As my name suggests, I have crossed the Irish Sea many times. I first went to Ireland to pursue archaeology in 1960 when I was researching the North Wales megalithic tombs and needed to see the Irish ones as well. My memory of that first visit to…

Legend goes that St Patrick, a Christian missionary to Ireland in the fifth century, used the leaves of the shamrock to explain the concept of the holy trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Ireland's tourism identity has long used the symbol of…