Monthly Archives: January 2023

February 8th 2023

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Title ‘The Earliest Arrivals’
Speaker: John Dolan
Time: @ 7:45 PM
Location: Iona Pastoral Centre

Brief excerpt from: ‘The Earliest Arrivals/Humans in Offaly’, by John Dolan

“Long before homo sapiens emerged out of Africa dinosaurs roamed across the earth 200 – 145 million years ago. They roamed the European landscape and evidence of their existence can be found in nearly all European countries. Many examples have been found in Britain, mainly in the south.  A Sauropod found in Dorset has been dated to 168 – 166 million years old.

During the 1980s four unusual bones were found along the Antrim coastline but were not recognised. They sat in boxes in the National Museum Northern Ireland until 2020 when they were re-examined in an attempt to identify them. Two of the bones were identified as dinosaurs but from two different species. One of them was the leg bone of a two-footed meat-eating Megalosaurus from 166 million years ago, while the second bone came from a four-footed, plant-eating Scelidosaurus from 191 million years ago.  It is likely that these animals arrived in Ireland when Ireland and Europe were one land mass”.
Source: offalyhistory.blog

Megalosaurus & Scelidosaurus.

Aghnadarragh Mammoth tusk & Woolly Mammoth.

About the Author:
John Dolan is a prolific writer covering a diverse range of historical topics including:
Saint Piran – of Seir Kieran, Offaly? By John Dolan
Manuscripts from Early Offaly Monasteries. By John Dolan
Early Church Enclosures in Offaly. By John Dolan
The Earliest Arrivals/Humans in Offaly. By John Dolan
Crannógs in County Offaly. By John Dolan
The Round Towers of County Offaly. By John Dolan
The Dowris Hoard. By John Dolan
John O’Donovan’s Ordnance Survey Letters of King’s County, 1837 – 1838: Banagher, Clonmacnoise, Fercall, and Durrow. By John Dolan
John O’Donovan’s Ordnance Survey Letters of Kings County, 1837 – 1838: Scientific Survey, Clan Maliere and Placenames. By John Dolan
The Vikings in Offaly. By John Dolan

As you can see from the above list, many of John’s articles are posted and maintained on: https://offalyhistoryblog.wordpress.com/

January 11th 2023

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Title ‘The Civil War in Dublin’
Speaker: John Dorney
Time: @ 7:45 PM
Location: Iona Pastoral Centre

John Dorney’s book: ‘The Civil War in Dublin: The fight for the Irish Capital 1922-1924’

“While the Irish Civil War first erupted in Dublin, playing out through the seizure and eventual recapture of the Four Courts, it quickly swept over the entire country. In ‘The Civil War in Dublin’ John Dorney extends his study of Dublin beyond the Four Courts surrender, delivering shocking revelations of calculated violence and splits within the pro-Treaty armed forces. Dorney’s exacting research, using primary sources and newly available eyewitness testimonies from both sides of the conflict, provides total insight into how the entire city of Dublin operated under conditions of disorder and bloodshed: how civilians and guerrillas controlled the streets, female insurgents operated alongside their male counterparts, the patterns of IRA violence and National Army counter-insurgency alternated, and – for the first time – how the pro-Treaty ‘Murder Gang’ emerged from Michael Collins’ IRA Intelligence Department, ‘the Squad’. The Civil War in Dublin brings the city to life through meticulous detail and reveals unsettling and shocking truths about the extreme actions taken by a burgeoning Irish Free State and its Anti-Treaty opponents”.

John Dorney via theirishstory.com

About the author:
“John Dorney is an independent historian and chief editor of the Irish Story website. He is the author of ‘Peace After the Final Battle: The Story of the Irish Revolution 1912-1924’ (2014) and ‘Griffith College Dublin: A History of its Campus’ (2013)”.
Source: amazon.co.uk
Image: theirishstory.com

The Four Courts ablaze during the battle, 30 June 1922

Brief background to the Battle of Dublin:
The ‘Battle of Dublin’ was a week of street battles in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922 that marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. Six months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the recent Irish War of Independence, it was fought between the forces of the new Provisional Government and a section of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that opposed the Treaty.

The Irish Citizen Army also became involved in the battle, having supported the anti-Treaty IRA in the O’Connell Street area. The fighting began with an assault by Provisional Government forces on the Four Courts building, and ended in a decisive victory for the Provisional Government.
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Other sources: The Irish History Show: Episode 1 – The Civil War in Dublin and Cork via youtube.com