County Wicklow gets its name from the Cauci tribe who originated beyond the Rhine - They called the land 'Wick'. The Vikings added the word ‘-lo’, to this, which means ‘meadow,’ thereby creating the name ‘Bay of the river meadows.’

County Louth is named after Lugh, a god, hero, and king of the ancient Irish. Historically, the placename has had various spellings: 'Lugmad', 'Lughmhaigh', & 'Lughmhadh'. Lú is the modern simplified form.

[Castle Roche, Dundalk]

County Wexford was called 'Waesfjord' by the Vikings - meaning 'fjord of the mud-flats'. Its Irish name 'Loch Garman' refers to a legendary warrior called Garman Garbh, who was drowned at the river Slaney by a wicked enchantress.

[Pikemen of Wexford, 1798 Memorial]

11 February: Feast of St Gobnait, 6th c. Irish patron saint of bees and beekeepers. Her connection to bees began when an angel told her to find her “resurrection place” - Important as in Celtic mythology the soul departed the body as a bee or a butterfly.

Mistake in deletion.

Bees have always been known as special creatures - In the Bible the epitome of Eden-like fertility is a "land of milk and honey": bees are symbolic of God's perfect order & paradise. Similarly in Irish myth, vessels of sacred mead comprise the food of the gods and immortality.

A favourite delicacy in medieval Ireland was 'milsén', a thickened butter that was cooked with honey. Today the term survives as milseán ('sweet, candy') a word people use to describe their favourite sweets.

County Meath, meaning "the middle kingdom," was one of five ancient provinces of Ireland. It was created by Tuathal Techtma (ancestor of the O'Neill) as the seat of High Kingship: a place to exercise rule which favoured no single kingdom.

Victoria Embankment, London 1874 - John O'Connor

Born in Derry, O'Connor was greatly popular for his iconic scene paintings.

Evening in Ludgate, London by John O'Connor, 1887 with St Paul's and the Wren church of St Martin's.