Irish History Podcast
Episodes
The Hellfire Club - Debauchery in The Dublin Mountains
23 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Hellfire club is an 18th century ruin in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. The building has a scandalous history and is considered by some to...
Nebraska - Irish Emigrants Surviving on The Frontier
03 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When we think of Irish Emigrants in the USA, images of New York or Boston spring to mind. However on a recent trip to the US I visited friends in Nebr...
The Last of Her Kind | Peig Sayers II
15 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In 1892 Peig Sayers married & moved from Dunquin in West Kerry to the Great Blasket Island. Her life provides us with fascinating insights into wh...
The Last of Her Kind | Peig Sayers I
04 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When Peig Sayers died in 1958, she as regarded as one of Ireland's greatest storytellers and folklorists.Born in Dunquin in 1873 Co Kerry she grew up ...
A Very Irish Murder in Cincinnati
11 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In April 1894 Cincinnati's Irish Amercian community was rocked by a shocking and brutal murder. It was so scandalous that many newspapers in Ireland r...
A 21st Century Witch Hunt | Kilkenny Witch Trial of 1324 III
28 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The city of Kilkenny was rocked by the notorious witchcraft trial of 1324 (covered in the last two episodes). These events took place seven centuries ...
Plan 2019: New Series Announced & New York Event.
15 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The series on the Great Hunger of the 1840s will finish in the summer of 2019, but I have been busy planning something new. Find out what it is in thi...
Kilkenny Witchcraft Trial of 1324 (Part II)
21 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast continues the fascinating tale of one of the first witchcraft trials in European history. It took place in Kilkenny in 1324.This show pic...
Kilkenny Witchcraft Trial of 1324 (Part I)
20 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up in Kilkenny I was surrounded by medieval history - its what drew me to study the past in the first place.One of the most famous or perhaps ...
The 1848 Famine Rebellion | The Great Famine XXVIII
13 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
1848 was a year of revolt & rebellion across Europe and Ireland was no different. However unique to Ireland, the 1848 uprising took place to the b...
Heroes of The Great Hunger - Famine Aid in the 1840s | The Great Famine XXVII
14 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The history of the Great Hunger is rooted in stories of greed, racism and senseless suffering. This episode however sheds light on some of the amazing...
BONUS: Ireland's Most Famous Highwayman & Cromwell's Siege of Wexford
15 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This bonus episode contains the first two shows in my podcast series 'This Week in Irish history'. These shows look at the life of Ireland's most famo...
Our Darkest Hour? The Forgotten Famine of 1847-48 | The Great Famine XXVI
04 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Many histories of the Great Hunger refer to the famine ending in 1847. It is true that the famine did start to ease in some parts of the island in the...
How To Get My New Podcast Series: 'This Week in Irish History'
17 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On October 1st my new free weekly podcast series 'This Week in Irish History' begins.This short episode tells you want you can expect, what's in the f...
Black '47 The Movie Reviewed | The Great Famine XXV
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week see the release of the first major movie set during the Great Famine. Starring James Frecheville, Stephen Rae, Jim Broadbent & Hugo Weav...
The Road to Black '47 - The History Behind The Movie | The Great Famine XXIV
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week sees the launch of the movie Black '47 & my return to the Great Famine series.So whether you want to find out the history behind the mov...
The Mulranny Police Conspiracy
20 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Mulranny Police Conspiracy is a little-known story that took place in the west of Ireland at the turn of the 20th century. The setting is Mulranny...
The Iniskea Island Mysteries?
30 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Iniskea Islands are among the most remote places in Ireland. Although deserted today, throughout the 19th century the lives of the islanders were ...
The Massacre of Wildgoose Lodge
04 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1830s the British politican George Lewis described the fate of an informer in ireland as a man "doomed to certain death....he would be hunted t...
Did The Famine Drive Irish People Insane? | The Great Famine XXIII
28 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Did the experiences of the Famine drive Irish people insane?In this episode I look at the story of the famine survivor John Thompson who ended up in t...
The US Civil War and The Great Famine
08 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Great Hunger is not something we associate with war and certainly not wars in other countries. However the Famine is inextricably linked to the st...
The Famine Irish in The USA - A Promised Land? | The Great Famine XXII
21 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After Ireland, no country was more affected by the Great Famine than the USA. Millions of Irish people emigrated to the United States during and after...
American Wakes, Coffin Ships and Canada | The Great Famine XXI
29 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Coffin Ships are one of the most enduring images from the Great Famine. This was the name given to the boats that carried Irish Famine emigrants to No...
St Patricks Day in Black '47 | The Great Famine XX
16 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As people across the world prepare to mark St Patrick's day this podcast looks what at happened on St Patricks Day during the worst year of the Great ...
Dublin Famine Tour - A New Interactive Experience
06 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This short podcast explains the Dublin Famine Tour, my new interactive historical experience which launches on St Patricks Weekend.On this walking tou...
Exiles - Irish Famine Emigrants | The Great Famine XIX)
02 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Emigration is arguably the greatest legacy of the Great Irish Famine. Between 1846 and 1851, 1.25 million Irish people passed through the port of Live...
An Eye for an Eye: Evictions & Assassinations | The Great Famine XVIII
07 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of the Great Famine, hundreds of thousands of Irish people were evicted from their homes.As ruthless landlords showed no pity, evictio...
The Great Famine 1845 - 47 | The Great Famine XVII
22 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This episode marks a return to the Great Famine Series. Coming podcasts will detail the later phase of the Famine including emigration and the bitter ...
Spies & Jail Breaks: Female Rebels in Medieval Ireland
08 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Isabella Cadel, Grace O Toole, Fynyna O Toohig. These are all women forgotten by history who lived intriguing and fascinating lives. The three had one...
Ireland's Nazi Commando II (Otto Skorzeny)
24 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The last podcast looked at the arrival of the one time Nazi Commando Otto Skorzeny in Ireland in 1957 and the welcome he received from some of the mos...
Ireland's Nazi Commando: Otto Skorzeny (Part I)
18 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first of two podcasts which looks at the story of Otto Skorzeny, a notorious Nazi with a long but forgotten connection to Ireland.It is se...
The First Irishman in China (Outsiders Part II)
12 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Believe it or not the first Irish person to visit China left Europe in 1318 arriving. His fascinating journey would take several years. Known only as ...
Ireland's Last Executioners (Outsiders Part I)
04 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Over the coming weeks I am taking a break from the Great Famine Series to make a mini series entitled 'Outsiders'. These podcasts will focus on people...
The Workhouse and The Unwanted | The Great Famine XVI
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The crumbling ruins of workhouses are one of the last visible reminders of the horrors of the Great Hunger in the Irish landscape. During the Great Fa...
A Doomed Land? Piracy, Elections and The 1847 Harvest | The Great Famine XV
23 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This show opens with the fascinating story of communities in Mayo who resorted to piracy to survive in 1847. This is only a prelude however before we ...
At a Crossroads - Salvation or Starvation (1847) | The Great Famine XIV
25 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast continues our journey through the summer of 1847 as we reach one of the pivotal moments in the history of the Great Famine. The British g...
A Tale of Transportation | The Great Famine XIII
11 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Transportation was a particularity cruel punishment. For centuries those condemned to this fate were shipped to penal colonies on the far side of the ...
The Great Hunger in Dublin | The Great Famine XII
14 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dublin is often forgotten in the story of the Great Famine. While death rates in the capital were not as severe as the west of Ireland, the city suffe...
Voices from Black '47 - Irish Emigrants in Their Own Words | The Great Famine XI
24 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From January 1847 Irish people desperately trying to flee the famine began to leave the island in huge numbers. 220,000 left in that year alone a...
Black '47 - A World Turned Upside Down (1847) | The Great Famine X
10 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This series continues the story of the Great Famine into the notorious year of Black '47 by returning to the town of Skibbereen. Looking at how life i...
Insurrection and Starvation - A Tale of Two Towns (1846) | The Great Famine IX
19 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As the situation deteriorated in Ireland in late 1846, the two Cork towns of Youghal and Skibbereen experienced the unfolding horrors in very differen...
History vs Reality. What Was Life Really Like in 1840s Ireland?
05 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Many travellers who visited the west of Ireland in the 19th century considered it as a frontier of sorts. They were more often than not deeply racist,...
An Abandoned Village and Ireland's Newest Beach: Achill Island Day 1
25 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Join Fin as he treks around Achill island visiting Ireland's newest beach and the ruins of a famine era village.Become a supporter & access dozens...
Crisis Turns into Catastrophe (1846) | The Great Famine VIII
23 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Through the summer of 1846 Ireland had endured terrible hunger and suffering. However against the odds the numbers who had starved to death were few. ...
All Aboard - Virtual Road Trip to the 1840s
20 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Become a supporter & access dozens of exclusive podcastsPatreon www.patreon.com/irishpodcastAcast https://plus.acast.com/s/irishhistory📢June 20...
The 1846 Summer of Starvation | The Great Famine VII
02 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The summer of 1846 was a tense time in Ireland. As food grew scarce lawlessness, riots and violence became frequent. Everyone eagerly awaited May 15th...
Free Trade or Famine 1845-46 | The Great Famine VI
10 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This show takes you through the winter of 1845 through to April 1846 as the situation in Ireland deteriorates. Food riots and protests become common, ...
The Great Hunger Begins | The Great Famine V
20 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As the harvest of 1845 approached in Ireland, rumours circulated that a mysterious disease was attacking the potato crop. While well informed bot...
On The Verge of Disaster: Ireland 1845 | The Great Famine IV
08 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
1845 is famous for one thing in Irish history – the beginning of the Great Famine. However contrary to what you might expect, if you lived in Irelan...
The Scandalous Life of Lola Montez
20 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Lola Montez, born Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert, was one of the most scandalous women of the 19th century. She took Europe by storm with 'dances' that lef...
Was Ireland Overpopulated in 1845? | The Great Famine III
31 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1845 the population of Ireland was heading towards 9 million with many people surviving on a diet of potatoes. This has lead many to claim that the...
Rents, Riots and Volcanoes | The Great Famine II
24 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The series on the Great Famine got off to a bloody start with the story of Anne Devlin and the rebellions of 1798 and 1803. By the end of the first ep...
Rebel Isle (1750-1803) | The Great Famine I
18 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast, the first in my new series on the Great Famine, gives a background to Ireland in the 19th century. Entitled 'Rebel Island' it focuses on...
The Great Irish Famine Series - An Introduction
10 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past few months I have been preparing a major podcast series on the Great Famine of the 1840s and its finally here! This short episode is an ...
Hitchhiker's Guide to 1820s Ireland
21 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In the opening line of his novel The Go Between the writer L.P. Hartley famously quipped ‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently ...
Letters from Dakota
13 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'Letters from Dakota' is the story of my grandaunt Mollie Dwyer who emigrated to the USA when she was 15 years of age in 1906. Her emigrant experience...
The Land War (1879-1882)
08 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
I launched my first exclusive patron’s podcast on the Land War yesterday.The Land War is a fascinating struggle between Irish landlords and tenants ...
The Phoenix Park Murders II - The Manhunt
01 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Phoenix Park Murders are one of the most famous assassinations in Irish History. On May 6th 1882 Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke w...
The 1882 Phoenix Park Murders Part I - A Fatal Day in Dublin
23 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Phoenix Park Murders are among the most famous political assassinations in Irish History. On May 6th 1882, Lord Frederick Cavendish the new chief ...
Tales From The Great Famine in Dublin
16 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I took my recorder and headed around my neighbourhood looking for the history of the Great Famine. Unsurprisingly I didn't have to tra...
The Maamtrasna Murders Part III - The Guilty and the Innocent
14 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this final episode on the Maamtrasna murders, we begin by picking up the story of this fascinating murder case in December 1882. Eight men have bee...
The Maamtrasna Murders Part II - The Trials
09 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In Part I of this series on the Maamtrasna murders I looked at one of the most brutal killings in 19th century Ireland when the Joyce family were atta...
The Maamtrasna Murders Part I - The Killings
01 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Prior to 1882, Maamtrasna a remote townland in the west of Ireland, was known to few outside Co. Galway. That all changed on the night of August 17th ...
The Tale of Jack of Ireland: A Medieval Outlaw
24 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Medieval outlaws have captured the human imagination for centuries. The story of Robin Hood who famously robbed from the rich to give to the poor has ...
Haunted By Our History: Ireland and Child Sexual Abuse
17 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast was funded by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund.We don’t remember 1980s fondly in Ireland. Emigration and recession were features of lif...
The Manchester Martyrs
11 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In November 1867 tension and fear gripped the city of Manchester. A regiment of the British Army was drafted in to support a police force already bols...
Fatal Feuds V - Medieval Downfall
05 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Fatal Feuds series has tracked the dramatic rise of the de Burgh Lords of the West and Earls of Ulster - the most powerful family in Medieval Iris...
Bonus: An Irish Childhood in a Stately Mansion
19 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
TV series like Downton Abbey offer a sensationalised view of life in Stately Homes but what was it really like? This podcast uses the never before pub...
Fatal Feuds IV - The Fall of the Red Earl
08 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The show picks up the story of the de Burgh family in August 1316 as the biggest battle in medieval Irish history approaches. The De Burghs have paid ...
Bonus: Stealing the Stone of Destiny
30 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In 1296 King Edward I of England invaded Scotland. During this campaign he removed the Stone of Destiny (a.k.a. The Stone of Scone) bringing it back t...
Fatal Feuds III - The Bruce Invasion
22 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The third part of the mini-series Fatal Feuds focuses on the Bruce Invasion of Ireland in 1315. This sees the famous Scottish King Robert the Bruce wa...
Bonus - Medieval Ireland's Red Wedding
15 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Red Wedding is an infamous chapter in the Game of Thrones series. It saw one family wipe out their rivals in a treacherous and brutal massacre. In...
Fatal Feuds II - The Making of a Medieval Superpower
09 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This show picks up the story of Richard de Burgh, the Red Earl of Ulster at Christmas 1294. At the end of Fatal Feuds Part I he had been kidnapped &am...
2019 Update on the Future of The Podcast
29 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This short epsiode updates you on changes coming in the show.Become a supporter & access dozens of exclusive podcastsPatreon www.patreon.com/irish...
Fatal Feuds Part I – The Rise of the Red Earl (1281 – 1295)
27 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is the first of four that looks at a series of related feuds that ripped Ireland apart in the late Middle Ages. 'Fatal Feuds' begins in t...
Bridget Cleary - The Last Woman Burned Alive in Ireland
11 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In 1895 Bridget Cleary made international news after she was burned to death in South Tipperary. Rumours circulated she had been accused of being a wi...
The 'Witch' Mary Doheny and a 19th Century Supernatural Scam
30 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Doheny was born in Ireland in the 1820s. A ruthless, mysterious and controversial woman she gained notoriety in the 1860s. In 1864 she stood...
Ireland’s Forgotten World War II Bombings
13 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Irish Free State remained neutral in World War II. Nevertheless the country and its people still faced attack. In 1941 the Nazis bombed the North ...
Hubert Butler - Ireland’s Forgotten World War II Hero
09 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Hubert Butler (1900-1991) is a forgotten Irish hero. In 1938-39 he traveled to the Nazi Third Reich to help Jews escape persecution. While he ultimate...
Black Death Book (Preview & Listeners Discount)
04 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'1348: A Medieval Apocalypse' will immerse you in a fascinating and forgotten world. Late medieval Ireland was a land ravaged by invasion, famine and ...
Free State or Fair State: Ireland After Independence
19 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In 1921 the War of Independence came to an end. Many had high hopes for what the future held in store for them in an Independent Ireland. However whil...
The Revolution Underground (Secret Societies, Communism and Coal (Part V) (1919-1922)
07 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In 1919 the War of Independence broke out in Ireland. In Castlecomer, Ireland’s largest mining community, this had a profound effect. While the I.R....
The Road to War (1894 -1918) – Secret Societies, Communism and Coal (Part IV)
18 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'The Road to War' returns to my series on the Castlecomer Coalfields. It takes you on a gripping journey through life in one small Irish town and the...
A Christmas Feast in Medieval Ireland
16 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The turkey only arrived in Northern Europe in 16th century so what did people eat for Christmas Dinner? In this episode I look at the foods available ...
The Superstitions and Strange Customs of Medieval Ireland
15 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Strange as it may sound, if you lived in the Northwest of Ireland 1000 years ago you may well have witnessed your king attempting to mate with a horse...
Ireland's Hidden Hand in History
14 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Its Christmas and to celebrate I am releasing three podcasts this week. This episode looks at the Ireland's hidden hand in history - Irish people who ...
The Land War & the Great 1881 Strike – Secret Societies, Communism and Coal (Part III)
06 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of the famine the people of Castlecomer were shell-shocked, reeling from years of death, disease and emigration. However by the 1880s...
The Great Famine in Castlecomer - Secret Societies, Communism and Coal Part II
02 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 1845 life in the Castlecomer Coalfields was racked by economic recession and grinding poverty. When the potato crop, the staple diet of millions ac...
Secret Societies, Communism & Coal; Life in the Castlecomer Colliery (Part I)
14 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
For three centuries the town of Castlecomer in North Co. Kilkenny staged one of the most fascinating but forgotten struggles in Irish history. Miners ...
The Black Death, Black Lung & The Great Famine
07 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Fin hasn't joined a Black Metal band. However this episode is a break from the usual format and explores three very different topics. The Black Death ...
The Conquered Lands - The Norman Invasion Part XXIII
02 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
By 1190 the Normans were utterly dominant throughout much of Ireland. As undisputed masters they set about tranforming their lands into societies mode...
The North - The Norman Invasion XXII (1190 - 1205)
18 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode the Normans push far into the North and North west. There they come up against one of the greatest powers in medieval Ireland - t...
The Battle for Connacht - The Norman Invasion XXI (1190 - 1205)
16 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Kingdom of Connacht in the west of Ireland represented one of the greatest obstacles to Norman domination of Ireland. The ruling family, the O'Con...
My Enemy's Enemy is Still My Enemy: The Norman Invasion XX (1190s)
22 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Part XX sees us enter the 1190s and the Norman Invasion enters what might be called end game. In this decade they begin to advance in to the far west ...
Living and Dying by The Sword - The Norman Invasion XIX (1186-89)
02 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This show covers the chaotic years between 1186 and 1189. Assassinations, warfare and violence break out across Ireland as many of the key figure...
Prince John in Ireland - Norman Invasion XVIII (1185)
20 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Bad, possibly mad and very dangerous, Prince John was one of the most notorious men of the Middle Ages. While his cruel reputation is preserved in the...
Road Trip Through Medieval Ireland
13 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago I hit the road with a recorder taking in some of the best medieval sites in Ireland. The show takes in 1000 years of Irish history in ...
Liberty and Riots: Magna Carta in Ireland
24 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Magna Carta is the most famous medieval document ever written and the story behind it a fascinating. Forged amidst a civil war in England some people ...
Irish-American Radicals - The Forgotten Emigrants
16 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast tells the story of Irish-Americans who have been forgotten by history. These were the revolutionaries, feminists, socialists, and trade u...
The Conquest of Ulster - The Norman Invasion of Ireland XVII (1177-85)
04 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers a frenetic period of activity. The show starts in 1181 when Hugh de Lacy is suspected of treason by Kking Henry II. The Normans in...