Thomas W. Croke was born in Cork in 1824 and after serving as Bishop of Auckland in New Zealand, became Archbishop of Cashel in 1875. He was a strong supporter of Irish Nationalism and as a result shared a passion for Irish freedom with the Bishop of Raphoe, Dr. Patrick O’Donnell. On Friday 31st July
Read MoreTHE US CIVIL WAR & THE MAN FROM GLENSWILLY
Thursday 21st July 2016 marks the 155th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major engagement in the American Civil War. In an open plain near the Potamac River in Virginia on July 21st 1861, the Union Forces of Abraham Lincoln came face to face with the Confederate Army under the command
Read MoreON THIS DAY: 12th July 1785: WHISKEY GALORE IN LETTERKENNY!!
The Freeman’s Journal on the 17th October 1785 had the following advertisement displayed: “The Commissioners of his Majesty’s Revenue having received information upon oath, that on the night of the 12th July last, the cellar of Alexander Hawes, Officer of Excise in the town of Letterkenny, which is made use of as a store for...
Read MoreON THIS DAY: 12th July 1822: THE BATTLE OF SPRACKBURN
On this day, 194 years ago, the so-called “Battle of Sprackburn” took place. An altercation between a marching group of Orangemen from Milford and the Catholics of Letterkenny threatened to spill into terrible bloodshed in an area near to Sprackburn, only for the intervention of Fr. James Gallagher. Father Gallagher had been...
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