County Cork

Niall of the Nine Hostages

Do You Carry Niall of the Nine Hostages DNA?

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.

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Poulnabrone Dolmen , The Burren, County Clare

How The Celts Celebrated The Start Of Summer

The month of May, or as we call it in Irish “Bealtaine” (pronounced “ba-yowl tanna”) heralds the start of our Irish Summer.

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Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty

Join Us on This Trip from Cobh to Ellis Island (#810)

In this special episode of the Letter from Ireland show we start our journey in Cobh (Queenstown) in County Cork. We chat with the manager of the Cobh Heritage Centre who has his own immigration stories to tell. We then take the route across the Atlantic that our ancestors would have followed (just slightly upgraded!)…

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Irish celtic knot

Look Through This Window into a Celtic World (#809)

In this week’s episode we go back in time. First we go back to a time when the first Celtic peoples arrived in Ireland – we then go back even further to look at the period when the Celts appeared on the continent of Europe for the first time. Much of this “history” is relayed…

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View of Little Skellig from Skellig Michael across the water.

From Carnivale to An Irish Easter (#808)

Today we’ll have a look at a very old Irish boy’s name used by the fearsomely names “Niall of the Nine Hostages”. It’s one that has worked it’s 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…

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