The Kern was the original Irish 'forest fighter'. These lightly armed warriors lived in the deep forest & employed tactics to wear down their foe. The Elizabethans called them 'woodkerne' - a hated symbol of an unconquered land made up of wolves and Irishmen.

The Harvesters - Mary Swanzy (1882-1978)

Born in Merrion Square, Dublin, Swanzy was arguably Ireland's first modernist painter. Her travels around Europe added great variety to her palette, yet her strongest interest lay in depicting Irish themes.

'The Grace' - Mary Swanzy (1882-1978), Bread and potatoes on the table, surrounded by the dark walls of a small cottage. A powerful insight into rural Irish life from early last century.

The monastic ruins of Clonmacnoise is the historical burial place of the high kings of Tara and Connacht. Ireland's 'Valley of the Kings' in our own Co Offaly.

Durrow Abbey in County Offaly has a long & rich history.

Founded by St Columba in 553, it came to house the Book of Durrow during the Viking age. It was the site of Hugh de Lacy's murder, and was the only European observatory to record the supernova of 1054.

The funeral of Easter Rising hero Thomas Ashe took place #OnThisDay in 1917. He died due to forced feeding while on hunger strike. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

This day 59 years ago – 30 September 1959 – the first feature-length Irish language film, Mise Éire, premiered as the closing film of the Cork Film Festival.

In attendance at the screening was Seán MacEntee, the then-Tánaiste.

Its noscript was taken from a poem by Patrick Pearse.

100 years ago the RMS Leinster was torpedoed off Dublin Bay by a German U-boat, an attack that was Ireland's worst maritime disaster

569 killed - men, women & children - civilians & soldiers from Ireland, Wales & England
https://archive.is/eKVXX

The Irish brigade led by John MacBride, flying a flag sent by Maud Gonne for those fighting the British Empire during the Second Boer War which he kept. Before his execution following the Easter Rising, some of John MacBride's last words were 'mind the flag'.

'There can be no peace between the right and wrong, between the truth and falsehood, between justice and oppression, between freedom and tyranny. Between them it is eternal war until the wrong is righted, until the true thing is established, until freedom is won.' - P.H. Pearse