Kilmaiham, in my opinion, is a “must see” when you visit Ireland.

The quality of the tour guides is outstanding and leaves you with a great picture of the birth of the nation.

The Gaol is on the “hop on/hop off tour” and is easily accessed.

Thanks Finn and keep up the good work.

I am really enjoying your podcast. I know the basic history of Brian Boru, but you have brought a lot of added material I did not know with the battles between the various kings. I look forward to hearing the next podcast. By the way I think your delivery is great. You get excieted and show your passion for your subject. Keep up the good work!

Madeleine

Fin, you tell a good story in a fine lilt…thanks for bringing back wonderful memories!

I agree with the above that Midnight in Moscow is a bit strange for an Irisher’s show.

However, I feel some additional context would be useful. How did Ireland compare in that era with other countries? Were the pre-Independent british administration or the FF government of the 1930s any less authoritarian or unelightened? I’m not suggesting any biases on your part, but looking at this period in geopraphical and chronological isolation does leave you open to such accusations.

Great work though.

Nice article!

The subjects in these pics, like many others in this album, were probably hungry and willing to compromise when asked by brit. photographers to pose in ways that would promote the stereotype of Irish as shiftless drinkers. I also strongly suspect that brits posed as Irish in many of the pics.

I’ve written a blog on Irish history http://annalsofancientireland.blogspot.com/#!/2012/01/chapter-i.html and I would be grateful if you took a minute of your time to have a quick look at the first chapter and tell me what you think.

Yours truly

George

Firstly, the name appears no earlier than about 1700, in baptism records of St Michan’s. Colm Lennon’s fascicle gives Rocque as the first example, but there are a few earlier references in the church records.
http://www.logainm.ie/eolas/Data/IHTA/dublin-2.pdf
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/reels/st.michans_mf_1726-1830_ba_ma_0208.pdf
up at the top on the left – the last word, and spelt “Broadstone” – 1 word!

There is no evidence of the name before 1700, and, therefore, no authoritative origin.

The two theories are the perhaps whimsical “Bradogue Stone”, and the more serious “big (broad) stone over the river Bradogue”.

Eoin

Krossie

Krossie

http://www.iww.org.au/node/356

http://www.iww.org.au/node/355

http://www.iww.org.au/node/413

http://www.iww.org.au/node/433

The longer we can go until Strongbow the better.

Leon

Thank you so much for your excellent podcast. Your episodes are so information-rich that I have listened to all of them several times. The viking history is my favorite so far and I’m grateful that you spread it over a few episodes. I think of the vikings differently now because of your lessons.

I wish you the best and hope you can continue for many years to come. I’d also like to learn more about ancient Irish history, pre-dating your Barbarians podcast. Do you have any book recommendations?

Regards,

Mike

Leon

greetings from norway

In fairness to your kind, the stance of many archaeologist in Ireland over the M3 Tara thing was a credit to the standard of archaeologist’s integrity in Ireland, even if they weren’t the ones to make a buck out of it.
As for the ones that did .. it’s hard to put your culture above your children’s food ;(

It seems to me that you need to create not a union per say but a register of ethical Irish archaeologist then we can campaign that no digs/excavations can be done without including a registered Irish archaeologists.

Get someone like Conor Newman, George Eogan to be part of it and you have a familiar trustable names to many Irish people.

This is way when they talk about the best archaeological practices, we can ask the right question. Was it certified by this organisation?

Toilets never cleaned for weeks.
No toilet roll
No running water
No drying room
Girls pissing in the bushes
Men pissing in the bushes
Not enough shovels, wheelbarrows, brushes etc…

Would I do it all over again! Yes, if I was younger! But I would have pushed for a union!

We tried to get a union up and running in yes, I said it, Carrickmines, but because it cost 12 pounds a month and most people were only ever passing through, they thought nothing of it.. No one was interested. We couldn’t get numbers, no voice and no help! Meetings about the unions ended up in piss ups! Archaeologists in general, or ‘diggers’ pass by like ships in the night.. Now just a faint light on the horizon.

To round it off! I miss those days:-)

In 2006, the average industrial/factory wage in Ireland was 32,000 Euro per annum (or 625 Euro per week, according to the CSO). The average public sector wage (to which many archaeologists belonged before privatization) was 880 Euro per week.

In contrast, the top archaeological site assistant wage that year was 24,000 Euro (or 460 Euro per week). On average, archaeologists were paid 165 Euro a week LESS than anyone working indoors on a factory line.

Given the rapidly increasing cost of living during the boom years and inflation, excavating archaeologists wages actually fell (in real terms) during the Celtic Tiger – while companies posted significant profits year-in, year-out.

It’s one thing to talk about pride in the industry and publication rates, etc, but the numbers tell a different story. One where excavating archaeologists were barely paid a living wage and no real value was placed on their skills and their very real dedication.

You can talk about ‘quality’ all you want, but the individuals at the top of this profession milked the construction boom and turned a worthwhile profession into a financial dead end for 85% for it’s practitioners. Shame on you.

I’m not proud of what we collectively did. We aided the wholesale destruction of our material culture. I saw the skeletons of babies excavated with shovels and graves troweled for by a digger bucket…using this rather curious technique you find the grave by the crushed cranium. I’ve worked on sites where we had to walk 1km over fields to get to a site hut or portaloo, because it was too much bother to put them in near the digging, and the time it took to get there was taken out of our breaks. That was in 2005 and the company was the third of fourth most profitable in the country.

We also sowed the seeds for our own destruction. If we had of had sense and not sold ourselves to the highest bidder we might have created a more sustainable industry and perhaps some of the 70% of us rotting on the dole might have a better future right now.

I am proud to be a field archaeologist and I am proud of what we, collectively, achieved in the last 15 years in Irish archaeology. I was proud to be a digger, a site assistant, supervisor, director and senior archaeologist.

Intentionally or otherwise you are misinterpreting the phrase “monkey”. Its a reference to our working conditions. Why would I call myself a monkey if I meant it in the derogatory way you portray it.

Its a reference to the fact we (I worked as a site assistant for years) were treated abysmally, we were never given contracts, decent pay or proper working conditions. Most sites I worked on never even had drying rooms for boots or gear or adequate wash rooms. Most of us had absolutely no security in our jobs. It would be a lie to say this did not affect our productivity and output. Do you honestly think we were paid fairly or had decent working conditions?

When you refer to “we” I don’t really know what you mean because all archaeologists were not treated the same. I agree most g.o. (general operatives) Site Assistants and Directors were decent people committed to archaeology but often very disillusioned. The article is not directed at them. It is directed at company hierarchies. I would reiterate I think they were for the most part unprofessional in their close relationship with the construction industry and of course they were profit driven. What else could explain atrocious wages they paid and the way they treated their workers.

I had always assumed that the Templars had played a part in the defence of the English colony in Ireland. The Hospitalers certainly seem to have done so since they contributed several public officials to the colony including a chancellor and chief governor. Would the Templars have been really persuaded not to attack the Irish because of vows not to shed Christian blood especially given the views held by the Norman-British colonists in the country even after a century or two of settlement?

Looking forward to this and will certainly buy. I have been interested in the Black Death and have read about it, seen some progammes on the history channel, downloaded other podcasts, etc etc. But it’s effects in Ireland were really only glossed over or not mentioned at all.

ps Would it be possible to email me your address. I would like to make a donation , but it would have to be cheque or cash.

Just discovered your podcasts on iTunes — they are great. Please keep at it — your efforts are appreciated by this American listener. I’m a serious reader of Irish and British history (and visited Ireland for a month a few years ago), and you are a pleasant companion and accurate guide to the Irish past. I especially enjoy your inclusion of social history, i.e. information on aspects of daily life and the inner world of people who lived long ago. I hope you take us right up to the present day, i.e. the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger. (Fintan O’Toole’s two recent books on this subject helped me understand what happened.) I also hope you find employment suitable to your talents!

Darren