On the edge of Europe, along the coast of Dingle Peninsula, Dunbeg Fort is a promontory fort, not far from Dingle town towards Slea Head. Known in Gaelic as An Dún Beag, it was protected by sheer cliffs on three sides, falling into the Atlantic nearly a hundred feet below. Begun as a defensive earthen embankment sometime […]
An Irish folk tale, Maid of Mullaghmore and memories of Muckross Head, county Donegal
I once spent about a week hanging out with Caoimhin Mac Aoidh, noted Donegal fiddler and historian, particularly on all things Donegal fiddle. He wrote about the tune Maighdean Mhara Mhullach Mhoir, or The Maid or more precise, The Mermaid of Mullaghmore. I was driving up the coast of Donegal, on the way to the village of Teelin, […]
Today’s Marginalia: Station Two of the Glencolumcille Tura, a pilgrimage on the edge of the world
Glencolumcille, or in the Gaelic, has been a religious site for over 5,000 years. It was one of earliest Christian sites in Europe, dating to the sixth century. The landscape around the village is dotted with ancient sites from the neolithic period, but the Christians turned the landscape into a stations of the cross, based […]
A brief history of St. Patrick: Who was Patrick and what does he have to do with green beer?
St. Patrick’s day throughout the world has reduced the role of St. Patrick, and some would argue Ireland itself to a breakfast cereal character. Who was he? And why should we care?
The Fairy and the Fiddle
Faerie Ring in Tullyhorkey, county Donegal, Ireland, and the story of magical fiddles and pipes, photographed by history travel photographer Todd Atteberry for the History Trekker
