In this very special episode we take a trip around Inishmore - the largest of the Aran Islands - in the company of Cyril O'Flaherty. Cyril is a well known local historian and artist and gives a special insight into many old Irish culture and traditions as we travel around - many of which are still alive in this most beautiful of settings. Along the way, Carina and Mike have plenty of chat, craic and music. We do hope you enjoy! Support the Letter from Ireland Show: Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike ..read more

In this episode we take a trip inside the "Hedge Schools" of Ireland - places of learning that were dotted around Ireland right up to the mid-1800s. We also look at the prevalence of so many biblical/latin first names in Ireland - names such as Jeremiah or Cornelius - and explain just why they were so popular. And lots of great music to enjoy along the way! Support the Letter from Ireland Show: Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALette ..read more

Join us as we attend a Saint Patrick's Day Parade of Story and Song. In this episode we sharetwo stories - one all about the places in Ireland where Saint Patrick is said to have walked and the next looking at the Shamrock and the gorse, two plants associated with this time of year in Ireland. We've lots of great Irish music and song along the way! Enjoy! Music featured in this episode: "Boil the Breakfast Early" performed by The Chieftains. "A Song for Ireland" performed by Dé Dannaan and Mary Black. "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" performed by Paddy Reilly. Support the Letter from Ireland Sho ..read more

This week we have a special episode that takes you around ten counties on the island of Ireland. We stop off at each point and share a song - as well as more on the place and the person featured in the song. Please note that this episode was broadcast in a different format inside our Green Room - and in that show we dedicated the first song to Carina's mum who died just before it was broadcast. She lived in Cork - and so the first place we visited was county Cork on the list! Songs Featured in This Episode (You can see full shownotes and the map mentioned here): "When You Were Sweet Sixteen ..read more

In today's episode we share some old Irish names - quite beautiful ones - that are just some of our favourites for boys and girls. Perhaps you already have one or two in your own family? We also share the story of Jimmy Hasty, an Irish footballer from Dundalk in County Louth and how I learnt a good lesson when I received som particular feedback on this story from one of our readers. Running through today's episode we have the beautiful music of Cork songwriter Jimmy McCarthy. We hope you enjoy ..read more

This week we look at one of the most Irish of cities outside Ireland - the city of Liverpool on the western shores of Britain. It's a place that has seen over a million Irish pass through its port to stay in England, Wales and Scotland or to head to places further afield such as the USA, Canada, Australia and other locations. We chat about just some of the Irish families who decided to stay in Liverpool - and their very famous descendants, four lads who formed a band called The Beatles. We then look at just one Liverpool dock gate through which over a million Irish passed as they made their wa ..read more

In this episode we look at two types of storyteller. First, we have the "bard" who composes songs to honour the deeds and exploits of the great (and not so great) among us. In this case, a certain gentleman called "Thady Quill" had a song composed in his honour which has lived on long past himself. We then move on to a storyteller who was immortalised in the book "The Tailor and Ansty". With plenty of Irish music and song to keep things lively along the way from the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Enjoy ..read more

In this special Irish family history episode we take two letters from our Green Room members. We chat about the approach they should take to uncover more about their respective Irish ancestral homelands. The first letter comes from one of our members in Australia and shares the story of her Irish Irish ancestors. She wonders how to go about discovering the actual origin for these ancestors in Ireland. Mike shares his approach - and comes up with a target destination! In the second letter we chat about how people often jump back to the Irish records too soon - and often jump to incorrect conclu ..read more

In this special episode we choose one of our Green Room members (see more about the Green Room here) and accompany them on a genealogical trip back to County Cork. Cathy Abraham lives in Boston, USA and her great-grandparents arrived there in the 1870s from County Cork. They were Timothy O'Callaghan and Ellen Richardson. The story went that Timothy was a poor farm-hand on Ellen's parents farm just outside Cork City. They eloped to America as Ellen's parents did not approve of a match between them. Cathy was keen to dig a little more in this story as well as finding and visiting the places asso ..read more

In this episode we look at a very difficult time in Ireland - one that triggered a time of death across the population of the island as well as emigration for many generations afterwards. I'm talking, of course, about "An Gorta Mór" - also known as "The Great Hunger" or "The Great Famine" of the mid 1800s. The first letter looks at a particular landless class in Ireland - who formed a sizeable percentage of our population - but who were, more or less, wiped out during the Famine. I wrote the second letter when I came across an account from 1847 which profiled particular families in a townland ..read more