In an old peat bog at Ummericam, sits the cruel headcutter's stone,

stained with the blood and fused with the ghosts, of men who are now long gone.

In the gorse and the furze their cries could be heard, when Johnston was out on the roam

their fates soon sealed with the headhunters wield, and where red still…

“The wran, the wran, the king of all birds,

on Stephen's day was caught in the furze.

His body is little but his family is sweet

so rise up landlady and give us a treat.

And if your treat be of the best

your soul in heaven can then find its rest.

And if your treat be…

This is my first Blog post, so I'll start with an introduction, and future blogs will just be about the episodes and individuals

Nation of Storytellers Podcast

I have started a podcast that aims to capture the stories and storytellers of Ireland, in the hope that it…

This year’s shortest day of the year is on Tuesday, December 21, which will also mark the longest night of the year. Every year, the winter solstice marks the turn of the calendar as autumn ends and the winter begins. From an astronomical standpoint, the winter solstice means that the two opposite points in the sky…

One hundred years ago, on 6 December 1921 a treaty was signed with the British government that was to end Ireland’s 3-year war of independence and grant a measure of autonomy to Ireland. It was to be fully implemented by March 31, 1922, and the fighting would end; it had…

St. Colmcille, also known as St. Columba, was born on this day Dec. 7 in 521 AD in Gartan, modern day County Donegal, Ireland.…

Oliver Cromwell, one of the most reviled characters in Irish history, was an English military and political leader and the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was born in April 1599 and his father was Robert Cromwell. For the first forty years he led a fairly…

MÁIRT -- On Nov. 16, 1814, Michael Kelly Lawler, general in the Union army during the American Civil War, was born in County Kildare, Ireland. Lawler emigrated to the United States with his family at just 2 years of age. His family moved from New York to Maryland, and finally to Gallatin…

DOMHNAIGH -- On Oct. 17, 1803, nationalist politician and Young Irelander William Smith O'Brien was born in Dromoland, County Clare. O'Brien was…

Being of Irish heritage and an astronomer, astrophysicist and educator by profession, I have a particular interest in this story. As a founding member of Astronomy For Change (https://astronomyforchange.org) and the original author, I'm sharing it here on TWG. -- Tom…

On this day May 17, 2020 a National Commemoration took place in St Stephen's Green in Dublin city centre in remembrance of the events that took place in Ireland 174…

CÉADAOIN -- On September 8, 1798, Lord Cornwallis and General Gerard Lake cornered French General Joseph Humbert's small Franco-Irish army at Ballinamuck, County Longford. With the two British armies closing in, Humbert drew his men up into line of battle. Humbert had…

On this day 23 August 1170, the Vikings returned to Ireland. They didn't arrive…

DOMHNAIGH -- On August 22, 1846, Fenian poet John Keegan Casey (right) was born at Mount Dalton, Co. Westmeath. While only in his teens Casey began writing poetry for The Nation. After teaching in Cleraun and Keenagh, Casey gave up the profession to work…

LUAIN -- On August 9, 1876, Josephine Bracken, whose parents were from Belfast, was born in Victoria City, British Hong Kong. Her father James, a soldier in the British army, was a native of County Offaly. Josephine's mother, a McBride, died in childbirth. She…

DOMHNAIGH -- On Aug. 1, 1915, the funeral of Fenian Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was held before a huge crowd at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. Rossa's body had been returned from New York where he died June 30. He had been exiled by the British…

                                        Mississippi became a state on December 10, 1817  [Enchanted Learning]                                           

LUAIN -- On July 26, 1739, George Clinton, soldier, first governor of New York, and vice president of the United States was born in Little Britain, N.Y., of Irish Protestant parents. Clinton served in his father's New York state militia unit during the French and Indian War before…

                                                         Above, Mississippi Territory (1798-1817), Wikipedia