Search Results for 'Michael Cusack'

Hurling is one of the oldest field games in the world. Some stories portray it as a form of military training, proficiency on the field equated with skill in battle. Legend has it that the first battle of Moytura fought about 2000 B.C. between two rival tribes, was preceded by a fierce hurling match between two teams of 27 a-side drawn from opposing forces. The casualties were buried under a huge stone cairn – a megalithic tomb. The field where the game took place is still called The Field of the Hurlers. Ancient games were also played at Tara.

As someone who is absolutely fascinated by the subject of history, it is rather inexplicable that in my five and half years of living in Galway that the only real historical fact I knew about the county was Mayor James Lynch Fitzstephen hanged his own son Walter for murder and thus came the term lynching. So when the opportunity to read The Little Book of Galway presented itself, I finally had a chance to bring my Galway history knowledge up to scratch and it did not disappoint.

The village of Knock is preparing for an influx of up to 120,000 to 150,000 people next week during the National Novena to Our Lady of Knock - which will run from Monday, August 14, to Wednesday, August 23. The annual novena at the Marian Shrine is one of the biggest events to draw people into the county each year and this year is no different. This year is the 40th year of the National Novena to Our Lady of Knock, the original intention behind the Novena was to recognise the unique role that Knock has to play in the life of the Irish church. The theme of this year's pilgrimage is 'Living Life to the Full' and there will be a number of guest speakers, and daily workshops along with services taking place over the nine days of the novena. Ceremonies will take place at 3pm and 8.30pm and workshops at 12 noon and 6pm each day.

Between 1848 and 1850 more than 4,000 adolescent female orphans emigrated from Irish workhouses to the Australian colonies arriving in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Their emigration become known as the ‘Earl Grey Scheme’ after its principle architect, Earl Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies at the time of the Great Famine, suggested the move, and organised its operation.

JOHN LENNON was so enchanted with Clew Bay he bought Dorinish Island in 1967. Ireland's pirate queen Granuaile ruled the seas around those parts; while the bay also attracted Sid Rawle, the ‘King of the Hippies’.

The great 19th century author William Thackeray wrote of Clew Bay, "…the bay and the Reek, which sweeps down to the sea, and the hundred isles in it, were dressed up in gold and purple and crimson, with the whole cloudy west in a flame. Wonderful, wonderful!”