Stories: Ireland
Stories connected to Ireland.
- Six weeks at school. University at sixteen.Irish classical scholar Robert Tyrrell was taught mostly at home by his brothers and spent just six weeks at…
- Bees crossed into a neighbour's land. A 7th-century text took it seriously.Early medieval Ireland had a legal text on beekeeping called Bechbretha. It discussed hive owners, neighbours…
- Green-white-orange or orange-white-green? The flags were mixed up.Ireland's and Côte d'Ivoire's flags use the same three colours in reverse order. At a 2013 bonfire in Belfast…
- A government commissioned stained glass, then judged it too provocative to install.The Irish Free State commissioned Harry Clarke to create a window for a League of Nations building in Geneva.…
- Butter could wear a cow or a flowerButter stamps pressed designs into warm blocks of butter. Often made of wood, they featured cows, flowers or…
- Potato chips can be the sandwich fillingA crisp sandwich puts potato chips between slices of bread, often with butter. It is familiar in Britain and…
- An Irish fair crowns a goat as its kingAt Killorglin’s Puck Fair in Ireland, a goat is crowned King Puck. The animal becomes a symbol of the festivi…
- A plant’s pith became a lighting materialA rushlight used the pith of a rush impregnated with fat or grease as a source of light. Unlike a conventiona…
- Dunlop’s practical tire had an earlier predecessorJohn Boyd Dunlop developed pneumatic tires for his son’s tricycle in Belfast in 1887, then extended the work…
- Rounders shares equipment, not every ruleRounders in Britain and Ireland combines batting and running with an underarm delivery. It can look familiar…
- Lilian Bland’s aircraft needed another attemptEager to test the engine of her Mayfly aircraft before its tank was ready, Lilian Bland improvised with an em…
- Old comrades confirmed the veteran’s identity during a pension inquiryAlbert Cashier served in the American Civil War and continued living as a man after leaving the army. When hi…
- An old storm became an age questionA destructive storm struck Ireland on January 6, 1839. After old-age pensions were introduced, some applicant…