Series: Maynooth Studies in Local History

Print culture in Loughrea, 1850–1900

Reading, writing and printing in an Irish provincial town

Bernadette Lally

This study examines the demand for and supply of print in Loughrea in the second half of the nineteenth century. Literacy levels grew steadily throughout the pe…

The murder of Major Mahon, Strokestown, County Roscommon, 1847

Padraig Vesey

On 2 November 1847 Major Denis Mahon was murdered by an assassin near his home at Strokestown House. The murder sent shock waves through Ireland. Some sent it a…

The Fishery of Arklow, 1800–1950

Jim Rees

Surprisingly few Irish coastal communities have looked to the sea for their economic well-being. Arklow, Co. Wicklow was one of those exceptions. In 1836 it was…

'The Downfall of Hagan': Sligo Ribbonism in 1842

Jennifer Kelly

This study looks at the Ribbon secret society in Sligo town and county in the early nineteenth century. Comprising well over 3,000 members throughout the county…

Local Government in Nineteenth-Century County Dublin

The Grand Jury

David Broderick

Much has been written about the politics and government of nineteenth century Ireland at a national level. Yet the point at which government touched the lives o…

Restoration Strabane, 1660–1740

Economy and society in provincial Ireland

William Roulston

During the seventeenth century its larger and more imposing neighbour, Derry, often overshadowed Strabane, in the west of Ulster. Yet the story of Strabane in t…

A south Roscommon emigrant

Emigration and return, 1890–1920

Diane Dunnigan

Emigrants were a common sight in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ireland as they left their family farms to make their way to the boat at Queenstown or …

Edenderry, County Offaly, and the Downshire estate, 1790–1800

Ciarán Reilly

In the history of the 1798 rising in Ireland, Offaly is regarded as the forgotten county. It was not the scene of major military activity, but that does no mean…

The planters of Luggacurran, County Laois

A Protestant community, 1879–1927

Leigh-Ann Coffey

In late March 1922, a group of armed men forcibly evicted two protestant farmers from their homes at Luggacurran, County Laois. The evictions marked the beginni…

Smithfield and the Parish of St Paul, Dublin, 1698–1750

Brendan Twomey

In the 1720s William Hendrick was the leading property developer in the Smithfield area of Dublin. The civic administration of the area at this time was largely…

World War I and nationalist politics in County Louth, 1914–1920

Donal Hall

This study is an exposition of the experience of war and revolution in one rural county in Ireland. The origins of the 1914 split in nationalism are traced to t…

Kiltubrid, County Leitrim

Snapshots of a rural parish in the 1890s

Liam Kelly

Kiltubrid, a rural parish in south Leitrim, was designated a ‘congested district’ – a euphemism for an impoverished place – under the terms of the 1891 land act…