Letter Archive
Welcome to the letter archive page for the weekly "Letter from Ireland". We started to write these letters in 2013 covering Irish Genealogy & Family History, Irish Surnames, Irish Culture & Customs and Ireland Travel, here you'll find a link to all of them.
Browse the letters listed on this page and jump to one that interests you, or enter a placename, surname or other item in the search box below to see related letters.
All of our weekly letters to date
Today we’re going to travel to an ancient Irish castle overlooking the lakes of Killarney in County Kerry. It’s position and history tells a wider story of the people who lived in this area over the centuries. Read on to find out more.
Today we look at a very old Irish boy’s name. It’s one that has worked its way around the world as both a given name and a surname. The name is “Niall” (pronounced “Nile” in Ireland). Do you have a relative with the name Niall (or maybe Neil or Neal)? Did you know that the name Niall means “champion” in old Irish? It’s a name with an important place in Irish culture. Let’s take a closer look.
The month of May, or as we call it in Irish “Bealtaine” (pronounced “ba-yowl tanna”) heralds the start of our Irish Summer.
A somewhat contentious question for this week. Does the Irish shamrock best represent Ireland – or is there another contender? This question was on the mind of our guest contributor for this week – Simon O’Flynn, who recently retired from his Butcher’s shop after 68 years in the business. Simon often shares a story or…
This week sees the celebration of Saint Patrick’s day here in Ireland and in many places with a strong Irish connection around the world. Maybe you will attend a Saint Patrick’s day parade or celebration in your own part of the world? I thought it would be fun to take you on a tour today…
What do you think of when you hear the word “Celt” or “Celtic”? Maybe you picture druids with flowing robes in a misty setting near a stone circle, or maybe you think of the collective peoples of Ireland, Scotland and Wales? Surprisingly little is known for sure about the roots and origins of the Celts.…
When I was growing up in Ireland as a young Roman Catholic, a number of things were true for the majority of us Roman Catholics at the time: Few of us youngsters paid much attention to the reflections, suggestions and instructions issued within those letters. The pastoral Letters were, in our minds, aimed at the…
Our son shared the above photo of our grandchild, Aoife, pottering around in their garden last week. As soon as they moved into their new home, he and his daughter spent time planting up a vegetable patch and there was great joy seeing those first carrots appear. She is now fascinated by all the new…
I was going through some photographs from the past few years and came upon the one that I feature in today’s letter. It’s a photo of my good self sitting in a field in my father’s old farm in west County Cork on a beautiful day in July. It got me wondering just how many of our…
Many readers often ask about the origin of an Irish first name in their family tree. Sometimes, it’s an unlikely Irish name such as “Jeremiah” – or sometimes a rare name such as “Gobnait”. It’s no secret that many of our shared Irish roman catholic ancestors borrowed names from the saints and angels of the…