Irish History Podcast

Over the last few weeks I have been paralysed by writers block. In the hope of clearing my mind, I headed off to explore an old stately home. While often crumbling ruins, buildings like this are abso…

Ireland remained neutral in the Second World War. However by the summer of 1940 a German invasion seemed increasingly likely. Having conquered Western Europe the Nazis prepared Operation Sea Lion, an…

The diet of the rural poor in Ireland prior to the Famine is one of the most unusual in modern history. Adult males consumed as much as 14lb (6.35kg) of potatoes per day. Last week I tried this diet …

This show look at a story related to the series Partisans. Its about the life of a Basque family briefly mentioned in that series - the Gallastegis - who moved to Ireland in the aftermath of the bomb…

Through the 18th and 19th century, large numbers of Irishmen served in the British Army. However there were also many Irishwomen whose lives were interwoven with the military. While not soldiers they…

This is the final episode in the series Partisans. While the Spanish Civil War came to an end in 1939 and the Irish returned home for many Spaniards, Basques and Catalans the conflict would not end f…

This podcast, the second last in Partisans, looks at the battle of the Ebro - the last major showdown in the Spanish Civil War. While the show looks at how the war ended for the Irish fighters, it al…

The enduring images of the Spanish Civil War depict armed fighters of one kind or another. This podcast, however, follows the story of a different Irish experience - that of Hannah Ormsby, an Irish n…

The most notorious incident of the Spanish Civil War was the bombing of Guernica by the Nazi Condor Legion. Immortalised by Pablo Picasso's painting it was the first time in world history carpet bomb…

This episode continues Partisans - Irish Stories from the Spanish Civil War. In this podcast we follow the Irish in Spain into battle. The show begins with campaigns in Andalusia and takes you throug…

This episode returns to the series Partisans - Irish stories from the Spanish Civil War. This show looks at the two groups of Irish fighters who traveled to Spain - the Irish Brigade better known as …

St Peter’s Church in Drogheda Co Louth contains what has to be one of the most unsettling religious relics on display anywhere in the world. This is the head of an Irish man - Oliver Plunkett - who w…

The Deaf community are rarely mentioned in general histories of Ireland. Prior to making this episode I knew almost nothing about their rich history. In this podcast I interview the historian Cormac …

How well do you know your Irish history? Nows the time to find out!

In this podcast, I read out 63 history questions. As I read each question you select the correct answer from five options in the onl…

This show is 40 minutes of escapism from Covid-19. In the podcast I explore some of the history and historic places within two kilometres of my home in Kilkenny. This journey starts in the 19th centu…

Recently I discovered that my great great grandmother Catherine Murphy lost her sister and her daughter within two days of each other in February 1919 during the Great Flu pandemic. This highlighted …

The Great Famine, the Sitcom Friends and Prohibition campaigners in 19th century Belfast all have one thing in common – in some way shape or form influenced the popularity of coffee in Ireland. This …

Calling Irish History Fans!

Test your knowledge against listeners from across the world on April 11th. I will be hosting an online history table quiz on YouTube. Listeners from the US, Canada, the UK …

The Irish coffee industry generates hundreds of million of euros every year. This is a pretty recent development - when I was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s the only coffee available was instant c…

We are all taking precautionary measures to avoid Covid-19, but this is not the first time humans have faced such threats. This short episode looks at the story of the humorous but frantic preparatio…