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Rings: An Old Irish Game Getting a New Lease on Life
There’s an old board game in Ireland called rings. It dropped out of fashion at some point in the mid-twentieth century, but it appears to be making a slow comeback here and there. It’s simply a...
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Dowth: The Untamed Corner of Brú na Bóinne
Peter Jackson could have filmed the Hobbiton scenes around Dowth. It's that beautiful. Dowth is one of the three necropolises in the Brú na Bóinne world heritage site, situated on a slope rising from...
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When is a Round Tower Not a Round Tower?
I’ve been intermittently pursuing a minor historical mystery since visiting the Narrow Water Castle in Warrenpoint, Co. Down last summer. Across the river (as you can see from the photo at the top) a...
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Lia Fail Vandalized
The Lia Fail with the mound of the hostages in the background. Sounds like souvenir hunters chipped off some pieces of the Lia Fail recently. Reminds me of the woman said to have stolen enough rocks...
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The Magic Roads of Ireland
There are weird and unearthly places where the known laws of physics do not seem to apply. My first memory of this was as a child, reading an Enid Blyton novel in which there is a hill on which all...
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The Day An Island Died: Inis Airc
I came across an interesting documentary about the abandonment of Inis Airc, a tiny island off the Galway coast. Right next to the much-larger Inis Bofin, Inis Airc would have have supported about 300...
View ArticleA New Beginning
After a couple of years posting casually as The Word Hoarder, I’ve decided to get more deliberate about blogging. So, I have changed the name of the blog to A Trip to Ireland, and bought the domain...
View ArticleWhere was Once Filmed?
If you haven’t seen it, Once is a brilliant film about a guy and a girl who have been disappointed in love and are at a kind of lay-by on the road of life, but through their friendship find the...
View ArticleCemetery Sunday in Ireland
Today is Cemetery Sunday in the parish where I grew up, so it’s a good opportunity to post a short piece about this old Irish tradition. Cemetery Sunday usually consists of a service in a graveyard to...
View ArticleWhat are Wishing Trees/May Bushes?
Wishing Trees, aka May Bushes, are hawthorn trees where people tie ribbons to ask blessings from the local saints/deities/wee folk. The hawthorn usually flowers in May, time of the Bealtaine festival...
View ArticleThe Banshee of the O’Neills
During my recent research into the Northern Ireland locations used for Game of Thrones, I came across the story of Shane’s Castle, near Randlestown, Co. Antrim, which is said to be haunted by the...
View ArticleWhere was Game of Thrones Filmed?
Regular readers will know that I can’t watch anything Irish without wondering where it was made. Lately, I’ve been interested in where Game of Thrones was made as quite a lot of the show is shot in...
View ArticleA Brief History of the Hill of Tara
A few miles south of Navan, Co. Meath lies the Hill of Tara, the ancient capital of Ireland. Unlike our modern conception of a capital city, however, Tara appears to have been a symbolic or ritual...
View ArticleTara: The Mound of the Hostages
The oldest — and perhaps most important — monument on the Hill of Tara is the misleadingly named “Mound of the Hostages,” a neolithic passage tomb of a much smaller scale than Newgrange (which is...
View ArticlePostcodes in Ireland: The End of the World?
The typical Irish emigrant phones home: “Howerya Da. What’s new?” (Braces herself for 10-minute monologue on the banks, the government, and other bogeymen.) “Oh, Jaysus… <delivers 10 minute...
View ArticleTara: The Lia Fail
“From Falias was brought Lia Fail which is in Temair, and which is used to utter a cry under every king that should take Ireland.” –Lebor Gabala Erenn On top of the Hill of Tara, in the middle of the...
View ArticleTara: The Hidden Past
Most of the earthworks on the Hill of Tara are thought to have been dwelling or feasting places. A long depression runs up the hill from the road towards the Mound of the Hostages. The two sides are...
View ArticleTaking the Irish Pulse
There’s a fascinating project underway in Ireland at the moment. It has nothing to do with politicians, banks, or multinationals, there are no celebrities or sports stars involved, no meetings or...
View ArticleSix Cheap Things to Do in Dublin While You Avoid Air Passenger Duty
International travelers to and from Great Britain are traveling in increasing numbers via Dublin. One reason is the congestion at Heathrow makes flying via Dublin just as fast or faster, but a...
View ArticleNewgrange: The Heart of the Boyne Valley
The Brú na Bóinne complex of three neolithic tombs (Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth) on a ridge in the middle of the Boyne Valley is perhaps the most-famous archaeological site in Europe, and Newgrange is...
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