Podcast Archive
Welcome to the podcast archive page for "The Letter from Ireland Podcast". Here you'll find a link to all of our podcast episodes covering Irish Genealogy & Family History, Irish Surnames, Irish Culture & Customs, Ireland Travel and much more.
Browse the podcast episodes 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 podcasts.
All of our podcasts to date
Welcome to this special musical edition of the Letter from Ireland podcast. We take a tour around the five counties – Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon – of the Irish province of Connaught. We have chosen two songs/pieces of music from each County with plenty of history and stories along the way. We hope…
In this episode we look at two types of storyteller. First, we have the “bard” who composes songs to honour the deeds and exploits of the great (and not so great) among us. In this case, a certain gentleman called “Thady Quill” had a song composed in his honour which has lived on long past…
In this episode, we look at the time of the Brehon laws of Ireland and take an example of just some of these Gaelic common laws that held our society together. We also chat about the Brehon families and some of the Irish surnames associated with these families. We then go on to chat about…
In this episode, we feature two Irish Pub stories- intriguingly connected together. In the first story, we chat about the book McCarthy’s Bar – which gives a comical view of both the Irish Pub and the Irish by Pete McCarthy. We then travel to the pub featured on the cover of that book – McCarthy’s Bar…
Today we feature two Irish movie stars from the golden age of Hollywood – Grace Kelly and Maureen O’Hara. In one story we chat about the “Two Graces of County Mayo” and then we take a trip up Maureen O’Hara’s ancestry tree. We even manage to uncover songs on which they feature. Not to be…
In this extended musical edition of the Letter from Ireland podcast, we share 15 songs performed by 15 Irish artists. Each song has a connection with the song that went before it – and the one that goes after it. Hence the title! We feature artists you may already be familiar with – Van Morrison,…
In this episode we look at the journey taken by a branch of Vikings and their establishment of a Dukedom in what became known as “Normandy” in northern France. We look at their culture and traditions – traditions that they brought with them to England in 1066 and then onto Ireland in the late part…
In this week’s episode we look at the way that unmarried mothers – and other “social undesirables” were treated in Ireland, especially in the period from the 1940s to the 1960s. Carina reads out two letters – one on the Magdalene Laundries and the other shares the story of one mother who never gave up…
In today’s episode, we explore the different sort of Irish music that was coming onto the scene from the mid-1970s. We first look at the story of that great London-Irish band – The Pogues – and then onto the more subtle music of Paul Brady. In both cases, lots of background stories, music and craic.…
In this episode we take a musical trip around the nine counties of Ulster: Derry (Londonderry), Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan. Alongside the immortal “Danny Boy”, we feature at least one tune or song from each of the counties. I refer to a map while talking – and you can see…