Introduction

in 2017 I started to realize I knew nothing about the country I lived in, Ireland. A country with structures out-dating the Egyptian Pyramids (Newgrange in Co.Meath. A Neolithic passage tomb) to the ceasefire of a sectarian war in my lifetime (The Good Friday Agreement which would see the end to the conflict between Paramilitary groups in the North of Ireland in 1998). How a country with such a deep well of history does not require the youth to take history in secondary school as I did not, is now beyond me in my 28th year. I was giving the option as a 13 year old to choose between Geography and History with no real understanding at the time to how that choice would affect me later in life. In reality both should be mandatory subjects in every school.

I grew up in a house that lacked any sort of noticeable patriotism. We were a working class household and there was never much time for political debate or teachings about our roots, rather it was a get on with things kind of attitude. But I do vividly remember a day my Dad brought me to Dublin city center when I was no older than 7 to tell me about the great men that had freed our country.

We stood outside the GPO (General Post Office) on O’Connell street and he showed me the bullet holes that the pillars outside it had swallowed from the back and forth in 1916 as the Irish Republican Army tried desperately to hold the building. Standing next to the place Patrick Pearse (Pádraig an Piarsach), an Irish teacher and poet sang out the Irish proclamation on that April afternoon announcing a Provisional Government and the ownership of Ireland to the Irish people beneath the shadow of Nelson’s Pillar, a British monument celebrating Vice Admiral Lord Nelson who had died after securing a victory at the Battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic wars. A monument that was blown up in 1966 and replaced by The Spire in 2003.

I remember the feeling of awe as my dad told me about these events that had happened exactly where I stood. That is what I am trying to recreate now 20 years on from my experience and gift to other people. Travelling around Ireland to places of importance in it’s history and telling their stories. The Podcast is intended as a guide for people to listen to and relive some of the amazing tales associated with those places as they experience them in person. You can walk around a ruined castle in Waterford and hear me tell the story of how it came to be ruined, but it can also be listened to as a stand alone piece of entertainment.

This blog will accompany the podcast with pictures of places and people mentioned, maps of the times and other visuals that I feel will aid the many stories I plan to tell.

The Irish History Guide – Peter Ashmore