X-Nico

32 unusual facts about Ireland


1189 in Ireland

Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) writes Expugnato Hibernica about Henry II’s invasion of Ireland.

1760 in Great Britain

21–26 February - Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland, a force of French troops under the command of privateer François Thurot captures and holds the town and castle of Carrickfergus before retiring; the force is defeated (and Thurot killed) in a naval action in the Irish Sea on 28 February.

Adolf Mahr

Adolf Mahr (7 May 1887 - 27 May 1951) was the best-known Nazi in Ireland in the 1930s and one of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century Irish history.

Baron Dunleath

He was the third son of the second Baron Dunleath and notably served as Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland.

Baron Plunket

It was created in 1827 for the prominent Irish lawyer and Whig politician William Plunket.

Bishop of Lismore

The Bishop of Lismore, Ireland, a separate episcopal title which took its name after the town of Lismore in County Waterford, Ireland

Bridgetta

Bridgetta is the Italian version of the Irish name, Bridget.

Curraheen

Curraheen is the name of townlands in several counties in Ireland.

Dance Research Forum Ireland

It is a non-profit inter-disciplinary society for scholarship of dance, in all its manifestations, in Ireland and its diaspora.

Edward Rutherfurd

Ireland: Awakening (2006) titled The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Saga in North America

Gerard Tierney

Gerry Tierney (Gearóid Ó Tighearnaigh; IPA:ˈɟaɾˠoːdʲ oː ˈtʲɪjəɾˠn̪ˠiː), 1924-1979, was a popular bi-lingual Irish radio broadcaster for RTE.

Gubbarudda

Gubbarudda is a townland in Ireland three miles north-west from Arigna village (known nationally for its once active coal mines.) Gubbarudda is a very rural area also.

Hawarden Kite

The Hawarden Kite was a famous British scoop of 1885, an apparent instance of flying a kite, when Herbert Gladstone, son of the then Leader of the Opposition William Ewart Gladstone revealed to Edmund Rogers of the National Press Agency in London that his father now supported home rule for Ireland.

Headfort

Headfort (sometimes called 'Headfort House'), a stately home and boarding school in County Meath, Ireland.

Ireland's Own

The magazine was designed to offer "wholesome Irish Catholic fare" to challenge the appearance of British newspapers in Ireland like the News of the World (which were denounced as "scandal-sheets" that lowered the moral tone of late 19th century/early 20th century Ireland.

Ireland's Vanishing Triangle

Laois, Imelda disappeared on the 3rd of January 1994 with the last confirmed sighting of her being in Lomarard Street, Waterford.

Irish Woodsball League

The Irish Woodsball League (IWL) is a woodsball league held in Ireland.

Maolmórdha

Maolmórdha (Pronounced mahl MOR ee ah; Latin Milesius; English Myles) was a name used by several historical figures in Ireland

Maura Murphy

Maura Murphy, née McNamee (September 6, 1928 – October 5, 2005) was an Irish writer.

Michael Joseph Barry

Michael Joseph Barry (1817 – 23 January 1889) was an Irish poet, author, and political figure.

Mike Bonifer

Born on December 31, 1953, in Jasper, Indiana, Bonifer grew up on a farm near Ireland, Indiana, the oldest of six children of Bob and Fern (Henke) Bonifer.

Moore Brothers

The Moore Brothers were three Irish born brothers who became famous in the motion picture business in early Hollywood.

MV Kerlogue

On 2 April 1941 a British convoy was attacked by German bombers, two miles south of Tuskar Rock.

National Hunt flat race

National Hunt Flat races, informally known as Bumper races, are flat races run under National Hunt racing rules in Britain and Ireland.

Oswald Cornwallis

Their absence was allowed following the death of their brother, Lieutenant Fiennes Wykeham Mann Cornwallis who was killed in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence by the IRA.

Savoy Cinema

It also hosts the surprise film, which in 2006 was the first Irish screening of the film, 300.

Scotch-Irish

The Ulster Scots people, an ethnic group in Ulster, Ireland who trace their roots to settlers from Scotland and northern England

The Sunken Threshold

The Sunken Threshold is the debut album by Irish doom metal band Wreck of the Hesperus.

Vegelate

In some nations, including Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom, some popular chocolate products contain a proportion of vegetable fat (normally up to 5%).

Victor O'D. Power

His best-known creation is the woman of the roads, Kitty the Hare, "the most remarkable person that ever graced the pages of Ireland's Own" (Con Houlihan).

Viscount Brookeborough

It was created in 1952 for the Ulster Unionist politician and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Captain The Rt. Hon. Sir Basil Brooke, 5th Bt., P.C. (N.I.), M.P..

Zip cube

A Zip firelighter (or "zip cube") is a packaged small block of solid fuel containing kerosene, sold as a firelighter in Ireland, Canada and the United States, also in the UK, France & Belgium where they are the leading brand.


1951 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

The 1951 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 64th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1951 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

1977 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final

The 1977 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final was the 90th All-Ireland Final and the culmination of the 1977 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, an inter-county hurling tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

Annelise Hesme

As well as this, she has become particularly well known and popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland following the 2005 Renault Clio advert "France vs. Britain" directed by Ridley Scott’s daughter Jordan Scott who also directed the 2007 follow up spot "More Va Va Voom" again starring Hesme as Sophie and English actor Jeremy Sheffield as Ben.

Bandon, Oregon

It was named by George Bennet, an Irish peer, who settled nearby in 1873 and named the town after Bandon in Ireland, his hometown.

Barna

Notably, Cormac Folan of Freeport in Bearna represented Ireland in Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Bus Éireann

Additional services within Ireland include city services in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford and town services in Athlone, Balbriggan, Drogheda, Dundalk, Navan and Sligo.

Cian Ward

In the 2009 All-Ireland, he was the third highest top scorer after Donegal's Michael Murphy and Kerry's Colm Cooper.

Darby Field

Of Irish ancestry, if not born in Ireland, he was in Boston, Massachusetts, by 1636 and settled in Durham, New Hampshire, by 1638, where he ran a ferry from what is now called Durham Point to the town of Newington, across Little Bay.

Earl of Cork

Edward of Norwich, Earl of Rutland, the first son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III of England, favorite of his cousin Richard II, had been created Earl of Cork in the Peerage of Ireland during his nephew's personal reign.

Emergency Powers Act

Emergency Powers Act 1964 Emergency Powers (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964

Emmet Dalton

His company helped produce films such as The Blue Max, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and The Lion in Winter, all of which were filmed in Ireland.

Francisco de Tutavilla y del Rufo, Duque de San Germán

He conquered in 1674 Bellegarde Fort, 42° 27′ 31″ N, 2° 51′ 33″ E, French since the Peace of the Pyrenees of 1659 between France and Spain, but it was taken back by the mercenary Troop Commander Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg, (Heidelberg, Germany, 1615 - Battle of the Boyne, near Drogheda, Ireland, 1 July 1690 1690) on behalf of king Louis XIV of France.

Gurteen

Gorteen, a village in County Sligo, Ireland, often spelled Gurteen

Habeas Corpus Act 1862

In 1971 Lord Denning led the Court of Appeal in Re Keenan 1971 3 WLR 844 in saying that no English court has jurisdiction to issue a writ of habeas corpus anywhere in Ireland, whether in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

Hermit Songs

Written in 1953 on a grant from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, it takes as its basis a collection of anonymous poems written by Irish monks and scholars from the 8th to the 13th centuries, in translations by W. H. Auden, Chester Kallman, Howard Mumford Jones, Kenneth Jackson and Sean O'Faolain.

Holy Name of Jesus Catholic School

The children of HNJ parish attended Ascension School, which opened in September 1961, staffed by the Irish Sisters of Mercy, from Ardee, Ireland.

Irish Guard

Garda Síochána, police force in Ireland whose members are colloquially called "guards"

Irish Home Rule movement

1920: Fourth Irish Home Rule Act (replaced Third Act, passed and implemented as the Government of Ireland Act 1920) which established Northern Ireland as a Home Rule entity within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and attempted to establish Southern Ireland as another but instead resulted in the partition of Ireland and Irish independence through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922.

Ivar Ivask

Ivar Vidrik Ivask (December 17, 1927 Riga – September 23, 1992 Fountainstown, Ireland) was an Estonian poet and literary scholar.

James Dowdall

The Dowdalls of Louth originated at Dovedale in Derbyshire and became prominent in Ireland in the late Middle Ages.

Jessica Hammond

Jessica is the winner of the 2010 Northern Ireland Belfast CityBeat competition Young Star Search developed by Stuart Robinson (now Cool FM).

John Birchensha

The son of Ralph Birchensha, an English official in Ireland, and his wife Elizabeth, he lost both his parents while still quite young, and was in the household of George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare, up to the Irish rebellion of 1641.

Julie-Anne Dineen

She followed her chart success with a Top 3 hit in Ireland, a cover of River Deep – Mountain High" released in October 2009.

Llanrumney

Notables who objected included Rumney High School Governing Body, Fields in Trust, Alun Michael MP, David Melding AM, Lorraine Barrett AM, Andrew R.T. Davies AM, Cllrs Cook, Parry, Ireland, Hudson, Morgan, Joyce and RREEL.

Merlin Park Regional Hospital

Merlin Park Regional Hospital now called Merlin Park University Hospital is a HSE public hospital in Galway in Ireland.

Mint julep

These mint juleps were served in gold-plated cups with silver straws, and were made from Woodford Reserve bourbon, mint imported from Ireland, spring water ice cubes from the Bavarian Alps, and sugar from Australia.

Nicky Ryan

They currently reside in Killiney, Ireland, and have two daughters, Ebony and Persia.

Periclase

In addition to its type locality, it is reported from Predazzo, Tyrol, Austria; Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland; Broadford, Skye and the island of Muck, Scotland; León, Spain; the Bellerberg volcano, Eifel district, Germany; Nordmark and Långban, Varmland, Sweden; and Kopeysk, southern Ural Mountains, Russia.

Portora

Portora Castle in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

Prince Ernest Augustus, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale

Although he was a British peer and a prince of Great Britain and Ireland, he continued to consider himself an exiled monarch of a German realm and refused to disclaim his succession rights to Hanover, making his home in Gmunden, Upper Austria.

Retail in the Republic of Ireland

Notably, many major British 'high street' names now operate in the Republic of Ireland, such as Dixons, Next, Debenhams, Topshop, Boots, Superdrug, Argos, Dorothy Perkins, Maplin, Currys, T.K. Maxx, PC World, Game Stop and others.

Rothechtaid

Rothechtaid Rotha, son of Róán, son of Failbe, son of Cas Cétchaingnech, son of Faildergdóit, apparently king of the eastern midland kingdom of the Gailenga and High King of Ireland

RTÉ Board

The RTÉ Board is a seven-member body which makes policy and guiding corporate direction for RTÉ, Ireland's state public broadcaster.

Scotch-Irish American

In reaction to the proposal by Charles I and Thomas Wentworth to raise an army manned by Irish Catholics to put down the Covenanter movement in Scotland, the Parliament of Scotland had threatened to invade Ireland in order to achieve "the extirpation of Popery out of Ireland" (according to the interpretation of Richard Bellings, a leading Irish politician of the time).

Seek the Fair Land

Dominick Macmahon’s wife is killed during the Siege of Drogheda, in County Louth and after the ensuing massacre of the town's inhabitants he flees to the west of Ireland with his young son and daughter and a wounded priest, Father Sebastian.

Short title catalogue

STC: A. W. Pollard and G. R. Redgrave, editors: A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of English books printed abroad 1475-1640. Second edition, revised and enlarged, begun by W. A. Jackson and F. S. Ferguson, completed by K. F. Pantzer.

Sir John Newport, 1st Baronet

He took part in the convention of volunteer delegates which met in Dublin under the presidency of James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont in November 1783, and was appointed a member of the committee of inquiry into the state of the borough representation in Ireland.

Sir William Edward Hercules Verner, 3rd Baronet

He died at 30 years of age on 8 June 1886 of cirrhosis of the liver and was buried at Loughgall in Ireland.

Stefan Terblanche

Terblanche played in 37 tests for South Africa, scoring 19 tries, including a South African test record of four tries (equalled with Chester Williams and Pieter Rossouw) on debut against Ireland at Bloemfontein on 13 June 1998, which he later bettered by scoring a then record five tries against Italy on 19 June 1999.

Swastika Laundry

The Swastika Laundry was a laundry founded in 1912, located on Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, a district of Dublin, Ireland.

Sydney Cricket Club

They hold claim to finding Tasmanian Tigers sensation Brendan Drew and were once the home of Graham Thorpe, Nathan Bracken and Ireland 2007 World Cup hero Jeremy Bray.

The Peeler and the Goat

The Penal Laws had been passed with the intent of persecuting the Irish Catholic population and Sir Robert Peel had been appointed Secretary of Ireland by the British Government in 1812.

Timeline of St. John's history

1919 – St. John's was the starting point for the first non-stop transatlantic aircraft flight, by Alcock and Brown in a modified Vickers Vimy IV bomber, in June 1919, departing from Lester's Field in St. John's and ending in a bog near Clifden, Connemara, Ireland.

Treaty of Nice

The Irish government, having obtained the Seville Declaration on Ireland's policy of military neutrality from the European Council, decided to have another referendum on the Treaty of Nice on Saturday, 19 October 2002.

TV Now

The event is generally regarded as a prestigious occasion both nationally in Ireland and internationally, with cast members of popular British soaps such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders and Hollyoaks flying to Ireland to be present and to collect their awards.

UNRIC

Coolplanet2009 has joined forces with numerous so-called Cool Friends and Partners, such as Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Good Planet, the Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós, Björk’s NGO Náttúra and the three chairwomen of the Road to Copenhagen: Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission, Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.

Veerstichting

David Trimble MLA, former President of Northern Ireland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Dr. Javier SolanaSecretary-General of the Council of the EU.

Vergilius of Salzburg

Around 745 he left Ireland, intending to visit the Holy land, but, like many of his countrymen, who seemed to have adopted this practice as a work of piety, he settled down in France, where he was received with great favour by Pippin the Younger then Mayor of the Palace under Childeric III of Franconia.

Warren Humphreys

He had a successful amateur career, winning the 1971 English Amateur and playing on that year's winning Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team.

William Ballantyne Hodgson

He contributed a preface and notes to Horace Mann's Report of an Educational Tour in Germany, &c., 1846; edited, with Henry James Slack, the memorial edition (1865, &c.) of the Works of William Johnson Fox; and translated Count Cavour's Thoughts on Ireland, &c.