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35 unusual facts about ireland


1189 in Ireland

Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) writes Expugnato Hibernica about Henry II’s invasion of Ireland.

1760 in Great Britain

21–26 February - Seven Years' War: At the Battle of Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland, a force of French troops under the command of privateer François Thurot captures and holds the town and castle of Carrickfergus before retiring; the force is defeated (and Thurot killed) in a naval action in the Irish Sea on 28 February.

Adolf Mahr

Adolf Mahr (7 May 1887 - 27 May 1951) was the best-known Nazi in Ireland in the 1930s and one of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century Irish history.

Anne Crofton, 1st Baroness Crofton

The honour was instead bestowed on his widow Anne, Lady Crofton, who on 1 December 1797 was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baroness Crofton.

Ballytarsna

Ballytarsna is the name of townlands in several counties in Ireland.

Baron Dunleath

He was the third son of the second Baron Dunleath and notably served as Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland.

His grandson, the fourth Baron, was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the Alliance Party.

Baron Plunket

It was created in 1827 for the prominent Irish lawyer and Whig politician William Plunket.

Barrow Street

Barrow Street, Dublin, home of Ireland's National Performing Arts School, Google Europe, and rock band U2's The Factory studio complex, among many other high-profile tenants

Bridgetta

Bridgetta is the Italian version of the Irish name, Bridget.

Cocktail sauce

The common form of cocktail sauce in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, France and Belgium, usually consists of mayonnaise mixed with a tomato sauce to the same pink color as prawns, producing a result that could be compared to fry sauce.

Curraheen

Curraheen is the name of townlands in several counties in Ireland.

Edward Rutherfurd

Ireland: Awakening (2006) titled The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Saga in North America

Gerard Tierney

Gerry Tierney (Gearóid Ó Tighearnaigh; IPA:ˈɟaɾˠoːdʲ oː ˈtʲɪjəɾˠn̪ˠiː), 1924-1979, was a popular bi-lingual Irish radio broadcaster for RTE.

Hawarden Kite

The Hawarden Kite was a famous British scoop of 1885, an apparent instance of flying a kite, when Herbert Gladstone, son of the then Leader of the Opposition William Ewart Gladstone revealed to Edmund Rogers of the National Press Agency in London that his father now supported home rule for Ireland.

Headfort

Headfort (sometimes called 'Headfort House'), a stately home and boarding school in County Meath, Ireland.

Industrial Schools Act 1868

Industrial Schools Act 1868 was an Act of Parliament which created Industrial schools in Ireland to care for neglected, orphaned and abandoned children.

Ireland's Vanishing Triangle

Laois, Imelda disappeared on the 3rd of January 1994 with the last confirmed sighting of her being in Lomarard Street, Waterford.

Irish Law Times

The journal is now published 20 times per year in Dublin, Ireland, by Thomson Round Hall.

John Harrison O'Donnell

He was born in Simcoe, Upper Canada, the son of John O'Donnell, a native of Ireland, and was educated at Victoria University and Trinity Medical College.

John Hume

In 2010 he was named "Ireland's Greatest" in a public poll by Irish national broadcaster RTÉ to find the greatest person in Ireland's history.

Maolmórdha

Maolmórdha (Pronounced mahl MOR ee ah; Latin Milesius; English Myles) was a name used by several historical figures in Ireland

Maura Murphy

Maura Murphy, née McNamee (September 6, 1928 – October 5, 2005) was an Irish writer.

MV Kerlogue

On 2 April 1941 a British convoy was attacked by German bombers, two miles south of Tuskar Rock.

Oswald Cornwallis

Their absence was allowed following the death of their brother, Lieutenant Fiennes Wykeham Mann Cornwallis who was killed in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence by the IRA.

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership

To date the organisation has been funded primarily by governments including: Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, The United States and the European Commission.

Ross Farm Museum

During their return to Britain, they survived their ship being wrecked on the Tuskar Rock off the coast of Wexford, Ireland.

Savoy Cinema

It also hosts the surprise film, which in 2006 was the first Irish screening of the film, 300.

Simple Kid

Forming when he was 17, the band was composed of a group of friends from Cork, Ireland.

The Sunken Threshold

The Sunken Threshold is the debut album by Irish doom metal band Wreck of the Hesperus.

Tony Was an Ex-Con

Tony Was An Ex-Con is the second studio album released by the Irish indie act The Coronas, released 25 September 2009 by 3ú Records.

Vegelate

In some nations, including Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom, some popular chocolate products contain a proportion of vegetable fat (normally up to 5%).

Victor O'D. Power

His best-known creation is the woman of the roads, Kitty the Hare, "the most remarkable person that ever graced the pages of Ireland's Own" (Con Houlihan).

Viscount Brookeborough

It was created in 1952 for the Ulster Unionist politician and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Captain The Rt. Hon. Sir Basil Brooke, 5th Bt., P.C. (N.I.), M.P..

Zip cube

A Zip firelighter (or "zip cube") is a packaged small block of solid fuel containing kerosene, sold as a firelighter in Ireland, Canada and the United States, also in the UK, France & Belgium where they are the leading brand.


1902 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

The 1902 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the fifteenth All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1902 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

1907 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

The 1907 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the twentieth All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1907 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

1977 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final

The 1977 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final was the 90th All-Ireland Final and the culmination of the 1977 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, an inter-county hurling tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

1984 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final

Pat Stakelum, Seán Kenny and Jimmy Finn, Tipperary’s three-in-a-row All-Ireland winning captains of 1949, 1950 and 1951 were the next players to be introduced to the Thurles crowd.

1984–85 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship

The 1984–85 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship was the 15th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship, an inter-county knockout competition for Ireland's top championship clubs representing each county.

1997 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

The 1997 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 110th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1997 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

Aisling

She laments the current state of the Irish people and predicts an imminent revival of their fortunes, usually linked to the return of the Roman Catholic House of Stuart to the thrones of Britain and Ireland.

Anne Crofton, 1st Baroness Crofton

Anne Crofton, 1st Baroness Crofton (11 January 1751 – 12 August 1817) was an Irish suo jure peeress.

Anne de Graaf

Anne de Graaf was born in San Francisco, graduated from Stanford University, and currently lives in Ireland and the Netherlands with her husband and their two children.

Bandon, Oregon

It was named by George Bennet, an Irish peer, who settled nearby in 1873 and named the town after Bandon in Ireland, his hometown.

Barna

Notably, Cormac Folan of Freeport in Bearna represented Ireland in Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Channel 50

TV50, a series of events in 2012 celebrating the 50th anniversary of RTÉ Television, Ireland

Charles Howard-Bury

A member of the Howard family, he was born at Charleville Castle, King's County, Ireland, the only son of Captain Kenneth Howard-Bury (1846–1885), son of the Honourable James Howard.

Charlie Landsborough

However, in 1994 his song "What Colour is the Wind", which tells the story of a young blind child’s attempts to envision the world, began to be played in Ireland, eventually reaching No. 1 in the Irish charts after a TV appearance on RTE's Kenny Live Show.

Cian Ward

In the 2009 All-Ireland, he was the third highest top scorer after Donegal's Michael Murphy and Kerry's Colm Cooper.

Emmet Dalton

His company helped produce films such as The Blue Max, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and The Lion in Winter, all of which were filmed in Ireland.

Giovanni Battista Rinuccini

Rinuccini hoped that by doing this he could influence the Confederate's strategic policy away from doing a deal with Charles I and the Royalists in the English Civil War and towards the foundation of an independent Catholic-ruled Ireland.

Gray squirrel

The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada; introduced into Britain, Ireland, western North America, Italy, and South Africa

Habeas Corpus Act 1862

In 1971 Lord Denning led the Court of Appeal in Re Keenan 1971 3 WLR 844 in saying that no English court has jurisdiction to issue a writ of habeas corpus anywhere in Ireland, whether in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

Ivar Ivask

Ivar Vidrik Ivask (December 17, 1927 Riga – September 23, 1992 Fountainstown, Ireland) was an Estonian poet and literary scholar.

Jessica Hammond

Jessica is the winner of the 2010 Northern Ireland Belfast CityBeat competition Young Star Search developed by Stuart Robinson (now Cool FM).

John Blelloch

Since 1998, he has been the co-chair of the Northern Ireland Sentence Review Commission along with Brian Currin.

Julie-Anne Dineen

She followed her chart success with a Top 3 hit in Ireland, a cover of River Deep – Mountain High" released in October 2009.

Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas

Recent presenters have included Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches; Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, former Master of the Order; Rabbi Jack Bemporad of the Center for Interreligious Understanding; Archbishop Luis Ladaria, SJ, of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Mary McAleese, president emeritus of Ireland.

Mark Byrne

In 2005 Byrne won a bronze medal playing for Republic of Ireland U18 in the European Youth Olympic Festival.

Markwell

Clyde Markwell, architect and urban designer from Northern Ireland

Merlin Park Regional Hospital

Merlin Park Regional Hospital now called Merlin Park University Hospital is a HSE public hospital in Galway in Ireland.

Mick Lawler

With Kilkenny Lawler won an All-Ireland title and two Leinster titles.

Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall

The latter, returning to Ireland, was settled at Drimnagh, near Dublin, where his posterity remained until the reign of James I.

Nicky Ryan

They currently reside in Killiney, Ireland, and have two daughters, Ebony and Persia.

Periclase

In addition to its type locality, it is reported from Predazzo, Tyrol, Austria; Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland; Broadford, Skye and the island of Muck, Scotland; León, Spain; the Bellerberg volcano, Eifel district, Germany; Nordmark and Långban, Varmland, Sweden; and Kopeysk, southern Ural Mountains, Russia.

Portadown College

Portadown College (often shortened to the College) is an academic selective grammar school in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, founded in 1924.

Retail in the Republic of Ireland

Notably, many major British 'high street' names now operate in the Republic of Ireland, such as Dixons, Next, Debenhams, Topshop, Boots, Superdrug, Argos, Dorothy Perkins, Maplin, Currys, T.K. Maxx, PC World, Game Stop and others.

Rossmore, New South Wales

There was a horse stud in the area called Rossmoor Stud which is believed to have been named after Rossmore Lodge a famous horse stud in Kildare, Ireland.

Rothechtaid

Rothechtaid Rotha, son of Róán, son of Failbe, son of Cas Cétchaingnech, son of Faildergdóit, apparently king of the eastern midland kingdom of the Gailenga and High King of Ireland

Scotch-Irish

The Ulster Scots people, an ethnic group in Ulster, Ireland who trace their roots to settlers from Scotland and northern England

Seek the Fair Land

Dominick Macmahon’s wife is killed during the Siege of Drogheda, in County Louth and after the ensuing massacre of the town's inhabitants he flees to the west of Ireland with his young son and daughter and a wounded priest, Father Sebastian.

Short title catalogue

STC: A. W. Pollard and G. R. Redgrave, editors: A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of English books printed abroad 1475-1640. Second edition, revised and enlarged, begun by W. A. Jackson and F. S. Ferguson, completed by K. F. Pantzer.

Sir George Staunton, 1st Baronet

He was born in Cargins, Co Galway, Ireland and educated at the Jesuit College, Toulouse, France (abtaining an MD in 1758) and the School of Medicine in Montpellier, France.

Sir William Edward Hercules Verner, 3rd Baronet

He died at 30 years of age on 8 June 1886 of cirrhosis of the liver and was buried at Loughgall in Ireland.

Sir William St Quintin, 3rd Baronet

In 1717 he became Commissioner of the Alienation Office, and in 1720 was appointed joint Vice-Treasurer, Receiver General and Paymaster of Ireland, offices he held until his death.

Stefan Terblanche

Terblanche played in 37 tests for South Africa, scoring 19 tries, including a South African test record of four tries (equalled with Chester Williams and Pieter Rossouw) on debut against Ireland at Bloemfontein on 13 June 1998, which he later bettered by scoring a then record five tries against Italy on 19 June 1999.

The Peeler and the Goat

The Penal Laws had been passed with the intent of persecuting the Irish Catholic population and Sir Robert Peel had been appointed Secretary of Ireland by the British Government in 1812.

Third English Civil War

At the end of May 1650 Cromwell turned over his command in Ireland to Henry Ireton and returned to England.

TV Now

The event is generally regarded as a prestigious occasion both nationally in Ireland and internationally, with cast members of popular British soaps such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders and Hollyoaks flying to Ireland to be present and to collect their awards.

UNRIC

Coolplanet2009 has joined forces with numerous so-called Cool Friends and Partners, such as Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Good Planet, the Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós, Björk’s NGO Náttúra and the three chairwomen of the Road to Copenhagen: Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission, Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.

Warren Humphreys

He had a successful amateur career, winning the 1971 English Amateur and playing on that year's winning Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team.

William Edgeworth

Edgeworth's surveying work in Ireland included soundings in the River Inny and the mapping of bogs.

Willie Doonan

He was also a noted soccer player and played for Dundalk F.C. for a couple of seasons missing out on Cavan’s All Ireland final defeat to Meath in 1949.