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
We had argued, well heatedly discussed all year the possibility of being invited to a wedding in Germany. I wasn’t winning and everything my husband Mike said was perfectly reasonable, it would be an expensive trip. Finally the invitation arrived on an evening when the house was packed with noisy cousins, an offspring and her…
Much is spoken of in Australian History of the hardship and cruelty suffered by the convicts during their time of punishment in Australia. In my family our convict ancestor is spoken of as a hero and the foundation of a very large group of families now spreading out over three states. However I cannot help…
Michael Kennedy was 20 years old in 1781, the leader of a gang of friends with energy, ambition and not much outlet for it in Dublin. So when his uncle Colonel William Baillie, commanding the fourth regiment of the East India Company’s native infantry, offered him a commission, he was delighted. One may suppose his…
The following is an Irish Story submitted by Nancy Hogan Wilson as part of a Reader Story competition.
Many Irish surnames have spread throughout the world over the last number of centuries. Here is just one example of so many surnames (Irish and otherwise) coming from a single husband and wife.
We returned last night from a trip to Dublin. We had an important job to do (more on that later in the letter), but we did get some time to catch up with friends and family. On Friday evening we were all kicking back in front of the fire and the telly—as you do—and on…
I first remember the word being used in the context of an “Irish Diaspora” when President Mary Robinson used to light a candle of welcome each night in all the windows of the presidential residence. A symbol of guidance and welcome for people of Irish descent spread throughout the world. Now there are about 80…
Let me start by asking you to do something. Close your eyes and think of Ireland. Let the images and sounds come wafting into your consciousness. Perhaps you are seeing green fields with stone walls? Or a wild blue sea beating off high cliffs and flowing onto white sands? How about empty bog land stretching…
This is a very different sort of letter today. My original plan was to talk a little about the pattern of emigration from Ireland over the last 300 years—and how that has been so linked to climate and harvest failures. But, sometimes feelings overtake facts. As I went through much of the wonderful literature—especially the…
I don’t know about you – but I am a big fan of the music of Van Morrison – I think most people would find something of beauty in his vast repertoire. But this morning, we’re going to use just one of his songs – “Coney Island” to guide us around south County Down. “Coming…