The IRA, the Boston College Tapes and who tells the past?

1972 was one of the darkest yet defining years in modern Irish history. Nearly five hundred people were killed in the conflict known as “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Events of that year like Bloody Sunday, Bloody Friday and Operation Motorman would shape Ireland for decades to come. In many ways one death has been… Read more »

Published May 12, 2014 in Modern History

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Photo Essay: Thieves, Pirates and Conwy Castle – a trip through medieval Wales

In September 1315, thieves in north Wales attacked Alexander le Convers and robbed him. As medieval robberies go this was a major heist as the thieves with 1,000 marks (£660) a massive sum of the time. Le Convers and his money was destined for Holyhead and then Ireland to fund increasingly bankrupt Anglo-Norman Colony in… Read more »

Published April 24, 2014 in Medieval Ruins

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Ireland 1014 – What a difference a millennium makes.

1000 years today, one of the most famous battle in Irish history, the Battle of Clontarf  took place. While I have made an audiobook about that battle (available below) I wanted to to mark this momentous anniversary with a podcast. In this show I look at Ireland in 1014 and some of the things about… Read more »

Published April 23, 2014 in Blog

Audiobook ‘Brian Boru – Life, power and conquest in medieval Ireland’

Set in a world where life was cheap and blood was the price of power, this audiobook tells the story of Ireland’s most famous high-king – Brian Boru. In what is a real life Game of Thrones historian Fin Dwyer reveals the gripping story of Brian’s relatively humble origins to his domination of Ireland in… Read more »

Published April 23, 2014 in Audiobooks

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Five of the greatest killers in Irish history

In a show with a title such as this you might expect names such as Oliver Cromwell or Strongbow to feature heavily. While these men are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in Ireland, the greatest killers in Irish history are not humans but disease. In this show I take a look at… Read more »

Published April 16, 2014 in Modern History

Audiobooks

Over the coming year I will be releasing the following audiobooks. As the millenium of the Battle of Clontarf approaches I am producing a two hour audiobook on the life of Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf in the coming days. Find out more here.     My best selling book “Witches, Spies &… Read more »

Published April 14, 2014 in Audiobooks

What happened when the medieval climate changed? Is this what lies ahead?

I am currently writing an article on climate change in medieval Ireland and its impact. When I finished this graph the results were pretty stark and a perhaps a little alarming given the current changes in our climate today. Medieval Europe experienced climate change in the late 13th and early 14th century. Scientists generally divide… Read more »

Published February 6, 2014 in Medieval History

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Spain – in search of civil war and revolution

I’ve been fascinated by the Spanish Civil War and revolution for years. Aside from the ideological context to the conflict it is one of the great ‘what ifs’ of history. Between 1936 -1939 anarchist, socialist and republicans in Spain supported by thousands of international volunteers tried but ultimately failed to stop a fascist insurrection establishing… Read more »

Published January 21, 2014 in Photo Galleries

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