland. Just to be sure, the Irish
Parliament passed the Crown of Ireland Act in 1542, proclaiming Henry the King of Ireland.
Most of the Catholic Bishops in England and Ireland affiliated with the Church of England, and
helped establish the Anglican Church of Ireland. However, the majority of the people in Ireland
remained Catholic.
Henry dissolved the many monasteries in England and Ireland - places that had existed for over
11 centuries - by selling the land and scattering the Monks. This greatly angered the peasant
population, as the Monks had often been the ones who nursed the sick and cared for the poor in
the local communities.
In 1549, the Church of England was changed again, this time by King Edward VI. King Edward
was very interested in the Protestant Reformation to reform the Catholic Church, led by Martin
Luther, and ordered changes in the church practices. The Church of England became more
protestant. The Irish refused to accept these changes, and Ireland remained Roman Catholic.
In 1553, Queen Mary, a Catholic, repealed the anti-Rome laws, and England became Catholic
again. Although the Irish welcomed Mary’s religion, they did not welcome her rule. In 1556, she
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forcibly removed most of the native Irish from the area west of Dublin, and gave all of the land
to English Catholic settlers. That started 50 years of attacks against the settlers that did not end
until 1600.
In 1558, Queen Elizabeth I took the throne of England and made England Protestant again. She
regarded Ireland as an opportunity for colonization. Repeated attacked on the colonizers by the
Irish did not discourage them. Large areas of land were settled and farmed. Towns developed
and they were prospering. However, a coordinated attack by the Irish in 1598 devastated the
colonies, and they never recovered.
The region that is now Northern Ireland served as the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance
against English colonialism in the late 16th century. Irish resistance made English rule in Ireland
difficult if not impossible.
By 1598, the northeast corner of Ireland (Ulster) was the last bastion of pure Celtic life in
Ireland. The genetics and culture of most of the rest of Ireland had mingled with those of settlers
and was now a hybrid containing cultural components of Celtic, Viking, Norman and English
origins. Concerned by the strength of the English, the Irish decided to pre-empt an English
attack and attack them first. A series of attacks occurred over several years, but the English
prevailed, and in 1603 the Treaty of Mellifont was signed. The Irish could keep their land if they
agreed to adopt English law and shed their Irish titles. Following this defeat of Ulster, the
region's Gaelic (and Roman Catholic) aristocracy fled to continental Europe in 1607.
The English were still concerned that the Irish in Ulster would receive help from Catholic Spain,
so they decided to colonize large areas of Ulster with Protestant settlers. This became known as
the Ulster Plantation. In 1609 the English mapped out 4 million acres of land and started giving
it out in 1610. The vast majority of the settlers were Scottish, as it turned out, and they brought
with them a new form of Christianity, Presbyterianism, which was different from both Roman
Catholicism and the Anglican Church of England, although it also is classified as Protestant. In
the century between 1610 and 1717 perhaps as many as 100,000 people came across from
Scotland, and by the latter date there were some five Scots to every three Irishmen and one
Englishman in Ulster.
The colonizers also brought new farming methods and a Puritan lifestyle. This made northeast
Ireland culturally very different from the rest of the island. A rebellion in 1641 by Irish
aristocrats against English rule descended into a massacre of settlers in Ulster fueled by an
intolerance of Catholics by government.
Back in England, the English Parliament was becoming so strong that King Charles I could no
longer rely on Parliament to do as he said. Charles suspended Parliament for 11 years when they
refused to raise taxes for him, but he had to re-instate it when the people didn’t support him and
he ran out of money. In 1642, Charles tried to arrest 5 members of Parliament, and he was
expelled from the City. This was the beginning of the English Civil War. In 1646, Charles
surrendered, but the peace was short lived, and in 1648 war broke out again. Charles was
defeated once again in 1649, and this time he was executed.
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As a result, England had no King and Oliver Cromwell was appointed “Lord Protector of the
Commonwealth of England”.
Cromwell was a devout Protestant, but he was also an exceptionally cruel man. In 1649, in
retaliation for Catholic attacks against Protestants in Ulster, he sent 12,000 men to Ireland and
attacked numerous Irish cities, killing thousands of people. He then forced thousands of Irish
from their homes and gave the land to his soldiers and to Protestants.
Cromwell died in 1660, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The monarchy was reestablished with Charles II as King. Charles reversed many of the anti-Catholic laws, but did not
attempt to reverse any land confiscations. He did have Cromwell's body exhumed, hung,
decapitated and thrown in a latrine. His head was put on a post where it remained until a storm
finally dislodged the skull over 50 years later.
In England, King Charles was succeeded by King James II. James was a Catholic, and
introduced laws for religious tolerance. James promoted Catholics to the higher ranks of the
army, and parliament became suspicious that he was trying to make England a Catholic country
again. James’s daughter was married to William of Orange, a Protestant from Holland. As the
husband of the King’s daughter, he thus became heir to the Throne.
In 1687, James appointed William his viceroy to Ireland. William tried to garrison some Catholic
troops in the city of Derry in 1688, but the Protestant inhabitants of Derry did not want them to
enter the city walls. It was the young apprentice boys of Derry that shut the city gates as the
troops tried to enter.
In 1688, war broke out in Europe between the French and an alliance of other countries (Spain,
Holland, Germany, Hungary, Naples, Prussia, and Sweden). The Alliances commander was
William of Orange.
The plot thickens. In 1688 James (Catholic) had a son and regarded him as his heir. But
Parliament, wanting a Protestant King, considered William as the heir. Parliament invited
William to take over the throne and in November 1688, William arrived in London with his
army. James fled to France and William and Mary II were made King and Queen in 1689. A
war ensued that has become known by the various names as the Williamite War in Ireland, the
Jacobite War in Ireland, and the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland.
King James was supported by the mostly Catholic “Jacobites” in Ireland. James hoped to use the
country as a base to regain his three Kingdoms (England, Scotland, and Ireland), and was given
military support by France, also a Catholic country. He was also supported by some protestants
from the establish Church of Ireland. James was opposed in Ireland by the mostly Protestant,
"Williamites", concentrated in the north of the country.
In 1689 James erected a boom across the River Foyle in the Protestant City of Derry and the city
was put under a famous siege (Siege of Derry) by the Catholic supporters of King James that
lasted for 105 days. A reported 8,000 Protestants within the city walls of Derry died of disease
and starvation, before the siege was broken by William’s arrival in Ireland.
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In 1689 William landed a multi-national force in Ireland composed of English, Scottish, Dutch,
Danish and other troops, to put down Jacobite resistance. After the Siege of Derry was broken,
the armies of James and William met at the famous Battle of the Boyne in 1690. James was
defeated and left Ireland for France. The Irish Jacobites continued to fight, but were finally
defeated after the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. The Treaty of Limerick in October 1691 ended the
war, permitted Catholics to practice their religion, but they had to forfeit their land.
Although William successfully defeated the Jacobites in Ireland, subsequent Jacobite uprisings
occurred in Scotland and England. However, the War was to have a lasting effect on Ireland,
confirming British and Protestant rule over the country until the 1920’s. The iconic Protestant
victories of the Siege of Derry and the Battle of the Boyne are still celebrated by the Unionist
community in Northern Ireland today.
Since 1691 and the end of the Williamite War, Ireland had chiefly been controlled by Protestants
who were members of the established Church loyal to the British Crown. They governed the
majority Irish Catholic population by a form of institutionalized sectarianism codified as the
Penal Laws. Their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a
lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. The penal laws excluded Catholics and certain
Protestants from holding public office, serving in the military, voting, holding jobs in the legal
profession, acquiring a foreign education, owning a horse worth more than 5 pounds sterling, and
a host of other restrictions that were not imposed on most Protestants. The laws were harsh and
alienated the Catholic population of Ireland.
Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster immigrated to the American colonies.
It is estimated that there are more than 27 million descendants of the Scots-Irish migration now
living in the U.S.
In the late 18th century, more liberal elements in Ireland were inspired by examples of the
American Revolutionary War, and sought to achieve reform and greater autonomy from Britain.
In the time period from around 1796 until open rebellion in 1798, a series of insurgencies,
counter insurgencies, martial law, repression, and atrocities, pitted those loyal to England against
those wishing for reform and independence from England. The result of the conflict was the
Irish Rebellion of 1798.
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion, lasted several months,
from May until September. The United Irishmen were a group of republican revolutionaries
opposed to British rule of Ireland. The rebellion was crushed.
In an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws (and to prevent
the spread of French-style republicanism to Ireland), the government of the Kingdom of Great
Britain pushed for the two kingdoms to be merged. The new state, formed in 1801, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was ruled from a single government and parliament based
in London.
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Although the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was largely non-sectarian, the legacy of republicans being
mostly Catholic and loyalist mostly protestant, greatly influenced the events in Northern Ireland
leading up to Civil Rights and the Troubles of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s.
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1801-1922)
As a result of the Act of Union, a new country, the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was
formed by uniting England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. All regional Parliaments were
abolished, and the seat of government moved to London.
An interesting note of history: in 1813, Sir Robert Peel set up the World’s very first police force
in Ireland. The force was known as “Peeler” or ‘Bobbies”, and later became known as the
Police. By 1822, many other countries had also set up their own police force.
The hated penal laws were still in force in Ireland in the early 1800s. These discriminated against
non-Anglicans, principally Catholics and Presbyterians. Daniel O'Connell led a campaign for
repeal of the penal laws (emancipation) that captured the English public's imagination and led to
the necessary legislation being passed in 1829. The importance of emancipation to the Irish
people was recognized when the main street in Dublin was re-named after O'Connell following
independence in 1921.
In 1800, the population of Ireland was between 4 and 5 million, with 200,000 in Dublin.
Although Dublin entered a period of decline, it remained the center of administration and a
transport hub for much of Ireland. Dublin played no major role in the Industrial Revolution.
Ireland had no significant sources of coal, the fuel of the time, and Dublin was not a center of
ship manufacture, the other main driver of industrial development in Britain and northeast
Ireland.
However the Industrial revolution and especially the Irish Linen industry in the northeast,
expanded explosively in the first half of the century, and this allowed the population to increase
dramatically. By 1841, there were 8.2 million people in Ireland. (This compares to the 1996
figure of 5.2 million.)
Most Irish landlords were Protestants, simply because the law forbade Catholics from owning
land. The Irish peasants themselves, who were both Protestant and Catholic, ate potatoes almost
exclusively, since land was scarce and potatoes were an intensive crop.
However, in 1845 a fungal disease called Phytophthora infestans, or 'potato blight' struck and
wiped out a third of the potato crop in Ireland. This led to a disaster known as the Potato
Famine, and effected most the peasants who relied upon potatoes for food as well as for income.
Those who lived near towns were better off, since towns had other sources of food, but things
got very bad for those living in rural areas.
By 1845, potato supplies had sold out and many people began to slowly starve. The British
government stepped in and imported £100,000 worth of maize from America to feed the
starving, and this helped prevent mass death, but only for the first year of the famine.
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The crop of 1846 also failed and this time wiped out almost all the potatoes in Ireland.
Thousands of people simply starved, particularly in rural areas. Many also died from typhus,
scurvy and dysentery. The British set up soup-kitchens and workhouses for the poor but they
drastically underestimated the scale of the disaster, and many people did not receive any aid at
all.
The problem was compounded by landlords who evicted peasants who could not pay the rent
because they had no potatoes to sell. Fortunately the crop of 1847 was good, and, although the
1848 crop failed, the starvation was never as bad as in 1846.
Many thousands of Irish decided to cut their losses and set sail on emigration boats to America.
This is the origin of about half of the population of people now referred to as Irish Americans.
Hundreds of Irish died on the ships which were so overcrowded that they became known as
coffin ships. By 1851, the population in Ireland had fallen 25% to 6 million and the emigration
continued until around 1900, by which time only 4.5 million Irish remained in Ireland.
Many Irish felt that the British could have done more during the famine and this caused a lot of
anti-British sentiment to arise, particularly in Ireland and among the Irish who had gone to
America.
In 1858 a new group calling themselves the Irish Republican Brotherhood or the 'Fenians' was
formed with the aim of creating an independent Irish republic by force. Unlike previous groups,
the IRB had a large support base, particularly from the Irish who had gone to America. In 1867
they staged an uprising but it was easily defeated by the British. The Fenians went into the
background for the next 30 years, but it still existed. The IRB was the first group to add a
religious (pro-Catholic/anti-Protestant) slant to Republicanism, and this widened the gap
between the two religious groups who shared Ireland.
After the Famine, the price of food rose rapidly and Irish farmers began to get better off as they
made money on this market. In response, the Irish landlords raised taxes. However, after 1876,
the food-bubble burst and many farmers fell on hard times. Despite this, as well as poor harvests
in 1877-1879, the landlords did not reduce the taxes. Many farmers found they could not pay
their rent and were evicted from their cottages and land. Many of these evicted farmers, who
were now homeless, formed a new land-reform movement headed by Michael Davitt, a farmer
from Mayo. They wanted to change the law to reduce the power of landlords and allow peasants
to own their land.
At the same time another man, Isaac Butt, had started the Home Rule Party. The aim of this
party was to repeal the Act of Union and reinstate Ireland's Parliament. He wanted a regional
Irish Parliament that could pass laws separately from the main Parliament in London, but did not
want complete Independence from Britain. This was viewed by some as a perfect in-between
solution for Ireland. In 1874, the Home Rule Party won 59 seats in Parliament. In 1879, Charles
Stewart Parnell, became the leader of the Home Rule Party. His problem was apathy since most
Irish didn't really care about regaining their own Parliament.
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However, his fortune changed when Davitt invited Parnell to speak out against evictions and to
call for an increase in peasant land rights. He got massive support, and by merging the Home
Rule and Land campaigns, he had boosted his own cause as well. In 1879, the Land League was
formed and Parnell became its President. Its aims were to get more rights for tenant farmers and
reduce evictions. He also believed that a Nation could be forged out of the people living in
Ireland. This belief was called 'Irish Nationalism', (which is today often confused with Irish
Republicanism, which is a belief in making Ireland an independent republic).
The first tactic by the Land League was to boycott any peasant who moved onto a farm where
the previous peasant had been evicted. This was designed to force the new peasant to leave, so
that the landlord would get no rent. However, between 1879 and 1882, the violence from these
boycotts got so bad that it became known as the Land War. The Parliament tried to solve the
problem in 1881 by passing the Land Act. This set up fair rates of rent, and many Irish farmers
saw their rent reduced by 20%. However, it did not help many of the poorest farmers, so the
violence continued.
At this point in time, there were several groups in Ireland.
The Home Rulers wanted the Act of Union repealed and Ireland given back its own Parliament,
but they did not want Ireland to become an independent country.
Irish Unionists were those who felt that the Act of Union was good for Ireland and wanted to
retain it. They were mostly wealthy Protestants, because Catholics had not recovered from the
years of segregation that had gone before.
Irish Nationalists were those who felt that Ireland could be made into a self-governing nation.
They were more concerned with creating a national identity, a “nationhood”, rather than an
independent republic.
Irish Republicans were those who wanted to create a self-governing republic in Ireland. They
wanted total independence
THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE AND PARTITION
In 1884, the Irish Nationalists (national identity but not independence) started the first phase of
forging a single Irish national identity. This started with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)
to promote Irish sports. In 1893, the Gaelic League was founded by two (Nationalist) Protestants.
Its purpose was to promote the Irish language. The Irish language was mainly of Celtic origin
with some Scottish influence. Both organizations were extremely successful, attracting thousands
of members. Together, they instituted what is now referred to as the 'Gaelic Revival' in Ireland.
First Home Rule Bill
In 1886, the Liberal Party Prime Minister of the UK, William Gladstone, decided that in order to
end the problems in Ireland, some action would have to be taken. He felt that giving Ireland back
their local Parliament, which was removed in the Act of Union of 1800, would solve the
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problem. So in 1886, Gladstone introduced the First Home Rule Bill. However it was defeated in
the London Parliament because others, especially, the Conservative Party, were against Home
Rule which they thought would weaken the United Kingdom.
After this attempt to introduce Home Rule, the Irish Unionists formed an organization called the
'Irish Unionist Alliance' to fight Home Rule. After all, they wanted to remain part of Great
Britain.
After the First Home Rule Bill had failed, the Conservative leader visited Ulster, where Irish
Unionism was significantly stronger than anywhere else. He told the Unionists that they could
count on British Conservatives to help them resist Home Rule. There was also some sporadic
rioting in Belfast, because the Unionists in Ulster had begun to be regarded as anti-Catholic. This
was a charge they didn't face in the rest of Ireland, where there was less trouble. In 1886 alone,
50 people were killed in the city of Belfast.
In 1886, the anti-Home-Rule Conservatives came to power. Their policy was to introduce new
and fairer laws for Ireland. These laws, called the 'Plan of Campaign', gave more rights to tenant
farmers and helped them to become financially much better off. The purpose of this policy was
to show the Irish, by kindness, that Home Rule was unnecessary. It worked well, and between
1885 and 1905, most of Ireland's land changed hands from the landlords to the tenant farmers.
The Second Home Rule Bill
In 1892, the Liberals regained power. Despite threats from the Unionists at their 1892
conference, William Gladstone introduced the Second Home Rule Bill in 1893. In a victorious
vote, it was passed by the House of Commons. However it was defeated in the UK's upper
house (the House of Lords), where there were many more Conservatives than Liberals. The
House of Lords had veto power over the House of Commons.
In 1900, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (the 'Fenians' or IRB), a group of hard-line Irish
Republicans, began to regroup after doing very little since their failed rebellion of 1867. They
began to recruit volunteers for a future rebellion against British Rule. In 1905 a Dubliner named
Arthur Griffith set up a new political party, called Sinn Féin, a Republican party vehemently
against Home Rule.
In the 1909 General Election in Great Britain, there was a hung Parliament when the Liberals
and the Conservatives both won exactly 272 seats. The only way the hung parliament situation
could be resolved was if the power of the House of Lords was reduced. The House of Lords
could veto any legislation passed by Parliament. The Liberals introduced the Parliament Act in
1911, which, if passed, would enable the veto of the House of Lords to be overturned. The
House of Lords veto had been unionists' main guarantee that home rule would not be enacted
because the majority members of the House of Lords were unionist.
But to make this change, the Liberals needed more than 272 votes to ensure that it was passed.
The Home Rule Party held 84-seats in Parliament, and they agreed to support the Liberal's
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Parliament Act in return for another Home Rule Bill. The Act was duly passed, and the House of
Lords' powers were reduced.
The Liberals were now obligated to introduce the Third Home Rule Bill, in 1912. When the Bill
was discussed, the Conservatives fiercely campaigned to have the Unionist northeast of Ireland
treated separately from the rest of the island. They argued that the Protestants of Ulster
constituted a separate Irish nation.
In Belfast, tensions were so high over the Bill that spontaneous rioting kept breaking out between
the Catholic and Protestant residents of the City. As the Bill was discussed, one proposition put
forward was that the counties with a Unionist majority could be left out of the Home Rule
scheme. Unionists were in a minority on the island of Ireland as a whole, but were a majority in
the northern province of Ulster and in the six counties that would later constitute Northern
Ireland (County Antrim, Down, Armagh, Londonderry, Fermanagh, and Tyrone).
The Unionists decided they would need a backup military force as 'insurance' to make certain
that at least Ulster was left out of Home Rule. So in January 1913, the Ulster Volunteer Force
(UVF) was set up. Thousands of Unionists joined, and they met in Orange Halls (named after
William of Orange) around Ulster. The only thing missing were weapons. On April 24 and 25,
1914, 25,000 rifles and 3,000,000 bullets were illegally landed by the UVF near Belfast. Since
the police in these areas did not try to stop the landings, the Nationalists felt that the police were
in league with the UVF.
By the end of 1913 (the Bill was still being debated) the Nationalists realized that the Liberal
government was likely to agree with the Conservatives and leave part of Ulster out of Home
Rule. Some of them set up their own military force, the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) in
November 1913. It recruited even more men than the UVF. The IVF landed 1,500 rifles and
45,000 bullets at Howth, near Dublin, on 26 July 1914. In this case, the police did intervene and
shot 3 people dead. It looked as if the police were treating the UVF and IVF very differently.
The Third Home Bill and World War I
In 1914, the Third Home Rule Act, which contained provision for a "temporary" partition of
these six counties from the rest of Ireland, was approved. However, in August 1914 the UK
went to war with Germany. In order to concentrate on the war effort, the government decided to
postpone the Third Home Rule Bill implementation until after the war, and this left the
Nationalists and Unionists wondering what action would be best on their part. Both decided that
if they fought alongside the British in the war, they would have a bargaining tool for use after the
war.
Most of the Nationalist IVF did go to war alongside the British. However a small splinter group
disagreed with this policy of helping the British and stayed at home. In order to disassociate
themselves, the majority of the IVF renamed themselves the National Volunteer Force (NVF)
while the splinter group remained the IVF.
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Many of the UVF men also joined the war, along with other Unionists. During the Battle of the
Somme, nearly half of the UVF men were injured or killed. London viewed this sacrifice, on the
part of the men of Ulster, as an indication that Ulster could not now be forced into Home Rule.
The war was only supposed to last a few months, but it went on for 4 years. When the war
finally ended, events in Ireland made the implementation of the home rule impossible. Public
opinion in the majority "nationalist" community (who sought for greater independence from
Britain) had shifted during the war from a demand for home rule to one of full independence.
Easter Uprising of 1916
When England entered World War I, other Irish nationalist openly supported the Germans with
the hope that Germany would be able to support their cause. Several republican groups, the Irish
Republican Brotherhood and the splinter IVF, decided to take advantage of the fact that the
British had few troops to spare in Ireland, and planned a huge rebellion to drive the British out of
Ireland. Plans were being made for an open rebellion to take place on Easter Monday, April 24,
1916. These plans relied on a shipment of German arms to Ireland. This shipment was
discovered and the boat carrying the arms was scuttled. Attempts to postpone action by the
nationalists failed, and the rebellion started, as planned, on April 24 without the weapons.
During the Easter Rising, a total of 1,500 rebels took over the Dublin Post Office and other key
buildings in the city. They raised the Irish Flag and read a proclamation of independence and
formation of the Republic of Ireland. A fierce battle ensued between the rebels and the British.
On April 29, after 5 days of mortars, shells and gunfire, the rebels surrendered after 450
volunteers had been killed.
Huge areas of Dublin’s city center were in ruins and many locals sided with the British and
shouted abuse as the rebels were lead away. Almost 100 men were shot after nominal trials. It
was announced that the leaders would be executed at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. Between May
3 and May 12, 1916, fifteen additional men and women were executed by the British.
The people of Ireland were shocked at all the executions. The British wrongly blamed Sinn Féin
for the rising (it had actually been the Irish Republican Brotherhood).
After the executions at Kilmainham Goal, public opinion moved toward support for Irish
republicanism, in particular for support of the political party Sinn Fein. In July 1917, a man
named Eamonn de Valera became the President of Sinn Fein. He had taken part in the Easter
Rising, but had not been executed. De Valera ran for Parliament in 1918 and won. The Sinn
Fein won a landslide victory in the British Parliamentary elections in Ireland in 1918, winning 73
seats. The Home Rule Party won only 6. The Unionists won 26 seats, mostly in Ulster.
The Self-declared Irish Republic and Irish War of Independence (1919-1922)
However, on January 21, 1919, all 73 Sinn Fein Members of Parliament from Ireland elected to
the British House of Commons, met in Dublin to form their own parliament called the Dail
Eireann (Assembly of Ireland) and adopted a Declaration of Independence. They refused to take
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their seats in Parliament in London. Essentially, these individuals were declaring the existence
of the Irish Republic.
Meanwhile, the third home rule bill had been under discussion for seven years and had not been
implemented. The IVF decided they had had enough, and that they needed to take action
themselves. In 1919, they renamed themselves the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and started the
Irish War of Independence, a guerrilla war mounted the IRA against the British government and
its forces in Ireland.
The Irish War of Independence began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration
of independence. The war started when several IRA members, acting independently, shot and
killed two Royal Constabulary officers. The Royal Irish Constabulary was an organization of
Catholic Irish police working for the British Government. The British clamped down hard in
response and soon a guerrilla war was underway. With the post-war British army in a shambles,
they were only willing to send over groups of ex-First World War solders to fight. The
combination of black police uniforms and tan army outfits gave rise to the term 'Black and Tans'
for these men.
Also in 1919, a plan was proposed which would divide Ireland into two home rule areas: twentysix counties being ruled from Dublin and six being ruled from Belfast. Straddling between these
two areas, would be a shared Lord Lieutenant of Ireland who would appoint both governments
and a Council of Ireland, which some believed would evolve into an all-Ireland parliament. The
plan was too late and too little.
The 'Black and Tans' were undisciplined and often shot innocent civilians in reprisal for attacks
on them. These attacks helped to create and then strengthen local support for the IRA. The Royal
Irish Constabulary withdrew from the countryside, leaving it in the hands of the IRA. The
British Court system collapsed when jurors refused to attend. The newly formed Irish
Parliament formed its own police force. By the middle of 1920 the Irish Republic was a reality
in the lives of many people, enforcing its own laws, maintaining its own armed forces and
collecting its own taxes.
However, the war was going nowhere. So the IRA, in the Summer 1920, escalated violence. On
November 21, 1920, the IRA shot dead 11 British agents. In reprisal, a group of Black and Tans
fired randomly into a crowd of civilians at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park, Dublin.
Twelve people were killed and the day became known as Bloody Sunday. (Not to be confused
with another Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972.) Ten days later the IRA shot dead 17 British
soldiers in County Cork.
Meanwhile, despite the conflict, the government decided to press ahead with Home Rule and
passed the Government of Ireland Act in 1920. This gave Ireland two Parliaments (each with a
Prime Minister), one for the Unionists and one for the Nationalists, but kept both Parliaments
answerable to the overall UK parliament in London. Six counties in the northeast (Londonderry,
Tyrone, Fermanagh, Antrim, Down and Armagh) were to be under the Unionist Parliament, and
the citizens there agreed to the creation of 'Northern Ireland' by way of a referendum. The first
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elections for the Northern Ireland parliament were held in May 1921 and the Unionists got 40 of
the 52 seats. It first met in Belfast in June 1921.
In the middle of this, the Dail Eireann declared war on Britain in March of 1921.
The elections were also held for the Nationalist Parliament in Dublin in May 1921 and Sinn Féin
took 124 seats with the remaining 4 being taken by Unionist candidates. However Sinn Féin
refused to recognize this Parliament and instead continued to meet in Dail Eireann. The four
Unionists were the only ones who attended the new Parliament.
The IRA, continued to fight on for more independence. While the conflict in the south and west
of Ireland was between the IRA and the British forces, in the northeast and particularly in
Belfast, it often developed into a cycle of sectarian killings between Catholics, who were largely
Nationalists and Protestants, who were mostly Unionists.
Finally stalemate was reached. From the point of view of the British government, it appeared as
if the IRA would continue its guerrilla campaign indefinitely with spiraling costs to Britain. The
IRA fought a largely successful and lethal guerrilla war, which forced the British to conclude
that the IRA could not be defeated militarily. On the IRA side, leaders felt that the IRA as it was
organized could not continue indefinitely.
On June 24, 1921, the British Government proposed talks with the leaders of Sinn Fein. A truce
was signed between the IRA and the British on July 11, 1921.
The Irish Free State and the Partitioning of Ireland
After four months of negotiations a treaty was hammered out. The Anglo-Irish Treaty, which
was negotiated and eventually agreed to between the IRA and the British government, replaced
the Dublin Home-Rule Parliament which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act.
That Act had created an Ireland which was much more independent than it would have been
under pure Home Rule. Britain would also have a representative in Ireland and would keep
some naval bases in Irish waters. The treaty ended British rule over most of Ireland, and
established the Irish Free State.
The treaty provided for a self-governing Irish state in 26 of Ireland's 32 counties, having its own
army and police. However, rather than creating the independent republic favored by most
nationalists, the Irish Free State would be an autonomous dominion of the British Empire with
the British monarch as head of state, in the same manner as Canada and Australia.
Northern Ireland provisionally became an autonomous part of the newly independent Irish Free
State. However, Northern Ireland was given the option of “opting out” of the Irish Free State.
As expected, the Parliament of Northern Ireland resolved the following day to exercise its optout at the earliest possible opportunity (one month later). Northern Ireland, therefore, remained
part of the Great Britain. Ireland was now partitioned.
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The treaty also set up a Boundary Commission which was to fine-tune the border to take account
of Unionist/Nationalist. But owing to the outbreak of civil war in the Free State, the work of the
commission was delayed until 1925.
To oversee that the two Irish states got along, a Council of Ireland was set up to manage
relations. The British believed that the two Parliaments would soon settle their differences and
agree to unite, and the Council of Ireland was to oversee this reunification as well. However, in
the end, the Council of Ireland never met.
When the Boundary commission finally met, leaders in Dublin expected a substantial reduction
in the territory of Northern Ireland, with nationalist areas moving to the Free State. However the
commission decided against this and its report recommended that some small portions of land
should be ceded from the Free State to Northern Ireland. To prevent argument, this report was
suppressed and, in exchange for a waiver to the Free State's obligations to the UK's public debt
and the dissolution of the Council of Ireland (sought by the Government of Northern Ireland)
which never met anyway, and the initial six-county border was maintained with minor changes.
The legacy of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, rather than peace and eventual unity, was to be one of
decades of continued conflict. The treaty allowed for the six counties in the northeast to remain
within the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. The partitioning of Northern Ireland resulted in
continued violence until the end of the 20th century. And in the Irish Free State, a civil war was
brewing.
Two Countries – One Island
THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed for Ireland by a man named Michael Collins on behalf of the
IRA. Michael Collins was an IRA leader during the war of Independence. However he did not
fully consult his colleagues, many of whom were horrified that he had accepted partition. This is
why he is now regarded by some as a traitor and this probably contributed to his assassination a
short time later.
The Sinn Fein leader, Eamonn de Valera, became the first Prime Minister of the Irish Free State.
The UK was renamed The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to reflect the
change. Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State.
Irish Free State (1922–1949)
With the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, a new system of government was created for the new
Irish Free State. During the first year two governments co-existed; the Dail originally set up
with the Declaration of Independence and a Provisional Government nominally answerable to a
new the House of Commons for Southern Ireland.
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The 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland and the 6 counties of Northern Ireland
Most of the Irish independence movement's leaders were willing to accept the compromise in the
Anglo-Irish Treaty, at least for the time being. Many militant Republicans were not. The Prime
Minister De Valera, however, was furious that Collins had signed the treaty. To him it still fell
much too short of what he had been fighting for, which was an independent Ireland covering all
32 counties.
Most members of the IRA who supported the treaty were transformed into the first official Irish
Army. The split between the pro-and anti-treaty was so narrow, that Sinn Fein decided to have a
vote on it in the Dail. When the Dail voted 64-57 in favor of the treaty, de Valera and a
considerable number of Sinn Fein members walked out in protest.
However it was not going to be that simple - those who had been outvoted in the Dail were not
prepared to simply accept the rule of a Dail which had supported what they regarded as a
'treacherous' treaty. In April 1922, the anti-treaty IRA seized control of the Dublin Four-Courts
and other key buildings. The situation grew very tense as the new Irish government tried to
mediate with the IRA. However, the government quickly lost its patience and in June, Michael
Collins ordered the Irish Army to shell the Four-Courts. He succeeded in driving the IRA out of
Dublin but had also triggered the Irish Civil War.
The war went on for almost a year, and was particularly intensive in Connaught and Munster. It
was basically a guerilla war, involving sniper attacks, ambushes and raids. Slowly but surely the
Army drove the IRA into the mountains and, as the fighting continued to disrupt local life, the
IRA lost the support of the locals on which it relied. Therefore the IRA finally called a halt to its
campaign in April 1923. Among the casualties of the Civil War was Michael Collins, who was
shot dead in an ambush in his native county Cork.
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Total casualties of the war have never been determined but were perhaps higher than those in the
earlier fighting against the British.
The Country of Erie (1937)
Eamonn de Valera, who still wanted total independence, led away a delegation of Sinn Feiners to
formed a new party, Fianna Fail, who stood in the 1927 election. It won only 42 seats in the
Dail.
In 1930 the Free State joined with Canada and South Africa, (two other Commonwealth nations),
and managed to force Britain into passing a law that permitted them to repeal any law that the
UK had passed for them before granting independence. This meant that, in theory, the Free State
government could repeal the Anglo-Irish Treaty and become fully independent.
In the 1932 General Election Fianna Fail swept to power in the Irish Free State and Eamon de
Valera, the leader of Fianna Fail, became Prime Minister once again. He abolished the "land
annuities" in 1932 (the repayment of loans Britain had given to farmers for land purchases), and
the Dail's Oath to the King of England in 1933.
In 1936, de Valera abolished the King's right to interfere in Free State affairs, although he was
still recognized as the Head of Commonwealth. This abolition coincided with the abdication of
King Edward 8th so that Britain did not have time to object to it. Finally in 1937, de Valera
abolished the powers of the British governmental representative in Ireland.
In 1937 de Valera introduced a new constitution, replacing the one agreed after the formation of
the Free State. It included a number of issues: (a) The Irish Free State was to be renamed Eire.
(b) The Prime Minister was to be renamed the Taoiseach. (c) The head of state would be an
elected President, not the King. (d) Eire's boundary consisted of the whole island of Ireland. (e)
The Eire government had the right to pass laws for the whole island although only enforcing
them in the 26 counties. The new constitution was put to a referendum and was narrowly
accepted by the people.
In September 1939, the UK went to war with Germany. Northern Ireland, as part of the UK,
found itself at war too. Eire, being a small country with few military resources, immediately
declared neutrality.
The Eire government looked with increasing anxiousness as Hitler invaded and took over eight
neutral European countries in 1940, since they knew that the Irish army wouldn't have a hope
against the Germans in an invasion. Nevertheless, de Valera refused to join the war. When the
IRA began collaborating with the Germans in 1940, the Eire government cracked down hard in
order not to anger the British and provoke a strategic invasion.
However, the Irish people sympathized with the British and 40,000 Irish joined the British army
and over 150,000 worked for the war effort. Nevertheless, the Irish declaration of neutrality
brought resentment in Northern Ireland where times had got hard with rationing and blackouts
while Eire could still trade freely
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In mid-1940, Britain looked to be in an impossible situation. With most of Europe in Nazi hands,
and the United States refusing to join the war, they were desperate for any help. In June Winston
Churchill more or less offered to give Northern Ireland to Eire in return for military help. He told
de Valera that he believed that the Northern Ireland Parliament would agree to this idea. De
Valera, however, was skeptical and did not think that Northern Ireland would be that easy to
persuade. He also feared the consequences of a large Unionist population being pushed into Eire
against their will. So he refused the offer.
All told, aside from the loss of life and property, the war was good for both Eire and Northern
Ireland. Northern Ireland's flagging ship and cloth industries boomed. And a new industry,
aircraft manufacture, was set up in Belfast which still exists today. Eire benefitted with many of
its citizens employed in the war effort. It also enjoyed trade with Britain for scarce goods that
Eire could get as a neutral country, such as butter.
The Republic of Ireland (1949-Present)
In the 1948 general election, de Valera’s party was defeated. John Costello led the government.
He announced his intention of leading Erie out of the British Commonwealth. He did so on
Easter Monday, 1949, when the national parliament passed the Republic of Ireland Act which
proclaimed Ireland a republic by discarding the remaining duties of the monarch. The Republic
of Ireland was officially recognized by Britain through the Ireland Act 1949.
The Oireachtas is the national parliament of Ireland and is based in Dublin. It comprises the
President of Ireland, the upper house Seanad Éireann (Senate), and the lower house Dáil Éireann
(House of Representatives). Both houses of the Oireachtas meet in Leinster House, a former
palace on Kildare Street. It has been the home of the Irish parliament since the creation of the
Irish Free State. The government responsible to the lower house of the national legislature is
headed by the Taoiseach, or Prime Minister.
NORTHERN IRELAND
After Partition, Northern Ireland was a distinct division of the United Kingdom. For over 50
years it had its own devolved government and parliament. A devolved government is one that is
granted its powers and authority by the central government of a sovereign state. The authority
granted to the devolved government often is limited to financial matters but can also be the
authority to legislate for the area that the devolved government covers.
In June 1940, to encourage the Irish State to join with the Allies during World War II, British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill indicated to the Irish Prime Minister , Eamon de Valera at that
time, that the United Kingdom would push for Irish unity if Ireland would support England in the
war. Believing that Churchill could not deliver, de Valera declined the offer. The British did not
inform the Government of Northern Ireland that they had made the offer to the Dublin
government, and de Valera's rejection was not publicized until 1970.
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World War II did come to Northern Ireland. On the night of April 15-16, 1941, German
bombers pounded both Belfast and Derry with hundreds of tons of explosives, killing 900
people, destroying thousands of buildings and making 10,000 people homeless.
Great Britain officially recognized the Republic of Ireland with the Ireland Act 1949. This act
also gave the first legal guarantee that the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland would
not cease to be part of the United Kingdom without consent of the majority of its citizens.
The Troubles
The Troubles, starting in the late 1960s, consisted of about thirty years of recurring acts of
intense violence between elements of Northern Ireland's nationalist community (principally
Roman Catholic) and unionist community (principally Protestant) during which 3,254 people
were killed. The conflict was caused by the disputed status of Northern Ireland within the United
Kingdom and the discrimination against the nationalist minority by the dominant unionist
majority.
In 1967-72 the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association led a campaign of civil resistance
against discrimination, modeling itself on the US civil rights movement, but NICRA's campaign,
and the reaction to it, proved to be a precursor to a more violent period.
As early as 1969, armed campaigns of paramilitary groups began, including the Provisional IRA
campaign of 1969-1997 which was aimed at the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and the
creation of a new "all-Ireland", "thirty-two county" Irish Republic, and the Ulster Volunteer
Force, formed in 1966 in response to the perceived erosion of both the British character and
unionist domination of Northern Ireland.
The state security forces—the British Army and the police (the Royal Ulster Constabulary) were also involved in the violence. The British government's point of view is that its forces were
neutral in the conflict, trying to uphold law and order in Northern Ireland and the right of the
people of Northern Ireland to democratic self-determination. Irish republicans regarded the state
forces as "combatants" in the conflict, alleging collusion between the state forces and the loyalist
paramilitaries as proof of this. The "Ballast" investigation by the Police Ombudsman has
confirmed that British forces, and in particular the RUC, did collude with loyalist paramilitaries,
were involved in murder, and did obstruct the course of justice when such claims had previously
been investigated, although the extent to which such collusion occurred is still hotly disputed.
As a consequence of the worsening security situation, the autonomous regional government for
Northern Ireland was suspended by Great Britain in 1972. Alongside the violence, there was a
political deadlock between the major political parties in Northern Ireland, including those who
condemned violence, over the future status of Northern Ireland and the form of government there
should be within Northern Ireland. In 1973, Northern Ireland held a referendum to determine if it
should remain in the United Kingdom, or be part of a United Ireland. The vote went heavily in
favor (98.9%) of maintaining the status quo with approximately 57.5% of the total electorate
voting in support, but only 1% of Catholics voted following an organized boycott.
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Anglo-Irish Accords (1998)
The Troubles were brought to an uneasy end in 1998 by a peace process which included the
declaration of ceasefires by most paramilitary organizations and the complete decommissioning
of their weapons, the reform of the police, and the corresponding withdrawal of army troops
from the streets and from sensitive border areas such as South Armagh and Fermanagh, as agreed
by the signatories to the Belfast Agreement (commonly known as the "Good Friday
Agreement"). This reiterated the long-held British position, which had never before been fully
acknowledged by successive Irish governments, that Northern Ireland will remain within the
United Kingdom until a majority votes otherwise.
The constitution of the Republic of Ireland, was amended in 1999 to remove a claim of the "Irish
nation" to sovereignty over the whole of Ireland, a claim qualified by an acknowledgement that
Ireland could only exercise legal control over the territory formerly known as the Irish Free
State. New articles were added to the Constitution to replace the earlier articles, implicitly
acknowledge that the status of Northern Ireland, and its relationships within the rest of the
United Kingdom and with Ireland, would only be changed with the agreement of a majority of
voters in both jurisdictions (Ireland voting separately). This aspect was also central to the Belfast
Agreement which was signed in 1998 and ratified by referendums held simultaneously in both
Northern Ireland and the Republic.
At the same time, the British Government recognized for the first time, as part of the prospective,
the so-called "Irish dimension", the principle that the people of the island of Ireland as a whole
have the right, without any outside interference, to solve the issues between North and South by
mutual consent. The latter statement was key to winning support for the agreement from
nationalists and republicans. It also established a devolved power-sharing government within
Northern Ireland where the government must consist of both unionist and nationalist parties.
So in 1998, Northern Ireland was given back its government by Great Britain. However, the
government of Northern Ireland was again suspended by the British Government in 2002 after
the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) claimed that people working for Sinn Féin at the
Assembly were spying on the Government.
Stormontgate is the name given to the controversy surrounding an alleged Provisional Irish
Republican Army spy-ring and intelligence gathering operation based in Stormont, the
parliament building of Northern Ireland. The term was coined in October 2002 after the arrest of
Sinn Féin’s Northern Ireland Assembly group administrator Denis Donaldson, and two other
people. Ten days later, the arrests resulted in the suspension of the government in Northern
Ireland resulting from the Good Friday Agreement. The raid involved scores of PSNI officers
who entered the building to remove two computer disks from the Sinn Féin offices. The raid took
place in what was described as a "blaze of publicity". The two computer disks were quietly
returned later. Thousands of documents were reportedly discovered by the police in Donaldson's
Belfast home.
On July 28, 2005, the Provisional IRA declared an end to its campaign and has since
decommissioned what is thought to be all of its arsenal. This final act of decommissioning was
39
performed in accordance with the Belfast Agreement of 1998, and under the watch of the
Independent International Commission on Decommissioning and two external church witnesses.
Many unionists, however, remain skeptical.
This IRA decommissioning is in contrast to Loyalist paramilitaries who have so far refused to
decommission many weapons. It is not thought that this will have a major effect on further
political progress as political parties linked to Loyalist paramilitaries do not attract significant
support and will not be in a position to form part of a government in the near future. Sinn Féin,
on the other hand, with their (real and perceived) links to militant republicanism, is the largest
nationalist party in Northern Ireland.
On December 8, 2005 the charges against all three men involved in Stormontgate were dropped
by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service. Lawyers for the service said that "the
prosecution for the offences in relation to the accused are no longer in the public interest". Sinn
Féin claimed that the prosecutions had been politically motivated and were dropped because of
lack of evidence. Some unionists suggested that dropping the charges was a "reward" for the
final act of decommissioning by the Provisional IRA announced on September 26, 2005.
On December 16, 2005, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams announced to a press conference in
Dublin that Donaldson had been a spy in the pay of the United Kingdom’s Secret Service
Military Intelligence for over twenty years. This was confirmed by Donaldson in a statement to
broadcast media outlets shortly afterwards.
In his statement Donaldson described the alleged Sinn Féin spy ring in Stormont as "a scam and
a fiction". Adams has asserted that both the planned leaking of Donaldson's name as an
informer and the original Stormontgate allegations were engineered by the security forces to
discredit Sinn Féin and cause a crisis in the peace process.
Since his admission Donaldson had been living in the Republic of Ireland where he was
debriefed about the extent of his work for British intelligence. On April 4, 2006 he was found
shot dead at the house he had been using as a retreat near Glenties, County Donegal.
Donaldson's death is now the subject of an ongoing murder inquiry. In 2009 the Real IRA used
their Easter message to admit to killing Donaldson.
The Peace process resumed when politicians elected to the Assembly during the 2003 Assembly
Election were called together on May 15, 2006 under the Northern Ireland Act 2006 for the
purpose of electing a First Minister of Northern Ireland and a Deputy First Minister of Northern
Ireland and choosing the members of an Executive as a preliminary step to the restoration of
devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Following the election held on March 7, 2007, devolved government returned to Northern
Ireland on May 8, 2007 with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin
deputy leader Martin McGuinness taking office as First Minister and Deputy First Minister,
respectively.
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Today, Northern Ireland still has a devolved government within the United Kingdom. There is a
Northern Ireland Executive together with the 108 member Northern Ireland Assembly to deal
with devolved matters with the UK Government and UK Parliament responsible for reserved
matters. Six representatives from each of 18 constituencies are elected to the Assembly.
Northern Ireland is a distinct legal jurisdiction, separate from England, Wales and Scotland. It is
also an electoral region of the European Union.
Northern Ireland elects 18 Members of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons, but not all
take their seats. The Sinn Féin MP’s (currently five) refuse to take the oath to serve the Queen
that is required of all MP’s. The Northern Ireland Office represents the UK government in
Northern Ireland on reserved matters and represents Northern Irish interests within the UK
government. The Northern Ireland office is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
who sits in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
The main political divide in Northern Ireland is still between Unionists or Loyalists who wish to
see Northern Ireland continue as part of the United Kingdom and Nationalists or Republicans
who wish to see Northern Ireland join the rest of Ireland, independent from the United Kingdom.
These two opposing views are linked to deeper cultural divisions.
Divisions still remain in Northern Ireland
Unionists are overwhelmingly Protestant, descendants of mainly Scottish, English, Welsh and
Huguenot settlers as well as Old Gaelic Irishmen who had converted to one of the Protestant
denominations. Nationalists are predominantly Catholic and descend from the population
predating the settlement, with a minority from Scottish Highlanders as well as some converts
from Protestantism. Discrimination against nationalists under the Northern Ireland government
(1921–1972) gave rise to the nationalist civil rights movement in the 1960’s. Some Unionists
argue that any discrimination was not just because of religious or political bigotry, but also the
result of more complex socio-economic, socio-political and geographical factors. Whatever the
cause, the existence of discrimination, and the manner in which Nationalist anger at it was
handled, was a major contributing factor which led to the long-running conflict known as the
Troubles. The political unrest went through its most violent phase between 1968 and 1994.
As of 2007, 36% of the population define themselves as Unionist, 24% as Nationalist and 40%
define themselves as neither. According to a 2009 opinion poll, 69% express long term
preference of the maintenance of Northern Ireland's membership of the United Kingdom (either
directly ruled or with devolved government), while 21% express a preference for membership of
a united Ireland.
As part of the United Kingdom, people from Northern Ireland are British citizens. They are also
entitled to Irish citizenship by birth which is covered in the 1998 Belfast Agreement between the
British and Irish governments and is now in the amended Constitution of Ireland.
Several studies and surveys performed between 1971 and 2006 have indicated that, in general,
Protestants in Northern Ireland see themselves primarily as 'British', whereas Roman Catholics
regard themselves primarily as 'Irish'.
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Alternative names for Northern Ireland
Many people inside and outside Northern Ireland use other names for Northern Ireland,
depending on their point of view.
Disagreement on names, and the reading of political symbolism into the use or non-use of a
word, is common. The most famous example is whether Northern Ireland's second city should
be called "Derry" or "Londonderry".
Choice of language and nomenclature in Northern Ireland often reveals the cultural, ethnic and
religious identity of the speaker.
Unionist/Loyalist

Ulster , strictly speaking, refers to the province of Ulster, of which six of nine historical
counties are in Northern Ireland. The term "Ulster" is widely used by the Unionist
community and the British press as shorthand for Northern Ireland. In the past, calls have
been made for Northern Ireland's name to be changed to Ulster. This proposal was
formally considered by the Government of Northern Ireland in 1937 and again in 1949
but no change was made.

The Province refers literally to the historic Irish province of Ulster but today is used as
shorthand for Northern Ireland. The BBC, in its editorial guidance for Reporting the
United Kingdom, states that "the Province" is an appropriate secondary synonym for
Northern Ireland, while "Ulster" is not. It also suggests that "people of Northern Ireland"
should be preferred to "British", and the term "mainland" should be avoided in reference
to Great Britain in relation to Northern Ireland
Nationalist/Republican

North of Ireland or North-East Ireland emphasizes the link of Northern Ireland to the
rest of the island, and so by implication playing down Northern Ireland's links with Great
Britain.

The Six Counties is language used by republicans e.g. Sinn Féin, which avoids using the
name given by the British-enacted Government of Ireland Act 1920. (the Republic is
similarly described as the Twenty-Six Counties.) Some of the users of these terms
contend that using the official name of the region would imply acceptance of the
legitimacy of the Government of Ireland Act.

The Occupied Six Counties refers to Northern Ireland, whose legitimacy is not
recognized by republicans opposed to the Belfast Agreement. The Republic of Ireland
would be called "The Free State".

British-Occupied Ireland. Similar in tone to the Occupied Six Counties this term is used
by more dogmatic anti-Good Friday Agreement republicans who still hold that the First
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Dáil was the last legitimate government of Ireland and that all governments since have
been foreign imposed usurpations of Irish national self-determination.
Other


The North is used to describe Northern Ireland in the same way that "The South" is used
to describe the Republic.
Norn Iron is an informal and affectionate local nickname used by both nationalists and
unionists to refer to Northern Ireland, derived from the pronunciation of the words
"Northern Ireland" in an exaggerated Ulster accent (particularly one from the Greater
Belfast area). The phrase is seen as a light-hearted way to refer to Northern Ireland, based
as it is on regional pronunciation.
Northern Ireland Today
The population of Northern Ireland is 1.8 million.
The whole of Northern Ireland has a temperate maritime climate, rather wetter in the west than
the east, although cloud cover is persistent across the region. The weather is unpredictable at all
times of the year, and although the seasons are distinct, they are considerably less pronounced
than in interior Europe or the eastern seaboard of North America. Average daytime maximums in
Belfast are 43.7 °F in January and 63.5 °F in July. The damp climate and extensive deforestation
in the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in much of the region being covered in rich green
grassland.
Although counties are no longer used for governmental purpose, they remain a popular means of
describing where places are. They are officially used while applying for an Irish passport, which
requires one to state one's county of birth. The name of the county then appears in both Irish and
English on the passport's information page, as opposed to the town or city of birth on the United
Kingdom passport.
There are five major settlements with city status in Northern Ireland: Armagh, Belfast, Derry,
Lisburn, Newry.
The Northern Ireland economy is the smallest of the four economies making up the United
Kingdom. Northern Ireland has traditionally had an industrial economy, most notably in
shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles, but most heavy industry has since been replaced by
services, primarily the public sector. Tourism also plays a big role in the local economy. More
recently the economy has benefited from major investment by many large multi-national
corporations into high tech industry. These large organizations are attracted by government
subsidies and the skilled workforce in Northern Ireland.
There are two main universities in Northern Ireland - The Queen's University of Belfast, and the
University of Ulster.
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The River Liffey and Dublin
THE RIVER LIFFEY
The River Liffey rises in the bogs of the Wicklow Mountains where many streamlets come
together to form the 78 mile long river that flows through the center of Dublin before entering
the Irish Sea at Dublin Bay. The River supplies much of Dublin’s water and a range of
recreational opportunities.
Wicklow Mountains
The River Liffey in Dublin has been used for many centuries for trade, from the Viking
beginnings of the city up to recent times. It is connected to the River Shannon via the Grand
Canal and the Royal Canal, both crossing west through the center of Ireland.
Around 60% of the Liffey's flow is abstracted for drinking water and to supply industry. Much of
this makes its way back into the river after purification in wastewater treatment plants.
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Today, the Liffey divides the north side of Dublin from the south side, and is today spanned by
numerous bridges, mostly open to vehicular traffic, as well as a number of foot bridges.
The earliest stone bridge over the Liffey of which there is solid evidence was the Bridge of
Dublin, built by the Dominicans in 1428, which survived well into the 18th century. A series of
bridge built between 1577 and 1684 no longer exist. The oldest bridge still standing is the
Mellows Bridge, (originally Queens Bridge) constructed in 1764. The first iron bridge was the
elegant Ha'penny Bridge built in 1816. The newest bridge is the Samuel Beckett Bridge, which
opened in December 2009. A suspension bridge, it swivels to allow river traffic to pass.
Ha'penny Bridge built in 1816
Dublin
Dublin is the largest city in Ireland and the capital city of the Republic of Ireland. Dublin is
situated near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey. Dublin
encompasses a land area of approximately 40 sq. miles, and is bordered by a low mountain range
to the south and surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west.
History records the founding of Dublin by Vikings around 841. The English name is derived
from the Irish name Dubh Linn, meaning "black pool". The Dubh Linn was a lake used by the
Vikings to moor their ships and was connected to the River Liffey by the Poddle, a short
tributary of the River Liffey. The lake was filled-in during the early 18th century, and as the city
expanded it was largely forgotten about.
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In 1348, the city was hit by the Black Death, a lethal plague that ravaged Europe in the mid-14th
century.
Dublin was for much of its existence a medieval city, marked by the existence of a particular
style of buildings, built on narrow winding medieval streets. Though the city over the century
had grown around the River Liffey, its buildings, like many other medieval centers, backed onto
the river. As a collective sewer, household waste was dumped directly into the river.
The first major changes to this pattern occurred during the reign of King Charles II (1630-1685)
when the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Ormonde, issued an instruction which was
to have dramatic repercussions for the city as it exists today.
Ormonde insisted that the frontages of the houses, not their rears, should face the river, with a
street to run along both sides of the river. By this one development, Ormond changed the face of
the city. No longer would the river be a sewer hidden between buildings. Instead it became a
central feature of the city, lined by large three and four story houses and public buildings.
The population of Dublin grew from about 10,000 in 1600 to over 50,000 in 1700 and this in
spite of another plague epidemic in 1649-51.
During the Georgian Period , from 1714 (the beginning of the reign of King George I) to 1830
(the death of King George IV), Dublin became, for a short time, the second city of the British
Empire after London and the fifth largest European city. Much of Dublin's most notable
architecture dates from this time. In 1759, the founding of the Guinness Brewery at St. James's
Gate resulted in a considerable economic impact for the city. For much of the time since its
foundation, the Guinness brewery was the largest employer in the city.
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As the city grew in size, stature, population and wealth, two changes were needed. The existing
narrow-street of the medieval city required major redevelopment, and major new development of
residential areas was required.
In 1757, by an act of Parliament, a new body called the Wide Streets Commission was created to
remodel the old medieval city. Over the following decades, the commission reshaped the old
medieval city of Dublin, and created a network of main thoroughfares by wholesale demolition
or widening of old streets or the creation of entirely new ones. The Wide Streets Commission
governed standards on the layout of streets, bridges, buildings and other architectural
considerations in Dublin, until it was abolished in 1849.
While the rebuilding by the Wide Streets Commission fundamentally changed the streetscape in
Dublin, a property boom led to additional building outside the central core. Unlike twentieth
century building booms in Dublin the eighteenth century developments were carefully
controlled. The developing areas were divided into precincts, each of which was given to a
different developer. The scope of their developments were restricted, however, with strict
controls imposed on style of residential building, design of buildings and location, thereby
producing a cohesive unity that came to be called Georgian Dublin.
Under the anti-Catholic Penal Laws, Roman Catholics, though the overwhelming majority in
Ireland, were harshly discriminated against, barred from holding property rights or from voting
in parliamentary elections until 1793. Thus the houses of Georgian Dublin, particularly in the
early phase before Catholic Emancipation was granted in 1829, were almost invariably owned by
a small Church of Ireland Anglican elite, with Catholics only gaining admittance to the houses as
skivvies and servants. Ultimately the north side was laid out centered on two major squares,
Ruthland Square (now called Parnell Square) and Mountjoy Square. Such was the prestige of
the latter square that among its many prominent residents was the Church of Ireland Archbishop
of Dublin.
For the initial years of the Georgian era, the north side was the place to live. However, when the
Earl of Kildare chose to move to a new large palace built for him on what up to that point was
seen as the inferior south side, he caused shock. When his Dublin townhouse, Kildare House
(renamed Leinster House when he was made Duke of Leinster) was finished, it was by far the
biggest aristocratic residence other than Dublin Castle, and it was greeted with envy.
The Earl had predicted that his move would be followed, and it was. Three new residential
squares appeared on the south side, Merrion Square (facing his residence's garden front), St
Stephen's Green and the smallest and last of Dublin's five Georgian squares to be built,
Fitzwilliam Square.
Aristocrats, bishops and the wealthy sold their north side townhouses and migrated to the new
south side developments, even though many of the developments, particularly in Fitzwilliam
Square, were smaller and less impressive than the buildings in the north. While the wealthier
people lived in houses on the squares, those with lesser means and lesser titles lived in smaller,
less grand but still impressive developments off the main squares.
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Kildare House (Leinster House) 1910
Leinster House – the National Parliament of Ireland
In the years after independence in 1922, independent Ireland had little sympathy for Georgian
Dublin, and saw it as a symbol of British rule and of the British identity that was alien to Irish
identity. Prominent citizens moved out of the grand mansions of Georgian Dublin, and by the
1930’s, many of the homes had become business addresses of companies, with only Fitzwilliam
Square of all the five squares having any residents at all
By the 1930s, plans were discussed by the Irish government to demolish all of Merrion Square,
perhaps the most intact of the five squares, on the basis that the houses were "old fashioned" and
"un-national". They were only saved by Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939 and a general
lack of capital and investment; the plans were put on hold in 1939 and forgotten about by 1945.
Merrion Square
That did not, however, stop the destruction of some of Georgian Dublin. Dublin's most perfectly
planned square, Mountjoy Square, was under serious threat with almost all of the south side
demolished by property speculators during the 1960s and 70s; even so, buildings with facsimile
facades were subsequently built in place, re-completing the square's uniform external appearance
as it stands today.
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The world's longest row of Georgian houses, running from the corner of Merrion Square down to
Lesson Street Bridge, was sliced in two by the decision of the Irish government in the early
1960’s to demolish part of the row and replace them by a modern office block.
By the 1990’s, attitudes had changed dramatically. Strict new planning guidelines sought to
protect the remaining Georgian buildings, though some property owners still found their way
around the restrictions. A surprising number of old houses in poor repair, if an owner wished to
demolish them but had been refused planning permission, just happened mysteriously to go on
fire and be burnt to the ground, facilitating 'development', However, in contrast with the lax
development controls applied in Ireland for many decades, by the 1990’s a whole new mindset
among politicians, planners and the leaders of Dublin City Council produced a determination to
preserve as much as possible of the remaining Georgian buildings, with prosecutions for
unauthorized developments becoming more regular.
Perhaps the biggest irony for some is that the residence that marked the move of the aristocrats
from the north side to the south side (where the wealthier Dubliners have remained to this day),
and that in some ways embodied Georgian Dublin, Leinster House, home of the Duke of
Leinster, ended up as the parliament of independent republican Ireland.
Today, Dublin has an urban population of over 1 million, containing almost 25% of the country's
population.
Today, a north-south division still exists, with the River Liffey as the divider. The North side is
generally seen as working-class, while the South side is seen as middle to upper middle class.
The divide is punctuated by examples of Dublin "sub-culture" stereotypes, with upper-middle
class constituents seen as tending towards an accent and demeanor synonymous with the
Southside, and working-class Dubliners seen as tending towards characteristics associated with
North side and inner-city areas. Dublin's economic divide is east-west as well as north-south.
Dublin is administered separately from its respective county and has its own city council. The
city is currently among the top 30 cities in the world, and is ranked 29th as a financial center. It
is a historical and contemporary cultural center for the country, as well as a modern center of
education, the arts, administration, economy and industry.
Dublin City Council is presided over by the Lord Mayor, who is elected for a yearly term.
Council meetings occur at Dublin City Hall, while most of its administrative activities are based
in the Civic Offices on Wood Quay. The council is a unicameral assembly of 52 members,
elected every five years. The Dublin City Manager is responsible for implementing City Council
decisions.
The Oireachtas is the national parliament of Ireland and is based in Dublin. It comprises the
President of Ireland, the upper house Seanad Éireann (Senate), and the lower house Dáil Éireann
(House of Representatives). Both houses of the Oireachtas meet in Leinster House, a former
palace on Kildare Street. It has been the home of the Irish parliament since the creation of the
Irish Free State.
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Dublin experiences a maritime temperate climate with mild winters, cool summers, and a lack of
temperature extremes. The average maximum January temperature is 47 °F, while the average
maximum July temperature is 67 °F. On average, the sunniest months are May and June.
Dublin records the least amount of rainfall in Ireland, with the average annual precipitation in the
city center being 27 in. Rainfall is generally evenly distributed throughout the year, although the
wettest month is December with 3 in. of rain, and the driest month is July with 2 in. The main
precipitation in winter is rain, however snow showers do occur between November and March.
Hail is more common than snow, and is most likely during the winter and spring months. The
city experiences long summer days and short winter days. Strong Atlantic winds are most
common in autumn. These winds can affect Dublin, but due to its easterly location it is least
affected compared to other parts of the country.
Dublin Landmarks and Attractions
Dublin Castle
Grafton Street
Jameson Distillery
Guinness Brewery
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Temple Bar
National Museum of Ireland
Trinity College
Book of Kells
Boyne River Valley History and Culture
RIVER BOYNE
The River Boyne is a river about 70 miles long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newbury Hall, near
Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through County Meath to reach the
Irish Sea between Mornington, County Meath and Baltray, County Louth. Salmon and trout can
be caught in the river. It is crossed just west of Drogheda by the Boyne River Bridge that carries
the M1 motorway and by the Boyne Viaduct that carries the Dublin-Belfast railway line to the
east.
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The Boyne River is surrounded by the Boyne Valley, a valley that has historical, archaeological
and mythical significance.
The River Boyne passing by the town of Trim and Trim Castle
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The river passes near the ancient city of Trim, Trim Castle, the Hill of Tara (the ancient capital
of the High King of Ireland), Navan, the Hill of Slane, Brú na Bóinne (an archaeological site),
Mellifont Abbey, and the medieval city of Drogheda.
In the Boyne Valley, through which the river runs, are found other historical and archaeological
monuments, like Loughcrew, Kells, Celtic crosses, castles, and more. The Battle of the Boyne, a
major battle in Irish history, took place along the Boyne River near Drogheda in 1690 during the
Williamite War in Ireland.
The river has been known since ancient times. The Greek geographer Ptolemy drew a map of
Ireland in the 2nd century which included the Boyne. He called the river Βουουινδα
(Bououinda). Irish mythology claims that the river was created by the goddess Boann ('queen' or
'goddess') with “Boyne” being an Anglicized form of the name. In other legends, it was in this
river where Fionn mac Cumhail, more commonly called Finn McCool, a mythical hunterwarrior, captured Fiontán, the Salmon of Knowledge.
There is a series of canals, called the Boyne Navigation, running roughly parallel to the main
river from near Oldbridge to Navan. Owned by the National Trust and currently derelict, the
Inland Waterways Association of Ireland are restoring the navigation to navigable status.
In 2006, the remains of a Viking ship were found in the river bed in Drogheda during dredging
operations.
Drogheda
Drogheda, meaning "bridge of the ford," is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the
east coast of Ireland, 35 miles north of Dublin. Including suburbs and environs, Drogheda has a
population of more than 35,000 inhabitants.
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Drogheda was founded as two separate towns on each side of the River Boyne - Drogheda-inMeath (for which a charter was granted in 1194) and Drogheda-in-Oriel, as County Louth was
then known. In 1412 these two towns were united.
The town is situated in an area with an abundance of archaeological monuments dating from the
Neolithic period onwards, of which the large Passage Tombs of New Grange, Knowth and
Dowth are probably the best known.
The earliest monument in the town is the castle, now known as Millmount Fort, which overlooks
the town from a bluff on the south bank of the Boyne, and which was probably erected sometime
before 1186. The earliest known town charter is that granted to Drogheda-in-Meath in 1194.
Drogheda was an important walled town in the medieval period. It frequently hosted meetings of
the Irish Parliament at that time, and the parliament was moved to the town in 1494.
The Earl of Desmond and his two youngest sons (still children) were executed in Drogheda on
Valentine's Day 1468, on orders of the Earl of Worcester. The town was besieged twice during
the Irish Confederate Wars (a conflict in Ireland essentially pitting the native Irish Catholics
against English and Scottish Protestant colonists and their supporters). On the second occasion it
was taken by Oliver Cromwell in September 1649, as part of Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland.
Drogheda was the site of an infamous massacre of those who were defending the English throne.
Other important events in Drogheda’s history include the creation of the Earldom of Drogheda in
1661, and the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. In 1921 the shrunken head of Saint Oliver Plunkett,
who was executed in London in 1681 for saying Mass, was put on display in a church located on
West Street.
In recent years Drogheda's economy has diversified with an increasing number of people
employed in the retail, services and technology sectors. The town also has a community of
independent artists and musicians who have been looking to the local economy rather than
Dublin for employment.
The Hill of Tara
The Hill of Tara, located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex. It contains a
number of ancient monuments, and, according to tradition, was the seat of the High King of
Ireland.
For many centuries, historians worked to uncover Tara's mysteries, and suggested that from the
time of the first Celtic influence until the Norman invasion, the Hill of Tara was the island's
political and spiritual capital. Archaeologists involved in recent research suggest that the
complete story of the wider area around Hill of Tara remains undiscovered.
The most familiar role played by the Hill of Tara in Irish history is as the seat of the Kings of
Ireland. Certainly the earliest records indicate that high kings were crowned there. This role
extended until the 12th century. Some scholars suggest that Tara was not so much a true seat of
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kingship, but a sacral site associated with kingship rituals. Other historians have argued that the
concept itself is mostly mythical. Both the Hill of Tara as a hill and as a capital seems to have
political and religious signicance, which diminished since St. Patrick's time.
The Hill of Tara is the site of numerous ancient monuments. At the summit of the hill is an oval
Iron Age hilltop enclosure known as the Fort of the Kings or Royal Enclosure. Within the oval
are the two linked enclosures, a ring fort (Cormac’s House) and a ring barrow (Royal Seat).
Within the Royal Seat enclosure is a standing stone, which is believed to be the Irish “Stone of
Destiny” at which the High Kings were crowned. Nearby is a small Neolithic passage tomb
thought to be constructed around 3,400 BC. Excavations at other monuments on the Hill of
Tara have produced Roman artifacts dating from the 1st-3rd centuries. On the south side of the
hill is a ring-fort where the King Laoghaire, the last pagan king of Ireland, is said to have been
buried in an upright position. At one time, it was a capital offence to make a fire within sight of
Tara.
Hill of Tara
“Stone of Destiny”
During the rebellion of 1798, United Irishmen formed a camp on the hill but were attacked and
defeated by British troops on May 26, 1798. The “Stone of Destiny” was moved to mark the
graves of the 400 rebels who died on the hill that day. In 1843, the Irish Member of Parliament
Daniel O'Connell hosted a peaceful political demonstration on Hill of Tara in favor of repeal of
the Act of Union (the act that merged the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland). The
demonstration drew over 750,000 people.
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The Hill of Tara was included in the World Monument Fund's 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most
Endangered Sites in the world. It was included, in 2009, in the 15 must-see endangered cultural
treasures in the world by the Smithsonian Institution.
SLANE VILLAGE AND THE HILL OF SLANE
Slane is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left
bank of the River Boyne. The village center dates from the 18th century. The village and
surrounding area contains many historic sites dating back over 5,000 years.
Slane bridge over the River Boyne
This village was founded by the family line of the Flanders (now Fleming). They abandoned the
Estate when they immigrated to America. The village center is a good example of 18th century
town planning. At the center of the village stand four nearly identical Georgian houses. The
four houses stand at the intersection of the two main streets in the village. The four houses and
four streets form an octagon. This feature is known as The Square. The two main streets in the
village feature 18th century gray limestone buildings with slate roofs, oriel windows and stone
steps and archways.
To the north of the village rises the Hill of Slane, which stands 518 ft. above the surroundings.
Such a commanding site could never have been ignored, and consequently there are a number of
historic sites located around the top of the hill. This is an important hill in both Irish mythology
and religious history, and it the site of several archeological ruins.
In a highly mythologized account of the life of St. Patrick, it is said that St. Patrick lit a Paschal
fire on this hill top in 433 AD in defiance of the High King Laoire who forbid any other fires
while a festival fire was burning on the nearby Hill of Tara. The Hill of Slane can be seen from
the Hill of Tara which is about 10 miles away. King Laoire was so impressed by Patrick’s
devotion that, despite his defiance (or perhaps because of it), he let him continue his missionary
work in Ireland. This is supposedly the beginning of Christianity in Ireland.
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In text produced in the 11th and 12th centuries, the King Sláine mac Dela is said to have been
buried at a place known as Dumha Sláine. There is an artificial mound on the western end of the
hilltop.
The Hill of Slane remained a center of religion and learning for many centuries after St. Patrick.
On the west side of the hill there are the remains of a twelfth century Norman castle, built by
Richard Fleming in the 1170’s. The Flemings were lords of Slane from the twelfth century until
seventeenth century. They later moved to a castle on the left bank of the River Boyne, and
abandoned the Hill of Slane site.
The ruins of a friary church and cemetery can be seen on the top of the hill. It is known that
Slane Friary was restored in 1512. The ruins include a 62 ft. high early gothic tower. The friary
was abandoned in 1723.
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MONASTERBOICE
The historic ruins of Monasterboice are of an early Christian settlement in County Louth in
Ireland, north of Drogheda. It was founded in the late 5th century by Saint Buithe who died
around 521, and was an important center of religion and learning until the founding of nearby
Mellifont Abbey in 1142. The monastery on the site was burned in 1097.
The site houses the ruins of two churches built in the 14th century or later and an earlier round
tower. The round tower is about 115 tall, and is in very good condition, although it is not
possible to go inside. The passage of time has laid down layers of earth so now the doorway is
almost at ground level.
Monasterboice is most famous for its 10th century high crosses, including the 18 ft. high
Muiredach's High Cross, regarded as the finest high cross in the whole of Ireland. It is named
after an abbot, Muiredach mac Domhnaill, who died in 923 and features biblical carvings of both
the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The North and West crosses are also fine examples of
this kind of structure, but these have suffered much more from the effects of weather.
Muiredach's High Cross
High Cross at Monasterboice
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Round Tower
Church Ruins
Celtic Crosses
MELLIFONT ABBEY
Mellifont Abbey, located in County Louth, was the first Cistercian abbey to be built in Ireland.
The emphasis of Cistercian life is on manual labor and self-sufficiency, and many abbeys have
traditionally supported themselves through activities such as agriculture and brewing ales.
Founded in 1142 on the orders of Saint Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, Mellifont Abbey sits
on the banks of the River Mattock, some 6 miles north-west of Drogheda. By 1170, Mellifont
had one hundred monks and three hundred lay brothers. The Abbey became the model for other
Cistercian abbeys built in Ireland, with its formal style of architecture imported from the abbeys
of the same order in France; it was the main abbey in Ireland until it was closed in 1539, when it
became a fortified house.
After the Abby was closed, William of Orange used Mellifont Abbey House as his headquarters
during the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
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Mellifont Abbey is now a ruin. Little of the original Abbey remains, save a 13th-century lavabo
where the monks washed their hands before eating, some Romanesque arches and a 14th-century
chapter house.
New Mellifont Abbey is home to the Cistercian Order in County Louth and is located in Collon,
a small village and town land in the south west corner of County Louth.
Remains of Mellifont Abbey
BATTLE OF THE BOYNE
The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival each claiming the English,
Scottish and Irish thrones. The opposing armies in the battle were led by the Roman Catholic
King James II of England, Scotland and Ireland and opposing him, his nephew and son-in-law,
the Protestant King William III ("William of Orange") who had deposed James in 1688. The
battle, won by William, was a turning point in James' unsuccessful attempt to regain the crown
and ultimately helped ensure the continuation of Protestant supremacy in Ireland.
The battle took place on July 12, 1690 just outside the town of Drogheda on Ireland's east coast.
The armies stood on opposing sides of the River Boyne. William's forces defeated those of
James who led an army of mostly raw recruits. The symbolic importance of this battle has made
it one of the best-known battles in British and Irish history. It is a key part in Ulster Protestant
folklore and is still commemorated today, principally by the Orange Institution.
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King William III “William of Orange”
King James II
The battle is seen as the decisive encounter in a war that was primarily about James's attempt to
regain the thrones of England and Scotland, resulting from Parliament's invitation to William and
James's daughter, Mary, to take the throne. It is especially remembered as a crucial moment in
the struggle between Irish Protestant and Catholic interests.
In an Irish context, however, the war was a sectarian and ethnic conflict. For those supporting
James, the war was fought for Irish sovereignty, religious toleration for Catholicism, and land
ownership. The Catholic upper classes had lost almost all their lands after Cromwell's conquest,
as well as the right to hold public office, practice their religion, and sit in the Irish Parliament.
They saw the Catholic King James as a means of redressing these grievances and securing the
autonomy of Ireland from England. Most of James's troops at the Boyne were Irish Catholics.
Conversely, for those supporting William, the war was about maintaining Protestant and English
rule in Ireland. They feared for their lives and their property if James and his Catholic supporters
were to rule Ireland. For these reasons, Protestants fought en masse for William. Many troops
fighting with William at the Boyne, including their very effective irregular cavalry, were
Protestants from Ulster, who called themselves "Inniskillingers" and were referred to by
contemporaries as "Scots-Irish".
James's supporters controlled much of Ireland and the Irish Parliament. James also enjoyed the
support of his cousin, Louis XIV of France, who did not want to see a hostile monarch on the
throne of England. Louis sent 6,000 French troops to Ireland to support the Irish Catholics.
William was able to call on Dutch and allied troops from Europe as well as England and
Scotland.
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The Williamite (supporters of William) army at the Boyne was about 36,000 strong, composed
of troops from many countries. Around 20,000 troops had been in Ireland since 1689. William
himself arrived with another 16,000 in June 1690. William's troops were generally far better
trained and equipped than James's. The best Williamite infantry were from Denmark and the
Netherlands, professional soldiers equipped with the latest flintlock muskets. There was also a
large contingent of French Huguenot troops fighting with the Williamites. William did not have
a high opinion of his English and Scottish troops, with the exception of the Ulster Protestant
irregulars who had held Ulster in the previous year. The English and Scottish troops were felt to
be politically unreliable, since James had been their legitimate monarch up to a year before.
Moreover, they had only been raised recently and had seen little battle action.
The Jacobites (supporters of King James) were 23,500 strong. James had several regiments of
French troops, but most of his manpower was provided by Irish Catholics. The Jacobites' Irish
cavalry, who were recruited from among the dispossessed Irish gentry, proved themselves to be
high caliber troops during the course of the battle. However, the Irish infantry, predominantly
peasants who had been pressed into service, were not trained soldiers. They had been hastily
trained, poorly equipped, and only a minority of them had functional muskets. In fact, some of
them carried only farm implements such as scythes at the Boyne. On top of that, the Jacobite
infantry who actually had firearms were all equipped with the obsolete matchlock musket.
The casualty figures of the battle were quite low for a battle of such a scale—of the 50,000 or so
participants, about 2,000 died. Although three-quarters of them were Jacobites, William's army
had far more wounded. At the time most of the casualties of battles tended to be inflicted in the
pursuit of an already-beaten enemy; this did not happen at the Boyne, as the counter-attacks of
the skilled Jacobite cavalry screened the retreat of the rest of their army. The Jacobites were
badly demoralized by the order to retreat, which lost them the battle. Many of the Irish
infantrymen deserted. The Williamites triumphantly marched into Dublin two days after the
battle. The Jacobite army abandoned the city and marched to Limerick, behind the River
Shannon, where they were besieged.
After his defeat James did not stay in Dublin, but rode with a small escort to Duncannon and
returned to exile in France, even though his army left the field relatively unscathed. James's loss
of nerve and speedy exit from the battlefield enraged his Irish supporters, who fought on until the
Treaty of Limerick in 1691; he was derisively nicknamed Seamus a' chaca, "James the shit" in
English.
Although the battle was overshadowed in its time in England by the defeat of an Anglo-Dutch
fleet by the French two days later at the Battle of Beachy Head, it motivated more nations to join
the alliance against the French and in effect ended the fear of a French conquest of Europe. The
Boyne was not without strategic significance for both England and Ireland, however. But it was
a general victory for William, and is still celebrated by the Protestant Orange Order on the
Twelfth of July.
The treaty of Limerick that ended the war was written first and was very generous to Catholics,
because they were an incredible annoyance to the throne. It allowed most land owners to keep
their land so long as they swore allegiance to William of Orange. It also said that James could
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take a certain number of his soldiers and go back to France. However, Protestants in England
were annoyed with this kind treatment towards the Catholics, especially when they were gaining
strength and money. Because of this, the penal laws were introduced. These laws included
banning Catholics from owning weapons, reducing their land, and prohibiting them from
working in the legal profession.
The Battle of the Boyne remains a controversial topic today, especially in Northern Ireland.
Since the start of The Troubles, the celebrations of the battle have been seen as playing a critical
role in raising unionist/nationalist tensions in Northern Ireland. Protestants remember it as the
great victory over Catholics that resulted in the sovereignty of Parliament and the Protestant
monarchy. Catholics see it as a way for the Unionists to “celebrate” the repression and lack of
civil liberties they endured throughout the history of Northern Ireland.
Battle of the Boyne between James II and William III, 11 July 1690, Jan van Huchtenburg
NEW GRANGE
New Grange is a prehistoric monument located in County Meath, about one kilometer north of
the River Boyne. An example of a megalithic passage tomb mound, New Grange was built
between circa 3100 BC and 2900 BC, during the Neolithic period, in order to house the remains
of the dead. It has also been speculated that it had some form of religious significance,
particularly in regards to an afterlife, because it is aligned with the rising sun on the winter
solstice, which floods the tomb with light. It is in fact just one monument within the Neolithic
complex, alongside the similar passage tomb mounds of Knowth and Dowth. As such it is a part
of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site.
After its initial use as a tomb, the entrance to New Grange was sealed and it remained closed for
several millennia, subsequently gaining several associations in local folklore and mythology. It
first began to be studied as a prehistoric monument in the seventeenth century AD, and over
subsequent centuries various archaeological excavations took place at the site before it was
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New Grange
largely restored to an interpretation of its original Neolithic appearance by conservators in the
1970s. Today, New Grange is a popular tourist site, and is regarded as the great national
monument of Ireland. It is also widely recognized as one of the most important megalithic
structures in Europe.
The New Grange monument primarily comprises a large mound, built of alternating layers of
earth and stones, with grass growing on top and a reconstructed facade of flattish white quartz
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stones studded at intervals with large rounded cobbles covering part of the circumference. The
mound is 250 ft. across and 40 ft. high, and covers one acre of ground. Within the mound is a
chambered tomb passage, which can be accessed by an entrance on the south-eastern side of the
monument. The passage stretches for 60 ft., or about a third of the way through into the center of
the structure. At the end of the passage are three small chambers off a larger central chamber,
with a high corbelled vault roof; this cruciform design is common in Irish passage tombs. Each
of the smaller chambers has a large flat "basin stone", which was where the bones of the dead
were originally deposited. The walls of this passage are made up of large stone slabs, twentytwo of which are on the west side and twenty-one on the east, which average out at 5 feet in
height; several are decorated with carvings (as well as graffiti from the period after the
rediscovery). The ceiling shows no evidence of smoke.
Situated around the perimeter of the mound are located a circle of standing stones, which most
archaeologists regard as having been later, during the Bronze Age, centuries after the original
monument had been abandoned as a tomb.
New Grange contains various examples of abstract Neolithic rock art carved onto it which
provide decoration. One of the most notable examples of art at New Grange is found on the
entrance stone, which has been described as "one of the most famous stones in the entire
repertory of megalithic art." Various archaeologists have speculated as to the meaning of the
decoration, with some believing them to be purely decorative while others believing them to
have some sort of symbolic purpose.
Entrance stone with Neolithic Art
New Grange is one of around 150 Neolithic Irish passage tombs that survive today, so it seems
clear that it was constructed by a culture that built many similar structures, although most were
smaller and simpler. Archaeological evidence shows that some of the simpler passage-graves,
such as the ones situated near to the main Neolithic mound at Knowth, were older than New
Grange and so it has been proposed that the tomb builders gradually developed the skills to
create larger and more complex tombs over the generations. The Neolithic people who built the
monument were native agriculturalists, growing crops and raising animals such as cattle in the
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area, where their settlements were located; they had not yet developed metal, so all their tools
would have been made out of stone, wood, antler or bone.
The complex of New Grange was originally built between c. 3100 and 2900 BC, meaning that it
is approximately 5,000 years old. According to Carbon-14 dates, it is more than five hundred
years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and predates Stonehenge by about a
thousand years. The building materials used to construct New Grange were locally sourced; with
the exception of four slabs which are a brown carboniferous sandstone, the rest of the 547 slabs
that had been used in the construction of the monument were greywacke, a form of slate that
could be found to the north of New Grange. None of the structural slabs were quarried, for they
show signs of having been naturally weathered, but they must have been collected and then
transported somehow largely uphill to the New Grange site. Meanwhile, the stones used for the
cairn, which together would have weighed around 200,000 tons, were likely taken from the river
terraces between New Grange and the Boyne, and there is indeed a large pond in this area which
it has been speculated was the site quarried out by New Grange’s builders to use for material for
the cairn.
Excavations have revealed deposits of both burnt and unburnt human bone in the passage,
indicating human corpses were indeed placed within it, some of which had been cremated.
Excavations that took place in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s revealed seven 'marbles', four
pendants, two beads, a used flint flake, a bone chisel and fragments of bone pins and points.
Many more artifacts had been found in the passage in previous centuries by visiting antiquarians
and tourists, although most of these had been removed and gone missing or been placed in
private collections. The remains of non-human animals have also been found in the tomb,
primarily those of mountain hares, rabbits and dogs, but also bats, sheep or goat, cattle, song
thrush, and more rarely, mollusk and frog. Most of these animals would only have entered and
died in the chamber many centuries or even millennia after it was constructed: for instance,
rabbits were only introduced to Ireland in the 13th century AD.
During much of the Neolithic period, New Grange continued as a focus of some ceremonial
activity. New monuments added to the site included a timber circle to the south-east of the main
mound and a smaller timber circle to the west. A free-standing circle of large stones was
constructed encircling the mound.
The site evidently continued to have some ritual significance into the Iron Age; among various
later objects deposited around the mound are two pendants made from gold Roman coins of 320–
337 AD (now in the National Museum of Ireland).
During the Late Neolithic, it appears that New Grange was no longer being used by the local
population, who did not leave any artifacts in the passage tomb or bury any of their dead there.
By 2000 BC New Grange was in decay and squatters were living around its collapsing edge.
During the medieval period, New Grange and the wider Brú na Bóinne Neolithic complex,
gained various attributes in local folklore, which was often connected to figures from wider Irish
mythology.
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In 1142 it had become part of outlying farmland owned by the Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont.
These farms were referred to as 'granges'. By 1378 it was simply called 'the new grange'.
Charles Campbell became the landowner as a grantee of estates forfeited in 1688. A year later,
he ordered some of his farm hands to dig up a part of New Grange, which then had the
appearance of a large mound of earth, so that he could collect stone from within it. The laborers
soon discovered the entrance to the tomb within the mound. From that point on, many
antiquarians in the 17th and 18th centuries came to New Grange to study the structure. These
antiquarians often concocted their own theories about the origins of New Grange, many of which
have since been proved incorrect.
In 1882, under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, New Grange, alongside the nearby
monuments of Knowth and Dowth, was taken under the control of the state (United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, as it was then known), and they were placed under the responsibility of
the Board of Public Works. In 1890, the Board began a project of conservation of the
monument, which had been damaged through general deterioration over the previous three
millennia as well as the increasing vandalism caused by visitors, some of whom had inscribed
their names on the stones. In subsequent decades, a number of archaeologists performed
excavations at the site, discovering more about its function and how it had been constructed,
however even at the time it was still widely believed by archaeologists to be Bronze Age in
origin rather than the older Neolithic.
Following this excavation, further restoration took place at the site. Access to New Grange is by
guided tour only. Tours begin at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre in Donore, Co. Meath, from
which visitors are bussed to the site in groups.
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Knowth is a Neolithic passage grave and an ancient monument in the River Boyne Valley in
Ireland. Knowth is the largest of all passage graves situated within the Brú na Bóinne complex.
The site consists of one large mound and 17 smaller satellite tombs. The large mound has been
estimated to date from between 2500 and 2000 BC. Knowth contains more than a third of the
total number of examples of megalithic art in all of Western Europe. Over 200 decorated stones
were found during excavations at Knowth. There is some evidence for late Neolithic and Bronze
Age activity on the site at Knowth.
Knowth Passage Tomb
Dowth, dating from about 2,500 – 2000 BC, is a Neolithic passage tomb which stands in the
Boyne Valley. It is less developed as a tourist attraction than its neighbors, partly because the
chamber is much lower, and partly because the decoration is poorer. It was partly excavated in
1847 though it had been pillaged (by Vikings and earlier looters) long before that.
Dowth shares a special solar celebration with neighboring New Grange during the winter
solstice. During the winter solstice the light of the low sun moves along the left side of the
passage, then into the circular chamber, where three stones are lit up by the sun.
.
Dowth Passage Tomb
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The convex central stone reflects the sunlight into a dark recess, lighting up the decorated stones
there. The rays then recede slowly along the right side of the passage and after about two hours
The River Foyle, Derry, and the North
RIVER FOYLE
The River Foyle is a river in County Londonderry in the northwest of Ireland. The River Foyle
starts at the confluence of the rivers Finn and Mourne at the towns of Lifford in County Donegal,
Republic of Ireland, and Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It flow through the City
of Derry, into Lough Foyle and, ultimately, to the north Atlantic Ocean. The river separates part
of County Donegal from parts of both County Londonderry and County Tyrone. The Foyle is
believed to be one of the best salmon rivers in Ireland.
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City of Derry and the Foyle River
The River Foyle is also the fastest flowing river in Europe for its size, making the construction of
bridges to cross it difficult. In Derry, the main crossing point, there are two traffic bridges. The
south bridge, the older of the two, is Europe's only road traffic double decker bridge and is
officially known as the Craigavon Bridge (popularly called the Blue Bridge). The northern
bridge, known as the Foyle Bridge, is a much larger bridge and was built to accommodate large
ocean vessels at a time when it was envisaged that the city would need to accommodate such
vessels. However, this proved unnecessary as the main port was moved several miles north of the
city and the large vessels it was designed for never had to come so far south. Derry's most
famous politician, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning John Hume, was most closely associated with
the planning of the second bridge, believing that the large size was required to maintain a
potential economic lifeline to the city through the port.
Craigavon Bridge
Foyle Bridge
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There is a new s-shaped walking bridge to open in the summer of 2011, named the Peace Bridge
that connects the city of Derry to the Waterside.
Derry Peace Bridge
Outside of Derry, the only bridge to cross the River Foyle is Lifford Bridge, which was built in
the 1960’s between Lifford, the County Town of County Donegal on the western bank of the
river, and Strabane, a major town in County Tyrone on the eastern bank.
Traffic on the Foyle south of Derry is now more or less restricted to pleasure boats with the
occasional tanker coming in the refinery at the northern end of the town.
Due to the presence of two bridges over the river in Derry, some people choose to attempt
suicide by jumping into the deep and fast moving Foyle. 'Foyle Search and Rescue' was
established as a charity in July 1993 and has adopted the role of protecting human life in the
River Foyle from the Craigavon Bridge to the Foyle Bridge. Between 1993 and 2008 it dealt
with more than 1,000 people in distress.
DERRY
City of Derry and the River Foyle
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Although Londonderry remains the legal name of this city, it is more usually known as Derry.
Derry, which is an Anglicization of the old Irish Daire, and in modern Irish is spelled Doire,
translates as "oak-grove/oak-wood". The name was changed from Derry in 1613 during the
colonization of the area, known as the Plantation of Ulster, by the London Guilds. The
"London" prefix was added, changing the name of the city to Londonderry. Officially, the name
Londonderry dates to city's Royal Charter of April 10, 1662. Derry is the second-largest city in
Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest city on the island of Ireland.
The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, but Derry now covers both banks
(Bogside or Cityside on the west and Waterside on the east). The River Foyle is spanned by two
bridges. The city district also extends to rural areas to the southeast. The Derry City Council
area had a population of approximately 107,000 as of June 2006. The district is administered by
Derry City Council.
Derry is close to the border with County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland, with which it has
had a close link for many centuries. The person traditionally seen as the 'founder' of the original
Derry is Saint Colmcille, a holy man from Tír Chonaill, the old name for almost all of modern
County Donegal. Derry and the nearby town of Letterkenny in the Republic of Ireland form the
major economic core of North West Ireland.
In 2013, Derry will become the first city to be designated UK City of Culture, having been
awarded the title in July 2010.
Politics of the Name
The name of the city is tied very closely to the political history of area. The name "Derry" is
preferred by nationalists and it is broadly used throughout Northern Ireland's Catholic
community, as well as that of the Republic of Ireland. The prefix ‘London” brings with it
memories of a history of colonization and repression for the Catholic community.
Unionists still prefer "Londonderry", since their allegiances are to Great Britain. However in
everyday conversation Derry is used by most Protestant residents of the city.
Local usage varies among local organizations, with both names being used. Examples are: City
of Derry Airport, City of Derry Rugby Club, Derry City Football Club and the Protestant
Apprentice Boys of Derry, compared to Londonderry Port, Londonderry YMCA Rugby Club
and Londonderry Chamber of Commerce.
The official road signs in the Republic of Ireland use the name Derry, those in Northern Ireland
bear Londonderry (sometimes abbreviated to L'Derry), although some of these have been
defaced with the prefix London obscured.
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The city council, with a majority of the seats held by Catholics, changed the name of the local
government district covering the city to “Derry” on May 7, 1984, consequently renaming itself
Derry City Council. However, they have not yet been able to change the name of the city itself.
City Wall
Derry is the only remaining completely intact walled city in Ireland and one of the finest
examples of a walled city in Europe. Derry was the last walled city to be built in Europe, and
stands as the most complete and spectacular example.
The Wall was built during the period 1613-1619 as defenses for early 17th century settlers from
England and Scotland. The Wall, which is approximately 1 mile in circumference and which
varies in height and width between 12 and 35 feet, are completely intact and form a walkway
around the inner city. They provide a unique promenade to view the layout of the original town
which still preserves its Renaissance style street plan. The four original gates to the Walled City
are Bishop’s Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Butcher Gate and Shipquay Gate to which three further gates
were added later, Magazine Gate, Castle Gate and New Gate, making seven gates in total.
Historic buildings within the walls include the 1633 Gothic Cathedral of St. Columb, the
Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall and the courthouse.
Top of the city wall in Derry
Bishops Gate
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Derry is one of the few cities in Europe that never saw its fortifications breached, withstanding
several sieges, hence the city's nickname, the Maiden City.
The city has long been a focal point for important events in Irish history, including the 16881689 siege of Derry and Bloody Sunday on January 30, 1972.
Early History
Derry is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Ireland. The earliest historical
references date to the 6th century when a monastery was founded there by St. Columba or
Colmcille, a famous saint from what is now County Donegal. However, for thousands of years
before that people had been living in the vicinity.
Before leaving Ireland to spread Christianity elsewhere, Columba founded a monastery in the
then Doire Calgach. According to oral and documented history, the site was granted to Columba
by a local king. The year 546 is often referred to as the date that the original settlement was
founded. However it is accepted that this was an erroneous date assigned by medieval
chroniclers, although it is likely that the monastery was founded sometime in the 6th century.
Between the 6th century and the 11th century, Derry was primarily a monastic settlement.
The town became strategically more significant during the conquest of Ireland in the mid-1500’s
after Henry VIII assumed the Throne as the King of Ireland. Derry came under frequent attack,
and in 1608 it was destroyed by the Irish chieftain, Cahir O'Doherty, who was angry about the
Ulster Plantation.
Ulster Plantation
Colonization of the northeast portion of Ireland in the early 17th century is referred to as the
Ulster Plantation. The idea was to settle as many Protestants supportive of the crown in Ulster as
possible.
The vast majority of the settlers were from Scotland, but craftsman from London also colonized
the region. It was the craftsman from London, sponsored by trade associations that built the city
of Londonderry, with walls to defend it from Irish insurgents who did not welcome the
occupation.
Derry was the first planned city in Ireland. It was begun in 1613, with the walls being completed
5 years later, at a cost of £10,757. The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was
thought to be a good design for defense. The grid pattern chosen was subsequently much copied
in the colonies of British North America. The charter initially defined the city as extending three
Irish miles from the center.
The modern city preserves the 17th century layout of four main streets radiating from a central
Diamond to four gateways - Bishop's Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Shipquay Gate and Butcher's Gate.
The city's oldest surviving building, also constructed at this time, is the 1633 Plantation Gothic
Cathedral of St. Columb. In the porch of the cathedral is a stone that records completion with the
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inscription: "If stones could speake, then London's prayse should sound, Who built this church
and cittie from the grounde."
Cathedral of St. Columb
17th-century Upheavals
During the 1640s, the city suffered as a result of a series of wars in England and Ireland,
including the English Civil War. In 1641 Irish insurgents made a failed attack on the city in
what is called the Irish Rebellion of 1641. The city and its garrison, which supported the
Parliament in London, were besieged by forces loyal to King Charles I. The war in Ulster was
finally brought to an end when the Parliamentarians crushed the Irish Catholic Ulster army in
1650.
In 1688, only Londonderry and nearby Enniskillen had a Protestant garrison. Troops loyal to the
Catholic King James arrived in Derry on December 7, 1688. The gates of the city were closed
against them and the Siege of Derry began. In April 1689, King James came to the city and
summoned it to surrender. The King was rebuffed and the siege lasted until the end of July with
the arrival of a relief ship. The 105 day-long Siege of Derry is considered part of the Williamite
War in Ireland. A reported 8,000 Protestants inside the walls died of disease or starvation.
The city was rebuilt in the 18th century with many of its fine Georgian style houses still
surviving. The city's first bridge across the River Foyle was built in 1790. During the 18th and
19th centuries the port became an important embarkation point for Irish emigrants setting out for
North America. Some of these founded the colonies of Derry and Londonderry in the state of
New Hampshire.
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One of the most notable shipping lines was the McCorkell Line operated by Wm. McCorkell &
Co. Ltd. from 1778. The McCorkell's most famous ship was the Minnehaha, which was known
as the "Green Yacht from Derry".
Also during the 19th century, Derry became a destination for migrants fleeing areas more
severely affected by the Irish Potato Famine.
Partition
During the Irish War of Independence, the area was rocked by sectarian violence, partly
prompted by the guerilla war raging between the Irish Republican Army and British forces, but
also influenced by economic and social pressures.
In 1921, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the partition of Ireland, Derry unexpectedly
became a border city, separated from much of its traditional economic hinterland in County
Donegal.
By mid-1920 there was severe sectarian rioting in the city. Many lives were lost and in addition
many Catholics and Protestants were expelled from their homes during this communal unrest.
After a week's violence, a truce was negotiated by local politicians on both unionist and
republican sides.
World War II
During the Second World War the city played an important part in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Ships from the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and other Allied navies were stationed in
the city. The United States military established a base in Derry. Derry was the United
Kingdom's westernmost port, and the city was the westernmost Allied port in Europe. Derry,
therefore, was a crucial jumping-off point, together with Glasgow and Liverpool, for the
shipping convoys that ran between Europe and North America. The large numbers of military
personnel in Derry substantially altered the character of the city, bringing in some outside color
World War II Surrendered German U-Boats
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to the local area, as well as some cosmopolitan and economic buoyancy during these years. At
the conclusion of the Second World War, eventually some 60 U-boats of the German
Kriegsmarine ended in the city's harbor at Lisahally after their surrender.
Springtime Camp
Springtown Camp, now known as Springtown Industrial Estate, was formally a United States
navy base during the Second World War. Springtown Camp was America's first base on the
European side of the Atlantic.
Springtime Camp huts, vacated by the United States after the war was over, were promptly
squatted into by a number of families who at that time had been living with their parents in
extremely cramped conditions.
It wasn't long before there were approximately three hundred families living in Springtown. The
Unionist dominated Derry Corporation council, rather than carry out mass evictions, eventually
gave every family a rent book and informed residents that this would be a short stay tenancy, i.e.
six months duration, after which they would be rehoused. This short stay tenancy developed into
a 20-year period of depravation and misery for many of the families.
There were 304 huts - about 90% corrugated tin and 10% wooden. At first each hut could best
be described as a large empty space with neither toilet nor heating facilities. After much pressure
the Corporation carried out a renovation scheme turning most into 3-bedrooms, a small living
room which had a range, a minute scullery with a "jaw box" (sink) and a tiny toilet. There were
no back doors in any of the huts, creating obvious dangers if fire was to catch hold at any time.
The 304 huts were occupied by close to 400 families. The reason for such overcrowding was due
to the fact that young couples, after being married had nowhere else to go. It was considered
"normal" practice for their parents to give them a room, if such a "luxury" could be offered. The
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sons or daughters were now registered as "sub-tenants" and so it was not uncommon to find as
many as 16 persons per hut
A battle ensued between the Derry Corporation and the Rural Council as to who was responsible
for the maintenance of the huts even though the Derry Corporation collected the rents for the
huts of the people of Springtown. While they battled it out the huts quickly deteriorated into
dreadful condition.
Official neglect was a scandal that was not ignored by some local journalists. They reported the
fact that little or no repairs were carried out and so these totally inadequate dwellings fell into a
state of disrepair. It was noted that rain penetrated as the tin rusted and holes began to appear
near ground level. This combination made for intense cold and damp to a life-threatening degree.
Tuberculosis was common.
The people of Springtown Camp endured great hardship in living conditions that were arguably
the worst in the country, but through it all they fashioned a very strong sense of community and
pride – the common bond, their meager circumstances.
As the 1950’s drew to a close there were still around 200 families living in 161 huts. As usual the
Corporation was building very few houses for the homeless couples and families right across the
city. It was common for Protestant families with one or two children to be given priority in
housing over Catholics who were living 10-12 people per hut. A committee was formed in the
Sixties to agitate for houses. As a direct result of the mounting protests more families were rehoused out of the Camp, but even more emigrated. However, as late as 1964 there were still
over 150 families living there in conditions that were much worse than previously thought.
Eventually, in October 1967, one year before Derry's first official civil rights march, the last
residents, Charlie and Sarah Lynch closed the front door of their hut, thus ending the tragic and
appalling saga of Springtown Camp.
The personal stories of some of the survivors of the Springtown camp can be read at
www.springtowncamp.com.
Troubles
Catholics were discriminated against under Unionist government in Northern Ireland, both
politically and economically. In the late 1960’s the city became the flashpoint of disputes about
institutional gerrymandering.
A civil rights demonstration in 1968 led by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was
banned by the Government and blocked using force by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The
events that followed the August 1969 Apprentice Boys parade resulted in the Battle of the
Bogside, when Catholic rioters fought the police, leading to widespread civil disorder in
Northern Ireland and is often dated as the starting point of the Troubles.
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On Sunday January 30, 1972, 13 unarmed civilians were gunned down by British paratroopers
during a civil rights march in the Bogside area. Another 13 were wounded and one further man
later died of his wounds. This event came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
Photograph of the Trouble
Murals by the Bogside Artists: Depiction of Bloody Sunday and a memorial to those killed
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For over 35 years, the British Government and the military stonewalled all investigations and
covered up the truth of the events of Bloody Sunday. After British Prime Minister John Major
rejected requests for a public inquiry into the killings, his successor, Tony Blair, decided to start
one. A commission of inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville, was established in January 1998 to reexamine 'Bloody Sunday'. Although the hearings were concluded in November 2004, the report
was not published until June 2010.
The report concluded, "The firing by soldiers on Bloody Sunday caused the deaths of 13 people
and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or serious
injury." Saville stated that British paratroopers "lost control", fatally shooting fleeing civilians
and those who tried to aid the civilians who had been shot by the British soldiers. The report
stated that British soldiers had concocted lies in their attempt to hide their acts, and that the
civilians had not been warned by the British soldiers that they intended to shoot. The report
states, contrary to the previously established belief that no stones and no petrol bombs were
thrown by civilians before British soldiers shot at them, and that the civilians were not posing
any threat.
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by
Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976,
when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary
prisoners. This meant that the prisoners were no longer treated as political prisoners, but as
common criminals. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop
out", the dispute escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to leave their cells to
wash. In 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 day.
The next hunger strike took place in 1981 and was a showdown between the prisoners and the
Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. One hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was elected as a Member
of Parliament during the strike, prompting media interest from around the world. The strike was
called off after ten prisoners had starved themselves to death—including Sands, whose funeral
was attended by 100,000 people. The strike radicalized nationalist politics, and was the driving
force that enabled Sinn Féin to become a mainstream political party.
Bobby Sands Funeral
Radicalization of Catholics
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Violence eventually eased towards the end of the Troubles in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
In 1998, the Anglo-Irish Accords, better known as the “Good Friday Agreement,” were signed
and Northern Ireland has experienced a fragile peace since then.
Geography
The geography of Derry is characterized by its distinctively hilly topography. The River Foyle
forms a deep valley as it flows through the city, making Derry a place of very steep streets and
sudden, startling views. The original walled city of Londonderry lies on a hill on the west bank
of the River Foyle. In the past, the river had branched and enclosed this wooded hill as an
island; over the centuries, however, the western branch of the river dried up and became a lowlying and boggy district that is now called the Bogside.
Today, modern Derry extends considerably north and west of the city walls and east of the river.
The half of the city on the west of the Foyle is known as the Cityside and the area east is called
the Waterside. The Cityside and Waterside are connected by the Craigavon Bridge and Foyle
Bridge, and by a walking bridge that will be completed and opened in 2011. The district also
extends into rural areas to the southeast of the city.
Population
The Derry City Council area had a population of 107,300 as of June 2006. Approximately 80%
of people in Derry are from a Roman Catholic background and 20% are from a Protestant
background.
The city was one of the few in Ireland to experience an increase in population during the Irish
Potato Famine as migrants came to it from other, more heavily affected areas.
Concerns have been raised over the increasingly divided nature of the city. It is estimated that
during the course of the Troubles, as many as 15,000 Protestants moved away from the city side.
Fewer than 500 Protestants now live on the west bank of the River Foyle, compared to 18,000 in
1969, and it is feared that the city could become permanently divided.
Economy
The economy of the district was based significantly on the textile industry until relatively
recently. For many years women were often the sole wage earners working in the shirt factories
while the men, in comparison, had high levels of unemployment. This led to significant male
emigration. The history of shirt making in the city dates back as far as 1831 and is said to have
been started by William Scott and his family who first exported shirts to Glasgow. Within 50
years, shirt making in the city was the most prolific in the UK with garments being exported all
over the world. It was known so well that the city and industry received a mention in Das
Kapital by Karl Marx.
The industry reached its peak in the 1920’s employing around 18,000 people. In modern times
however the textile industry declined due to, in most part, cheaper Asian wages.
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A long-term foreign employer in the area is Du Pont, which has been based at Maydown since
1958, its first European production facility.
Significant multinational employers in the region include Firstsource of India, DuPont,
INVISTA, Stream International, Seagate Technology, Perfecseal, NTL, Raytheon and
Northbrook Technology of the United States, Arntz Belting and Invision Software of Germany,
and Homeloan Management of the UK. Major local business employers include Desmonds,
Northern Ireland's largest privately-owned company, manufacturing and sourcing garments, E&I
Engineering, St. Brendan's Irish Cream Liqueur and McCambridge Duffy, one of the largest
insolvency practices in the UK.
Landmarks
One of the most important landmarks in Derry is the City Wall. In the three centuries since their
construction, the wall has been adapted to meet the needs of a changing city. The best example
of this adaptation is the insertion of three additional gates into the walls in the course of the 19th
century. Today, the fortification forms a continuous promenade around the city center, complete
with cannon, avenues of mature trees and views across Derry.
Within the wall is St Columb's Cathedral. The Cathedral was the first post-Reformation
Cathedral built for an Anglican church and is the mother church of the Church of Ireland Diocese
of Derry and Raphoe. It is dedicated to Saint Columba, the Ulster monk who established a
Christian settlement in the area before being exiled from Ireland and introducing Christianity to
Scotland and northern England.
Also within the wall is St. Augustine’s Church. This church supposedly sits close to the site of
the original monastic settlement and is an Anglican Church.
The city is also home to the world's oldest independent department store. Austins, is located in a
five-story Edwardian building with a copper dome. Established in 1830, Austins predates
Austins in Derry
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Jenners of Edinburgh by 5 years, Harrods of London by 15 years and Macy's of New York by 25
years.
The Tower Museum is located within the City’s historic walls and has won four major awards
since its opening in October 1992. The Tower Museum houses two permanent exhibitions.
1. "The Story of Derry" tells the colourful and dramatic history of the city from earliest
prehistory to the present. 2. "An Armada Shipwreck - La Trinidad Valencera" tells the story of
one of the largest ships in the Spanish Armada, La Trinidad Valencera, which sank off the
Donegal Coast in 1588 and was rediscovered by divers from the City of Derry Sub-Aqua Club in
1971. The top of the Tower Museum (level 5) provides the only open air viewing facility in the
heart of the city center with stunning panoramic views of the inner city and River Foyle.
The Roman Catholic St Eugene's Cathedral, outside of the wall in the Bogside was built in the
19th-century.
St. Eugene’s Cathedral
The red-brick late-Victorian Guildhall, also crowned by a copper dome, stands just beyond
Shipquay Gate and close to the river front. The Guildhall is a building in which the elected
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members of Derry City Council meet. It was built in 1890. The Guildhall houses a large hall
where many events of social and political nature have been held. It was the home to the Derry
Feis – an event which celebrates Irish culture, and it was also home to the Saville Inquiry into the
events of Bloody Sunday January 30, 1972 in Derry.
Guildhall in Derry
The Long Tower is a Catholic church outside of the wall, also near the location of the original
church at the original monastery.
Long Tower Church
The Bogside Murals are a series of outdoor murals, painted on the sides of buildings, called the
People's Gallery, located in the Bogside neighborhood of Derry. The world famous murals
depicts the events surrounding sectarian violence and civil rights protests in Northern Ireland
during the Troubles. The Bogside Artists are a trio of painters consisting of Tom Kelly, his
brother William Kelly, and Kevin Hasson. The Bogside Artists first began working together in
1993 to document the events surrounding the Northern Ireland Troubles. With supplies donated
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from local residents, they painted several murals on the walls of Rossville Street buildings
commemorating the Battle of Bogside and Bloody Sunday. From 1994 to 2008, they painted a
total of twelve murals, which they named the People's Gallery. The People's Gallery spans the
entire length of Rossville Street. It was in this area on January 30, 1972 that 13 civilians were
killed by British Army paratroopers in the Bloody Sunday disturbances (an additional civilian
died later). The murals were officially inaugurated in August 2007 and an additional mural
dedicated to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and retired leader of the Social Democratic and Labour
Party, John Hume, was completed in 2008.
The Free Derry Corner is a square in the Bogside neighborhood which lies in the intersection
of the Lecky Road, Rossville Street and Fahan Street. On the Free Derry Corner is a memorial to
the 1981 hunger strikers and several murals. There is also a memorial to those who died
engaging in paramilitary activity as part of the Provisional IRA's Derry brigade.
In January 1969 a local activist, John "Caker" Casey, painted a sign on a gable wall stating: "You
are now entering Free Derry". When the British Home Secretary, Jim Callaghan, visited Derry in
August 1969, the "Free Derry" wall was painted white and the "You are now entering Free
Derry" sign was professionally re-painted in black lettering. The houses on Lecky road and
Fahan Street were subsequently demolished, but the wall was retained. It has been repainted at
frequent intervals.
Free Derry Corner
The square became known as Free Derry Corner by the inhabitants, while the media called it "the
area". The square is located on the edge of the Bogside and, together with the surrounding streets
were the scene of Bloody Sunday and the Battle of the Bogside. Because of the square's position
the front lines when street fighting broke out was here.
Education
Derry is home to the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster, which was formerly Magee
College. However the Lockwood decision in the 1960’s to place Northern Ireland's second
University in Coleraine rather than in Derry, despite the fact that Magee College (formerly part
of Trinity College Dublin) was already 100 years old, was a major catalyst in the formation of
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the civil rights movement which ultimately led to The Troubles. In the mid 1980's a half-hearted
attempt was made at rectifying this mistake by forming Magee College as a campus of the
University of Ulster but this has failed to stifle calls for the establishment of an independent
University in Derry that can grow to its full potential. The campus has never thrived and
currently only has 3,500 students out of a total University of Ulster student population of 27,000.
Ironically, although Coleraine is blamed by many in the City for 'stealing the University', it has
only 5,000 students, the remaining 19,000 being based in Belfast.
Magee University, University of Ulster
The North West Regional College is also based in the city. In recent years it has grown to almost
30,000 students.
GIANT’S CAUSEWAY
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an
ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern
Ireland, about three miles northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage
Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the
Environment for Northern Ireland.
The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under
the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven
and eight sides. The tallest are about 39 ft. high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 91 feet
thick in places.
Some 50 to 60 million years ago, Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly
fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau. As the lava
cooled rapidly, contraction occurred, and the columns fractured. The size of the columns is
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primarily determined by the speed at which lava from a volcanic eruption cools. The extensive
fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today.
Although the basaltic columns of the Giant's Causeway are impressive, they are not unique.
Basalt columns are a common volcanic feature, and they occur on many scales (because faster
cooling produces smaller columns).
Legend has it that the Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) built the causeway to
walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner. Various versions of this legend
have been told over the ages.
The site first became popular with tourists during the nineteenth century, particularly after the
opening of the Giant's Causeway Tramway, and only after the National Trust took over its care
in the 1960s were some of the vestiges of commercialism removed. Visitors can walk over the
basalt columns which are at the edge of the sea, a half mile walk from the entrance to the site.
The Giant's Causeway is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is the most
popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.
Giant’s Causeway
DUNLUCE CASTLE
Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle in Northern Ireland. It is located on the edge of
a basalt outcropping in County Antrim, and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the
mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have
been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place where
an early Irish fort once stood.
In the 13th century Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, built the first castle at Dunluce.
Records indicate the Castle was in the hands of the MacQuillin family in 1513. The earliest
features of the castle are two large drum towers about 30 ft. in diameter on the eastern side, both
relics of a stronghold built here by the MacQuillins after they became lords of the district.
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The MacQuillins were a warlike clan whose family motto was "Death Before Dishonor" ("Bás
Roimh Obadh"). They were the lords of the district from the late 13th Century until they were
displaced by the Clan MacDonald after losing two major battles against them during the mid and
late-16th century. The last MacQuillin Clan Chieftain in Ireland was Rory Óg MacQuillin who
was quoted as saying "No captain of the MacQuillin Clan ever died in bed." In the second
decisive battle in 1583 Rory killed the opposing Clan Chieftain in combat on the first day and
was himself killed on the second day in the general battle.
After losing its lordship, the MacQuillin Clan was displaced from Dun Luce Castle. The clan
eventually becoming very early immigrants to America. The first MacQuillin documented to
have arrived in America was Teague MacQuillin who arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1632. As
the Quillins and Quillians, they are centered in Virginia, Georgia, and Texas.
Later Dun Luce Castle became the home of the chief of the Clan MacDonnell of Antrim and the
Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg from Scotland. In 1584, on the death of James MacDonald the
6th chief of the Clan MacDonald of Antrim and Dunnyveg, the Antrim Glens were seized by
Sorley Boy MacDonnell, one of his younger brothers. Sorley Boy took the Castle, keeping it for
himself and improving it in the Scottish style. Sorley Boy swore allegiance to James IV of
Scotland and his son Ranald was made Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim by Queen
Elizabeth I.
At one point, part of the kitchen next to the cliff face collapsed into the sea, after which the wife
of the owner refused to live in the castle any longer. According to a legend, when the kitchen
fell into the sea only a kitchen boy survived, as he was sitting in the corner of the kitchen which
did not collapse.
Dunluce Castle served as the seat of the Earl of Antrim until the impoverishment of the
MacDonnells in 1690, following the Battle of the Boyne. Since that time, the castle deteriorated
and parts were scavenged to serve as materials for nearby buildings. Today Dun Luce Castle is
in the care of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
Dunluce Castle
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GLENVEAGH CASTLE AND GARDENS
Glenveagh Castle is a large Mansion house built in the Scottish Baronial style within Glenveagh
National Park in County Donegal, Ireland. The castle was built between 1870 and 1873 and
consists of a four story rectangular keep surrounded by a garden. It has as its backdrop 40,873
acres of mountains, lakes, glens and woods complete with a herd of red deer. The gardens and
castle were left to the Irish nation in 1981 by Henry Plumer McIlhenny of Philadelphia, who had
purchased the estate in 1937.
The castle was built by Captain John George Adair (1823-1885), a native of County Leix, and a
member of the minor gentry. Adair had made his fortune by land speculation in the United
States, and he returned to Ireland and bought up vast tracts of land in Donegal. He purchased
Glenveagh in 1859 making an estate of 28,000 acres.
Adair had married in 1869, Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, a daughter of James S. Wadsworth, a
Union General in the American Civil War. Together they set about the creation of the Gardens
and Castle. Adair's ambition was to create an estate and castle that surpassed Balmoral, Queen
Victoria's Scottish retreat.
In 1869 the first part of the Castle was constructed. The site occupied by the Castle and Gardens
was wild mountain moorland chosen for its commanding view of Lough Veagh and early
photographs show the Castle dominating the Glen. Later, Mrs. Adair decided that the lands
around the Castle should be landscaped into gardens.
John Adair is remembered with no affection in Donegal. On the heels of the Great Irish Famine,
John Adair evicted 224 tenants from their houses on his land. This was not for financial gain,
but merely to improve the esthetic aspect from the castle. These tenant clearances are known as
the "Derryveagh Evictions".
His troubles with the tenants began almost immediately. A row between them and Adair over
shooting rights and trespassing sheep culminated in the murder of his Scottish steward James
Murrog. Consequently Adair carried out his threat to evict the tenancy. On April 3, 1861, a
considerable cortege of 200 police, three sub officers, the resident magistrate and the sub-sheriff
set out from Letterkenny to undertake their duties. The evictions began at Lough Barra where a
widow, Mrs. Hanna McAward and her six daughters and one son were the first to suffer. The
work of destruction continued for three days. In all, 44 families were evicted making a total of
244 persons.
Many of the evicted went to the work house in Letterkenny, others were helped by locals and the
clergy also raised money. In Australia, the Donegal Relief Fund made arrangements to help the
young people aged between 16 and 28 years to emigrate. Many took advantage of the scheme.
As they settled in Sydney a strong oral tradition ensured that the descendants remembered their
family’s bitter memories.
After the death of George Adair, Mrs. Adair spent considerable time and money in restitution to
the victims of the Derryveagh Eviction.
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In 1929 Lucy and Arthur Kingsley-Porter (a Harvard Art professor) became the new owners.
They were also keen gardeners. In 1933, he went out for a walk along the beach on Inishbofin
Island Co. Donegal where he owned a holiday home and vanished. An inquest was inconclusive,
but drowning was assumed to have been the most likely explanation for his disappearance.
The last private owner, Henry P McIlhenny, bought the property in 1937 and began to develop
the gardens in the late 1940's. McIlhenny was a descendant of an Irish immigrant who invented
the gas meter, making his family wealthy. McIlhenny was a famous art collector from
Philadelphia and left an art collection valued at $100 million upon his death. He was well known
for throwing lavish parties at the Castle. Famous Hollywood guests, including Charlie Chaplin,
Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Greta Garbo, stayed at the castle while McIlhenny owned it.
Glenveagh Castle and Gardens
Glenveagh National Park
BUSHMILLS VILLAGE AND DISTILLERY
Bushmills is a small village on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a
population of somewhat over 1,000 people. The village owes its name to the River Bush and to a
large watermill that was built there in the early 17th century.
The village is best known as the location of the Old Bushmills Distillery. Founded in 1608,
Bushmills is the oldest licensed distillery in the world.
The area has a long tradition with distillation. According to one story, as far back as 1276, an
early settler named Sir Robert Savage of Ards, fortified his troops with "a mighty drop of acqua
vitae". In 1608, a license was granted to Sir Thomas Phillipps by King James I to distill
whiskey. The Bushmills Old Distillery Company itself was not established until 1784 by Hugh
Anderson. The 1608 date is printed on the labels of the Bushmills brand whiskey.
Bushmills suffered many lean years with numerous periods of time when the distillery did not
operate. In 1860 Belfast spirit merchants named James McColgan and Patrick Corrigan bought
the distillery. In 1885, the original Bushmills buildings were destroyed by fire but the distillery
was swiftly rebuilt. In 1890, a steamship owned and operated by the distillery, the S.S.
Bushmills, made its maiden voyage across the Atlantic to deliver Bushmills whiskey to America.
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It called at Philadelphia and New York before heading on to Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai
and Yokohama.
In the early 1900’s, the USA was a very important market for Bushmills. Prohibition in 1920
came as a large blow to the Irish Whiskey industry, but Bushmills managed to survive. After the
Second World War, the distillery was bought by Isaac Wolfson, and, in 1972, it was taken over
by Irish Distillers. In June 1988, Irish Distillers was bought by French liquor group Pernod
Ricard, and in June 2005, the distillery was bought by Diageo.
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