Irish History: Strange but True E-Book

Colm Wallace

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Strange but True
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 263

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2026

Beschreibung

We all know of of the various wars, the Famine and the pivotal events which have made the Ireland what it is today, but few know the stranger aspects of the nation's past. From body snatchers, to pirate queens and Celtic vampires, Ireland's hidden history is explored here in a book bound to thrill and astound you from the first page.

Leseprobe

First published 2026

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© Colm Wallace, 2026

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ISBN 978 1 83705 136 6

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About the Author

Colm Wallace is a native of Renvyle, Co. Galway. Married with four children, he works as a national school teacher and has completed a Masters in History at the University of Galway. This is his fourth book.

Contents

Introduction

1 Odd Tales of Old Ireland

2 Strange Visitors Arrive to Ireland

3 Haunted Ireland

4 Rebellion After Bloody Rebellion

5 Crime, Punishment and Disaster in Irish History

6 Remarkable and Strange Irish People

7 Strange but True in Irish Sport

8 Unlikely Arts, Music and Culture

9 Strange Moments of Irish History

10 Other Odd Aspects of Ireland

Afterword

Select Bibliography

Introduction

All histories of Ireland are abridged, as it would not be possible to fit every significant event or turning point into one publication. Irish History: Strange but True does not attempt to give an exhaustive account of all periods of Irish history. It does not give a detailed account of major eras of change in Ireland, such as the Famine or the War of Independence. Rather, the aim is to pick out some of the stranger and lesser-known events within these periods and show that Ireland truly is, and always has been, a place apart with a history worth telling.

Undoubtedly, the past seems all around in Ireland, and you do not have to travel far to happen upon an ancient monument or a crumbling castle rising out of the landscape. But Ireland had a strange and storied history long before humans even set foot upon its green fields. The world is over 4 billion years old and the land that we now call Ireland was once a part of the great landmass of Pangea. By the time the world map had settled into a pattern recognisable to us today, the island lay at the western edge of Europe. The mountains of the country were already forming some 500 million years ago, but rocks aged 1.7 billion years can be found on Inishtrahull Island off Co. Donegal. When the final Ice Age thawed, the melting glaciers deposited soil and sand and the varied topography of Ireland began to take shape. The warmer climate that occurred in the aftermath allowed flowers and trees to bloom. Animal life followed, but there are fossilised tetrapod footprints on Valentia Island in Co. Kerry that are, at close to 400 million years old, among the oldest recorded instances of vertebrate life on land in the entire world, although this was when Ireland was south of the equator and the climate was very different than that which we know today. Many animals that are no longer found in the wild today, such as wolves and wild boars, were abundant in this mystical Ireland of long ago. Bears even called Ireland home and may have lived alongside the first settlers. Conversely, animals that are now a major part of the Irish landscape, such as cows and sheep, were unknown.

The first Irish people only arrived in around 8000 BC, their existence a drop in the ocean of time. Perhaps they crossed the narrow strip of water between Scotland and the northern part of the island, although the sea levels were lower at the time, potentially making this a simpler task of walking over marshy wetlands. The wet climate in Ireland was a drawback but it must have seemed a fertile hunting and fishing territory for adventurers, the rivers and lakes teeming with fish and the heavily forested countryside full of animals that could be a potential source of food. It was long believed that Mount Sandel in Co. Derry was the earliest example of human life in Ireland that has been excavated by archaeologists, although, in recent years, bones from reindeer that appear to have been killed by humans have been discovered that predate Mount Sandel and cast doubt on former certainties. Regardless, the first people probably spread across the island over time but did not live in permanent settlements, residing temporarily near the coasts and rivers where they often constructed temporary wooden huts with roofs made from rushes or animal skins to withstand the unpredictable weather. They then moved on. This nomadic lifestyle means that there are few traces of these early Irish, although this kind of life of hunting and gathering with stone tools may have lasted for 3,000 years.

Life would change slowly but surely. New materials and technologies such as bronze would come from abroad, and others would be discovered in abundance at home. New people would also come to these shores, few arriving in peace. Celts, Vikings, Normans, Planters. Each episode and each wave of immigration would change the island incrementally. Strange languages came to these shores and new rivalries between various sects exploded into life. Ireland was never truly united, and long before battles with Britain occurred, the Irish were at war with one another. But it was not all conflict. There was also music and dance, legends and storytelling, wonderful artwork from the earliest times, architecture and buildings that boggle the mind today and many other strange and wonderful occurrences that combine to tell the strange story of our ancient land.

1

Odd Tales of Old Ireland

The Earliest Irish Settlers

There are strange mysteries related to prehistoric Ireland. A prominent example is the enormous 5,000-year-old stone tomb of Newgrange in Co. Meath. The structure is 85m wide and the outer door leads into an inner chamber, via a narrow passageway complete with ornate stone carvings. Incredibly, the tomb was orientated so that the sunlight illuminates the inner chamber on just one day a year, 21 December, the Winter Solstice and the shortest day of the year. How, and indeed why, the builders went to such efforts to orientate the tomb in this way is a mystery, but as the centuries passed, the importance of the site was lost to time. Grave robbers may also have visited Newgrange and removed the valuables that had been deposited there, denying us the chance to know about what was left in the tomb and to gain an understanding of its significance.

Many archaeologists believe that Newgrange was erected as a temple and burial site. But to honour whom, in these pre-Christian times? Perhaps it was to worship the sun, explaining why it was built to align with the Winter Solstice. Like the Egyptian Pyramids, there are also questions about how it was constructed with the rudimentary technology and tools available 5,000 years ago. Even more bafflingly, many of the heavy stones needed to construct the tomb came from coastal locations, some 12 miles away, while the heavy quartz cannot be found locally and is likely to have originated in the Wicklow Mountains, 50 miles distant. How could it have been transported this vast distance?

The Entrance to Newgrange. (Photograph by the author)

The Céide Fields are also of great interest to archaeologists. Situated in Co. Mayo, the site is considered to be the most extensive Neolithic find in Ireland and may be the oldest field system discovered in the world, although it was only properly excavated in the 1970s. The fields, complete with extensive stone walls, were buried under layers of bogs over millennia but seem to show a sophisticated farming operation. Mount Sandel Wood goes back even further and is the earliest verifiable settlement in Ireland, dating back over 9,000 years. Archaeologists discovered flint tools, suggesting that Stone Age hunters dwelt here, probably fishing in the nearby natural weir. Significant finds such as these tell us a little about our prehistoric ancestors, who must have been a resourceful lot. Other finds hint at a darker reality. Clonycavan Man, discovered by farmers cutting turf in a bog in Co. Meath in 2003, died from three blows of an axe to his head in what appears to have been a ritual killing. His body was well preserved by the peaty soil but his origins and the reasons for his killing will never be known. He was not the only ancient person to suffer a violent death, either. In August 2011, a Born na Móna worker named Jason Phelan happened upon a well-preserved body in a bog near Cashel, Co. Laois. The body was of a young high-status adult male who had been killed violently, perhaps in a human sacrifice, an event that had occurred in 2,000 BC, just after bronze had come to Ireland.

Bronze was a game-changer. The Irish had been using copper for generations, primarily in the southern part of the country, but the discovery in western Asia that combining this metal with tin at high temperatures created a stronger metal called bronze revolutionised the world. This new material enabled the production of more durable tools and weapons, making farming and land clearing much easier. Bronze Age people also made decorative pieces, as a hoard discovered near Mooghaun Hillfort in south Clare in 1854 illustrates. As three labourers were levelling the ground for the building of the railway from Ennis to Limerick, they discovered a small stone-built cist that held up to 300 fine objects. The workmen believed the objects to be ordinary items of brass, but soon realised that they were far more ancient and valuable pieces. It transpired that the hoard was from the Bronze Age and the men sold on much of the loot to goldsmiths in Limerick and Dublin, keeping the affair relatively quiet. Many of the pieces were melted down, sadly, although a small number did eventually end up in museums. The sellers made hundreds of pounds, although it is believed that what they sold was worth far more. Ireland as a nation lost more still, with most of these priceless pieces forever lost to history.

In around 600 BC, a new group known as the Celts arrived to Ireland from mainland Europe, bringing new skills and innovations that contributed to the island’s development. The Celts probably came incrementally in small groups but they proved powerful – they had mastered the smelting of iron ore into iron, an even more durable metal for making tools than bronze. There is a question as to whether this technology was already being utilised by the Irish, however. The Lackan Spearhead was discovered in Co. Westmeath in the 1990s and dates from around 700 BC, throwing doubt on former historical certainties. While the Celts were not a completely peaceful people, as evidenced by their iron weapons that have been discovered, the extent of violence associated with their arrival is unclear. However, weapons predating the Celtic period have also been discovered in Ireland and, as Cashel and Clonycavan Man show us, the Irish who inhabited these shores before the Celts were not immune to violent acts themselves.

The Celts and their Beliefs

The arrival of the Celts changed the island of Ireland forever. They were storytellers and the legends they told of Ireland’s past live on to this day. Celtic people believed in an ancient race, the Firbolgs. In Celtic mythology, it was believed that various members of the Firbolg tribe landed in different parts of the island long before the Celts themselves. They were said to have met at the sacred Hill of Tara, where they united their forces and divided the island into five provinces: Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Meath. Even the Irish language term for province, ‘cúige’, is derived from ‘cúig’, meaning ‘five’, although today there are only four provinces, Meath having long been subsumed into Leinster. In ancient times, each province had its own distinct laws and identity. Trefuilgnid, a mythical spirit figure from Irish folklore, described the provinces thus: learning was in Connacht to the west; there was war in Ulster to the north; wealth was the preserve of Leinster, to the east; music and art were to be found in Munster to the south; and kingship was in Meath to the centre, the home of Tara.

The Celts believed that a family of five brothers once presided over a province each. They ruled the land until the coming of the Tuatha dé Danann, the people of the Celtic goddess Danu, who arrived to Ireland, burned their boats and faced the Firbolg, demanding half of Ireland for themselves. The Firbolg refused their demand and a fierce battle lasting four days was fought between the two tribes. The Tuatha dé Danann eventually conquered the Firbolg, winning the island of Ireland for themselves at the Battle of Moytura in modern-day Co. Mayo. Danu, or Anu, was just one of many gods and goddesses worshipped by the Celts, each associated with a powerful force, for good or ill. Danu is associated with fertility, wisdom and the wind, for example. Lug, or Lugh Lámhfada, was the god of fighting, music and poetry. Lughnasa, the Irish word for August, is named in his honour. Eriú is another important Celtic deity and it is said that it was from her that Éire, or Ireland, got its name. Women were powerful and important figures in Celtic times and not to be trifled with, as the following story of the Celtic goddess Macha attests. Enraged that her husband had forced her to race against the king’s horse when she was heavily pregnant, Macha laid a powerful curse on all the men of Ulster: when danger approached, all fighting men in the province would be struck down with the pain of childbirth for nine days.

Irish Legend or Irish History?

By the time of Christ’s birth, Ireland was a mixture of the Celts and the original inhabitants. It had not escaped world attention either, and a famous Greek astronomer and cartographer, Ptolemy, included Ireland on his world map, which he drew up in AD 140. Considered to be the oldest surviving representation of Ireland, it was quite accurate for the time. It did not feature the mythical island of Hy-Brasil, which would be shown to the west of Ireland, deep in the Atlantic Ocean, in numerous later maps. Where did the idea of this mysterious island come from? Old Irish legends stated that there was indeed an island in this location, covered in fog and often invisible to the naked eye, except on one day every seven years when it revealed itself.

Indeed, legend and history in Ireland are often interlinked and hard to separate. Queen Medb is just one example, historians are unsure if she was a real person and a warrior queen or whether she was simply a legendary metaphor for Ireland. Medb is certainly mentioned frequently in ancient Irish annals, and she is believed by some to have been born around 50 BC, the daughter of an early High King of Ireland. The story goes that upon reaching adulthood, she married Conor Mac Nessa, the King of Ulster. However, she eventually left Conor, exercising her rights under Brehon Law, which granted women the power to own property and to choose their partners. In this system, marriage was not considered a sacrament but rather a contract that could be as short or as long as both parties desired.

Medb married several more times, including to a warrior named Ailill, and she bore nine children. Together, she and Ailill took control of Connacht, the powerful western province. The couple later quarrelled over wealth, with Ailill claiming they were equal in every way except for his prized white bull, Finnbhennach. Enraged, Medb instigated the Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge) by sending her army to seize the best bull in Ireland from another chieftain, Dáire Mac Fiachna, after he refused to give it up willingly. This led to a bloody conflict between Connacht and Ulster, resulting in thousands of deaths, including that of the legendary warrior Cúchulainn. Medb is said to have survived the battle and lived for several more years until her death, which came about when she was struck by a hard piece of cheese fired from a slingshot. Was she a historical figure or an Irish legend? Even her burial site is disputed, some sources suggesting she is buried at Knockma Hill, 5 miles west of Tuam, Co. Galway, while others claim she rests at Knocknarea in Co. Sligo or Rathcroghan in Co. Roscommon. Regardless of the location, it is said that her body was placed upright, facing her old enemies in Ulster.

The sources of Irish mythological stories are so ancient that, in many cases, their true origins will be forever a mystery. Those who passed down the stories originally did so orally, so that the seanchaís of the early twentieth century were often telling versions of stories from hundreds of years before. Many threads run through the old legends of Ireland: heroism, magic, mystery, revenge and love for Ireland among them. One of the most famous tales of Irish mythology is the Children of Lir, a story with a mixture of pagan and Christian influences that is learned by every Irish child at school to this day. In the tale, a wicked and jealous stepmother named Aoife casts a spell on the four children of her husband, the chieftain Lir, condemning them to 900 years as swans on three water bodies: 300 years on Lough Derravaragh in Co. Westmeath, 300 more on the freezing cold Sea of Moyle between Ireland and Scotland, and 300 final years on Inishglora, off Mayo’s western coast. After the 900 years, the swans are turned back into humans, now old and frail. They then meet St Patrick, who teaches them about Christianity. This ancient story is often thought to be a parable for the history of Ireland, the four children representing the four provinces of Ireland who seemed doomed to hundreds of years of foreign oppression.

A second legendary tale that continues to captivate the Irish to this day is that of Niamh and Oisín in Tír na n-Óg, the land of eternal youth. Oisín is a strong and powerful warrior, the son of the legendary Fionn Mac Cumhaill. On a hunting expedition he encounters the beautiful Niamh of the Golden Hair, a woman who tells him she had travelled across the sea to declare her love and to bring him back to Tír na n-Óg. Perhaps this was Hy-Brasil. She promises that there is no sadness or misfortunate in her home and Oisín, captivated by Niamh and her stories, reluctantly agrees to leave his father and friends behind and go with her. The pair live happily for what seems like a few years, but Oisín longs to make a return visit to Ireland to see those dearest to him. Niamh warns him that the Ireland he left behind is no more but he persists. Reluctantly agreeing that he go, Niamh warns him not to set his foot upon Irish soil or he will never be able to return to Tír na n-Óg. When he finally reaches Ireland, Oisín discovers that hundreds of years have passed. All is changed utterly, and everyone he knew in his youth is long gone and forgotten by the native population, who seem small and weak to him and in thrall to a Church that was unknown in his youth. He later sees some men attempting to lift a boulder and, bending down from his horse, he tries to help them lift the stone but accidentally falls from the saddle, ageing hundreds of years instantly due to the passing of time.

The Giant’s Causeway. (J.W. Shepp, Shepp’s Photographs of the World, 1892)

Both stories contain magic and mystery and were of almost sacred significance to the population who heard them. Even some natural features give a nod to Irish mythological stories. The Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim, for example, is said to be named after a local legend involving the giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill. According to the myth, Fionn built the causeway as a bridge to Scotland to challenge a rival giant named Benandonner. When Fionn saw how large Benandonner was, he changed his mind, however, and ran home before disguising himself as a baby, placing himself in a huge crib. When Benandonner arrived to Ireland, he entered Fionn’s house, to be greeted by the massive infant. It was his turn to grow afraid: if that was the size of the child, how large would Fionn Mac Cumhaill himself be, he wondered? Benandonner fled from Ireland, destroying as much of the Giant’s Causeway as he could on his way to deter his rival from crossing the sea to Scotland. The name of the town of Ardee in Co. Louth, meanwhile, comes from the Irish Baile Átha Fhirdhia, the town of the ford of Ferdia, Ferdia being a mythical warrior who fought Cuchulainn for four days and nights before being killed. Meanwhile, the Slieve Blooms, a low-lying mountain range in the midlands, straddling the counties of Offaly and Laois, get their name from the Irish words Sliabh Bladhma, or Bladhma’s Mountain. Bladhma was a magical figure from ancient mythology who was said to inhabit the mountains to which he eventually gave his name.

Paganism Lives On

Christianity did not banish these legends, although it may have repurposed them somewhat. The Roman Empire had embraced Christianity by the close of the fourth century but the Romans themselves never invaded Ireland. They had their hands full in England and had little use for the land they named Hibernia, ‘The Land of Eternal Winter’. The religion that would come to dominate their empire, Christianity, would eventually make its way here, however, and change, or at least rearrange, many of the pagan beliefs that had dominated society before then. Paganism proved a stubborn belief system to fully eradicate, however.

Well into the twentieth century, games played at wakes were common and abhorred by the Catholic Church, who viewed them as a holdover from Pagan days. Meanwhile, a British politician named Robert Joycelyn wrote about the west of Ireland in 1841. No supporter of the Irish at the best of times, Joycelyn was particularly dismayed by what he considered to be pagan idolatry still afoot on Inishkea:

Their state of spiritual darkness is deplorable. It is hardly to be credited that among the British islands heathen idolatry is to be found, and that a stone, carefully wrapped up in flannel, is brought out at certain periods to be adored by the inhabitants of Inishkea. When a storm arises, this heathen god is supplicated to send a wreck on their coast.1

The Church appears to have repurposed some Pagan festivals itself, however. St Bridget shares a name with a Celtic goddess and her feast day, marking the beginning of spring, comes at the same time as the pagan feast of Imbolc. Not all pagan festivals were immediately embraced, however. The Church was unsure about Samhain, later Hallowe’en, and what they saw as its frivolous celebration of the dead. Recognising the popularity of the feast, it eventually moved ‘All Saints’ Day’ from May to 1 November to coincide with Samhain in an effort to Christianise the festival.

_______________

1. Joycelyn, R,. Progress of the Reformation in Ireland (1851), pp.28–9.

2

Strange Visitors Arrive to Ireland

Then in came the faraway stranger,

And scattered all over our land.

The horse and the cow, the goat and the sow,

Fell into the stranger’s hand.

‘To Welcome Paddy Home’, Boys of the Lough

Ireland’s Saints and Scholars

Christianity came to Ireland in the fifth century but, remarkably, the Irish patron saint Patrick may not have been the first to bring word of the good news. Many believe that it was in fact brought by Palladius, a bishop from Gaul, the territory now called France. However, St Patrick is credited with converting much of the country although not an Irishman at all, despite his special place in Irish hearts. He was kidnapped from his home, possibly in Wales, and was afterwards forced into slavery, spending several years tending sheep in Co. Antrim. After escaping, he trained to become a bishop and returned to Ireland in 432 to spread Christianity. Legend says he used the three leaves of the shamrock, abundant in Ireland, to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – to the pagan Irish. He managed to convert many influential chiefs, who then encouraged their people to adopt the new faith. The colour green, which we now strongly associate with St Patrick, was not the colour in which he was originally depicted. This was St Patrick’s Blue, although things changed around the 1798 Rebellion when green became inextricably linked with Ireland and consequently with our patron saint. St Patrick’s sister, St Darerca, is less well known but also came to Ireland and converted many people. She is believed to have given birth to seventeen sons, all of whom became bishops!

St Patrick. (Mary Frances Cusack, An Illustrated History of Ireland, 1868)

Another remarkable saint was St Brendan. He amassed many achievements in the sixth century, including the founding of monasteries such as Clonfert in Co. Galway. But was he the first European to reach America? Accounts indicate that St Brendan embarked on numerous sea voyages around Ireland, Wales and western Scotland before undertaking his journey to the New World. A Latin account details this journey, describing how Brendan and his fellow monks witnessed a volcanic eruption, saw crystals floating in the sea, and were pursued by a sea monster. Some sceptics questioned whether a boat made from wood and ox hides could have endured such a long journey. However, in the 1970s, a sailor and geographer named Tim Severin successfully recreated St Brendan’s supposed sixth-century voyage over thirteen months and gave fresh confidence to those who believed that this Irish saint of renown may have reached America nearly 1,000 years before Christopher Columbus.

The arrival of Christianity marked the beginning of a golden era for Irish education, and the island soon became renowned as the Land of Saints and Scholars, at a time when Europe was living through the Dark Ages. Monasteries were established throughout the country, typically in secluded locations where monks could live and pray peacefully, and many well-preserved examples from this period can still be found in Ireland, at Clonmacnoise, Ardmore and Kilmacduagh, among others.

The monasteries were expertly constructed with stone and often featured guest houses, scriptoria, round towers and other remarkable buildings. Dozens of round towers still stand, up to 35m high in some cases. These may have been built to protect the monks from raiders, but the monasteries were largely serene places where young monks received their education in reading and writing. Beautiful religious manuscripts were created on vellum by the monks, with the Book of Kells being the most famous example, today attracting up to a million visitors yearly. Interestingly, sixty pages of this beautiful work are missing, believed to have been stolen over 1,000 years ago.

Round Towers at Clonmacnoise (left) and Glendalough. (T.O. Russell, Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland, 1897)

Irish monks also went abroad spreading the good news. St Gall got as far as Switzerland, where he set up a hermitage in AD 612 on the site of the present-day city of St Gallen, named in his honour. Leinster native St Columbanus founded Bobbio Abbey in Italy in the early seventh century while also establishing Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France. Colmcille is among the best known of the adventurous missionaries. After founding many Irish monasteries, he travelled to the island of Iona in Scotland. He then converted many of the Pictish people of Scotland, apparently impressing them when he bade the Loch Ness Monster to stop attacking a man who was swimming in the lake.

Ireland also had many female saints who left their mark. Most famous among them is St Brigid, the founder of a monastery in Kildare, who has many miracles attributed to her. These include the tale of Brigid boldly approaching the King of Leinster and asking him for land in Kildare upon which to build a monastery. Not renowned for his generosity, the king refused. Undeterred, she pointed to her cloak and asked if she could at least have the land that it would cover. The king laughed and agreed to her bizarre request. She set her cloak down and he watched in amazement as it grew and grew, spreading across several acres. The monastery was built on the land as promised and the king, impressed by the miracle, duly converted to Christianity. St Ita was another saint with miracles attributed to her. Born of a royal family, Ita eschewed her life of privilege and lived as a nun in Killeedy, Co. Limerick, where she founded a monastery and set up schools for boys, counting St Brendan among her pupils. One miracle that is attributed to her was the taking of the head of a beheaded man and reuniting it with his body.

St Kevin was also born of a royal family but chose to embrace solitude. His new-found devotion to God caused him to forgo his possessions and commit to a simple life in a forest in the shadows of the Wicklow Mountains at Glendalough: Gleann dá Locha, the valley of the two lakes. Many monks came to live with the hermit and stories are told of wonders that occurred there, including a time when St Kevin was praying with arms outstretched and a blackbird landed on his hand and laid an egg. It was said that, due to his deep love of nature, Kevin remained in this exact position until the egg was hatched. The monastery in Glendalough’s isolation is dwarfed by that of the Skellig Islands, almost 8 miles off Co. Kerry, which were also home to an early Christian monastery. It is well preserved and is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The well-known St Valentine, the patron saint of lovers, was not Irish but his remains lie in this country. Born in Rome, St Valentine converted many important people within the Roman Empire but was beheaded by the Emperor Claudius II for his proselytising. In 1835, an Irish Carmelite priest named John Spratt visited the Eternal City. Highly regarded as a preacher, the elite of Rome eagerly gathered to hear him, and as a token of his esteem, Pope Gregory XVI gifted him the remains of Saint Valentine. They are now on display in Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin.

Beehive Huts on the Skelligs. (Photograph by the author)