Search Results for 'Brian Boru'

THE BATTLE of Clontarf is both a landmark event in Irish history and a fabled story passed down the generations, right up to our present day, 1,001 years after its occurrence. The famous battle provides the backdrop for an acclaimed new play, The Assassination of Brian Boru, by Lauren-Shannon Jones, which comes to the Town Hall Theatre on Monday April 13 at 8pm.

A gathering of Kellys from all over Ireland and beyond are to descend on Westport this May.

A gathering of Kellys from all over Ireland and beyond are to descend on Westport this May.

The most famous Irish High King, and one of the most significant battles in Irish history will be examined at the next meeting of the Renmore History Society.

ACCORDING TO the history books we had in school in the early sixties, The Battle of Clontarf was described in terms of a religious victory in which the great Catholic Irish hero Brian Boru annihilated the pagan Vikings and threw them out of Ireland.

Having got him there, Clifden was not going to let Daniel O’Connell go easily. The meeting, on the edge of the town had been an unparalleled success, and the excitement prevailed. The organisers had constructed a huge pavilion ‘on the highest point of the town’, covered with canvass. It must have been of considerable size as 300 men sat at long tables, while 200 ladies sat in the adjoining galleries. At 8pm that Sunday evening, September 17 1843, O’Connell and other guests entered the pavilion with one of the Galway Temperance bands preceding him with lively tunes. His arrival was greeted with the ‘ most deafening cheers’, while the ladies waved scarves and handkerchiefs.

Learn some St Brigid’s customs at the Museum of Country Life this month. A workshop on the customs associated with St Brigid is one of several events to look forward to at the museum this month.