History & Folklore

One of the more positive aspects to emerge out of this global pandemic has been a greater appreciation and discovery of one’s locality, county and even country. Previously hidden beauty spots are now being explored and utilised and there has been a phenomenal switch to this lifestyle in the last […]

The abundance of honey in early Ireland can be measured from the size of the vessels used either to collect the honeycombs or to pay tribute to an overlord, or for kitchen use. A barrel, so large and heavy that it could be lifted only as far as the knees […]

There was a tiny little townland in County Clare called Ballykilty. In the middle of the 18th century when the landed aristocracy was in the ascendency, a man, who had never set foot in Ireland, bought extensive lands in the area. He duly renamed his lands in that townland as […]

The ‘Cailleach Bhéara’ (Hag of Beara) is a mythical old woman in Irish literature and folklore, associated with west Munster, but especially with the Beara Peninsula in West Cork.  Originally her name was ‘Boí’, a variant of the word for a cow, ‘bó’,  At the tip of the Beara Peninsula […]