John Boyle, the Freeholder and pre-Famine Cork society

Marsden Haddock and the Androides

Entertainment, late Georgian Cork and the wider world

Neil Cronin

By the late eighteenth century, many people had designated leisure time. The appetite for novelty in popular entertainment became insatiable. The hero of this s…

The Political World of Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde of Ballynastragh, Co. Wexford, 1862–1935

Brian Fennell

This book examines the life and political career of a significant yet often overlooked figure in Irish nationalism. Politically active from 1885 to 1934, Thomas…

Scandal, satire and the battle for reputation in Limerick’s ascendancy, 1815–20

‘Unconquerable Malice’

Brian Leahy

Step into the turbulent world of nineteenth-century Limerick, where scandal, ambition and razor-sharp wit collide. This gripping account unravels the explosive …

Ireland’s first sanitorium

The St Ann’s Hill Hydro, County Cork, 1843–1953

Sinéad McSweeney and Ronan Foley

The St Ann’s Hill Hydropathic Establishment, or The Hydro, was Ireland’s first and pre-eminent sanitorium. The Hydro was built in in Co. Cork in 1843 and closed…

‘A miserable thing to be a woman’

Mary Anne Tyrrell (1821–94) and her landed estate

Lesley Whiteside

This study of a woman’s management of a middle-sized estate contributes to the understanding of agrarian society and the role of women in it. At the age of 32, …

Donegal town, 1474–1974

Matthew Potter

Donegal town is one of the most historic places in Ireland, and has given its name to Co. Donegal. It has been a Gaelic town,  Plantation town, estate town and …