Near the seaside dormitory town of Malahide stands a huge castle set in 250 acres of grounds. The castle’s core dates from the 14th century but later additions, such as its rounded towers, have given it a classic fairy-tale appearance. Originally a fortress, the building...
The traditional prophecy, attributed to St. Columbia, that “a stranger mounted on a white horse and bearing a shield of painted birds shall conquer Ulster” appeared to be fulfilled when John de Courcy headed the Norman invasion of Ulster in 1177. Gradually the Anglo-Norman overlords...
Louth, the smallest of the Irish counties, lying between the Boyne Estuary and Carlingford Lough, bulks largely in Irish history, for it was always a border country and debatable land. It guarded the Gap of the North, the pass that runs from the plains of...