Remember Skibbereen. Or not.

Join us May 19th at 4 PM @sidneysussex.bsky.social for an insightful roundtable discussing my new book, Converting Ireland: religious education, language & colonialism! @manchesterup.bsky.social Link in the comment below. #ConvertingIreland #BookLaunch #RoundtableDiscussion #IrishHistory #MUP

Yes I'm aware of the context for the laundry's name, it's a well-known business.

Like everyone, I'm enjoying digging into the 1926 census. Has anyone else noticed that the household form for Eamon de Valera (though not the rest of his family) links to that for Sydney Beardmore... manager of the Swastika laundry?! nationalarchives.ie/collections/...

80 million people globally claim Irish ancestry – why the release of 1926 Irish census records is so momentus Plus, tips for your own census search once it’s released.

In advance of tomorrow's release here is a short piece on the historical Irish censuses based on my past and ongoing research #spéirgorm theconversation.com/80-million-p...

Congratulations Ciaran, this looks brilliant.

Excited to announce that my journal article on women printsellers in early nineteenth-century Dublin has been published in @eshsi.bsky.social It explores the gendered dynamics of the family print shop and how labour was divided in these domestic and commercial spaces.

Congratulations Ben!

Women’s Committee of the EHS on X: "As part of the @EcHistSoc centenary, the Women’s Committee will screen a retrospective, featuring women economic historians, in their own words, on the past, present and future of women in EH. Screening Friday, 10 April, 18:25, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, LSE. Short clip 👇 https://t.co/tFwN1BinfX" / X As part of the @EcHistSoc centenary, the Women’s Committee will screen a retrospective, featuring women economic historians, in their own words, on the past, present and future of women in EH. Screening Friday, 10 April, 18:25, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, LSE. Short clip 👇 https://t.co/tFwN1BinfX

Nice retrospective on the origins (and continued relevance!) of the women's committee of the Economic History Society: x.com/i/status/204...

Women’s History Network/Women’s History Association of Ireland Joint Book Prize We are delighted to announce that the WHN has teamed up with the Women’s History Association of Ireland to offer a joint annual book prize which awards £500 for an author’s first single-autho…

Great to see the new combined book prize for a first book in women's history, from @womenshistnet.bsky.social and @whaireland.bsky.social.
Entries can be made for research-based books published in 2025, until 31 July 2026. Spread the word!
womenshistorynetwork.org/womens-histo...

CALL FOR TEN (10) PARTICIPATION GRANTS | Circulating Faith: Christian Missions in a Global Perspective (1500–2000) International Conference — 16–18 September 2026 Fondazione Bruno Kessler – Italian-German Historical Institute (FBK-ISIG) Trento, Italy

10 grants available (up to €300) for travel and expenses to join us in Trento, Italy, 16-18 September, for postgrads and ECRs working on a topic related to 'Circulating Faith: Christian Missions in a Global Perspective (1500–2000)' deadline 30 April isig.fbk.eu/it/news/deta... #earlymodern 🗃️

Excellent, thanks Niamh!

Historian Christmas.

Maybe, but is the BL catalogue fully back to normal after the cyber attack yet?

Your influence is surely in there Dónal!

St Patrick and the joys of Hiberno-Latin with Dr Anthony Harvey

☘️Did you know that St Patrick's own words are the only surviving Latin narrative texts of his age to have been composed outside of Roman imperial territory? Have a listen to the latest episode of the podcast with brilliant lexicographer Dr Anthony Harvey @ria.ie 1/3☘️ open.spotify.com/episode/3ffC...

I wonder what history graduate wrote it for him??

✋The Shrine of St. Patrick’s Hand dates from the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It is still used to hold a relic believed to belong to Saint Patrick.

☘ 600 years later, the shrine is still in use today during St. Patrick’s Day mass at St. Patrick’s Church, Belfast.

Learn more → bit.ly/4s8lFaj

Painting of St Patrick enthroned and surrounded by Irish saints

Mosaic on church exterior with figures representing global spread of Catholic faith

Detail from decoration of the altar in the Irish chapel - a ‘Celtic’ cross against marble

Painting showing an Irish bishop being inspired by light shining through a Celtic cross in the sky (not so subtle symbolism!)

Sharing some more research pictures on #LáFhéilePhádraig - here is the Irish chapel in San Gioacchino in Rome. A late 19th-century building which celebrated the idea of Catholicism spreading across the world - ideas of ‘spiritual imperialism’ very evident in the mosaic in the decoration!

Interior of the early 19th century church of St Patrick in Limerick city

Hiberno modernism in Mayo - St Patrick’s in Newport, late 1910s

Interior of the very grand late 19th century church of St Patrick in Montreal

St Patrick’s church, Soho, London - this is a rebuilding of the original church on the site from the late 18th c - associated w Fr Arthur O’Leary

A selection of the many Catholic church and cathedral buildings all over the world, big and small, named in honour of St Patrick! Limerick, Mayo, Montreal and London! #LáFhéilePhádraig

Lovely to hear Department stalwart (with 45 years service) and Irish history legend Prof Jacqueline Hill give a paper about her father's experience as a POW in WWII this evening.

We are excited for the Society's Distinguished Lecture, which will be delivered tomorrow by Prof. Tyler Abinder.

There is still time to register here: www.eshsi.org

We are very sorry to learn of the death of Frank Prochaska, historian of philanthropy and monarchy, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 1990.

Aren't they great! Thanks Niamh.

Timely piece given recent anxiety about the security of access to Google books...

Fellowship opportunity in Dublin for early modernists:

The roof timbers in Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The roof timbers in Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church Youghal which have been carbon dated to 1170. Likely built by shipwrights so essentially an upside down boat. www.patrickcomerford.com/2021/08/sain... #speirgorm

We’re delighted to announce the society's 2026 Distinguished Lecture will be delivered by Prof Tyler Anbinder of George Washington University.

"The Surprising Socio-Economic Mobility of New York’s Great Famine Refugees"

Online, 4pm GMT (11am EST), Thurs. 5 Mar. 2026.

Register here: www.eshsi.org

Hopefully an answer to your question is forthcoming soon!

This is pretty disastrous for many of us. I sincerely hope it's temporary.