Isabel de Clare was born in Leinster in 1172 to Aoife Mac Murrough and Richard de Clare (‘Strongbow’), Earl of Pembroke and Striguil. Following her brother Gilbert’s death in 1184, Isabel became sole heir and one of the wealthiest heiresses in the…

Attempting to regain his lost kingdom of Leinster, Dermot Mac Murrough sailed to Bristol with his daughter Aoife in c.1168 to seek assistance from Henry II. No help was forthcoming, although Henry did give him permission to seek assistance from his…

Very few women are written about in the high Medieval period; often a mere mention as someone’s wife or mother. Not so with Nest. Born in c.1085, Princess Nest was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, king of Deheubarth, the old Welsh kingdom of southwest…

My Grandfather Charlie, his brothers, and their sister were all born at Hean Castle, Saundersfoot, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Whilst most of them stayed around the village, one left for Australia and another brother, Thomas, moved…

I was born on the South side of Dublin. My family moved to Sheriff St. on the North side when I was four years old. I attended St. Laurence O’Toole’s Girls’ Primary School until age 13. I began working in the kitchen of the Brown Thomas store and,…

The book begins on board the sinking ship. Knowing that women and children are more likely to escape in lifeboats, a mysterious American man entrusts vital government documents to a “patriotic” young American named Jane Finn. It is a draft treaty,…

The Irish Sea coastline of County Wexford is encrusted with the folklore, knowledges, practices and cultural connections of its people. When the children of the Schools' Collection interviewed elderly relatives and members of the community, they…

With Waterford Harbour to the west, Slade Bay to the east, and the Irish Sea to the south, Hook Peninsula is the southern most point of County Wexford. Like a sentry guarding passage, Hook Lighthouse stands 100 feet high, with walls of remarkable…

Recently my sister Karen and I discussed our memories of visits to Ireland as children - we would go most years to visit Mum’s side of the family in West Cork. Before budget airlines shortened and cheapened the trips, Dad would drive the car from…

Agnes Ferguson sat down with Ports, Past and Present and shared her memories of her family, growing up in Rosslare and the special scent of the wild lupines by the beach.

Agnes Ferguson sat down with Ports, Past and Present and talked about her most memorable boat trips of the past which allowed her to experience television, the sampling of deliciously cold soft drinks and the nearby lighthouse for the first time.

Agnes Ferguson sat down with Ports, Past and Present and shared her memories of taking the ferry across the Irish Sea ever since she was a child, to visit family and friends living in and around Fishguard.

Agnes Ferguson sat down with Ports, Past and Present to share her family history of her grandfather and father working in the port, meeting her husband on a ferry to Fishguard and her own work for the tourist office.

The bow of Crofton Road spans Dún Laoghaire harbour. Named for the nineteenth-century Harbour Commissioner, James Crofton, it is today a vibrant seaside address with a rich history. The 1901 census lists just over a dozen residences, but the…

For the community of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), 10 October 1918 began like any day in a busy port town. The first locals knew of the incident was the sound of the torpedoes. The Royal Mail Ship (and passenger ferry) Leinster was on its regular…

Chill Mhantáin, County Wicklow, is located on the east coast of Ireland. In 1897 an article released in the Irish Times referred to the active port as the ‘Lake of Ships’. However, in the late 1800s the port came into disrepair. Parliamentary papers…

In the early twentieth century, coastal trading supported the movement of goods along the east coast of Ireland and the west coast of Wales and England. This was a centuries old activity and a way of life for many families on both sides of the Irish…

The wives and families of dockers had to face deprivations that often went unnoticed or unreported. Because of the dangerous nature of work in and around the docklands areas, work accidents where very common. Almost on a daily basis, men were…

Gary's wife used sea swimming as a way to get relief during a stressful personal time, as her mother went through Alzheimer's disease. The waves in the poem reflect the changing condition of Gary's mother-in-law, and her 'escapes to nowhere', when…

Dublin port during the early twentieth century was a place of great business trade and work. Having been refurbished in the 1800s to give way for more shipping of trades and goods, the port had become a huge employment area for most of Dublin.…

Kay Foran sat down with Ports, Past and Present and shared the story of how at 16 years old, she started working in the Odlum's flour silos in Dublin port, although the manager was looking for a boy.

Flossie is 13 and has cared about the environment since she was 9 years old. Her love for the planet but most especially the oceans and seas has come from her mother, Harriet. Harriet spoke to Jonathan Evershed about the origins of the Flossie and…

When Mary Wollstonecraft crossed from Holyhead to Dublin – ‘the best and shortest passage’, she noted – in October 1786, she was lucky. ‘[T]he weather was fine the prospects delightful’, she wrote in a letter to Eliza Bishop, looking back on the…

Margaret Todd from Goodwick sat down with Ports, Past and Present to talk about her former work as stewardess on board the ferries linking Fishguard and Rosslare. She remembers her duties as stewardess, her colleagues and meeting her future husband…

During the 1990s, the catamaran Sea Lynx offered the fasted ferry service across the Irish Sea. Elizabeth Todd-Parker sat down with Ports, Past and Present to share her memories and experiences during her time as stewardess on the ship.Yn ystod y…

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…

For some 25 years I regularly took students from Bangor University to Ireland. We set off on the Friday afternoon boat from Holyhead and then settled into our lodgings. On Saturday we went south: to the south Dublin tombs, including Brennanstown,…

There are a number of memorial plaques on view at the museum. These were made of bronze and issued to the next of kin in remembrance of those lost during the Great War of 1914-18. Each one is inscribed with the name of the person who died. Over one…

The tragic torpedo attack of RMS Leinster on the 10th October, 1918, is recorded as the biggest loss of life in the Irish Sea. Out of 813 souls, 569 souls lost their lives. Many of the crew were made up of residents from Holyhead, including Captain…

In the decade 1912-1923, continuous waves of events impacted Irish society, including the 1913 Lockout, the First World War, the 1916 Easter Rising, the Spanish flu, the War of Independence, Anglo-Irish treaty, partition, Civil War and finally the…

Gareth Huws sat down with Ports, Past and Present and shared the story of Margaret, Lady Stanley (neé Owen), the last heiress of the Owen family, an old local dynasty who by the mid-eighteenth century had lost much of their political influence and…

Billy lived in Holyhead in the nineteenth century. He was a young man affected by paraplegia in a time when society still operated under conventional notions of ‘perfection,’ and of the many important stories presented in the invaluable Holyhead:…

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”―Rudyard Kipling. I love visiting Museums. You’ll always hear Writers and Storytellers say that stories, in whatever form, bind us and that we can only really learn how to…

‘What dreadful weather!’ Dorothy Wordsworth exclaimed on 28 August 1829. She had ‘a hundred fears’ because her brother William was going to cross the Irish Sea from Holyhead the following night.As they would soon find out, ‘three vessels had been…

Virginia Woolf travelled widely in Britain and Europe throughout her life, but visited Ireland only once. On 27 April 1934, she sailed out from Fishguard to Cork for a motoring tour with her husband Leonard, visiting the novelist Elizabeth Bowen at…

Through the centuries, the Welsh landscape has inspired countless artists, be they travelling through or living locally. Even with all the transformations to the environment, artists still find inspiration wherever they are. Jana Davidson sat down…

Seventy years ago, a young woman from Lismore County Waterford set out with her bicycle on her first trip out of Ireland alone. The trip would take her to England, a ‘Pagan land’ something that did not go unnoticed by her neighbours some of whom were…

The story goes that during the French Invasion of Fishguard in 1797, Jemima Nicholas, a most formidable woman and cobbler, single-handedly rounded up 12 French soldiers, marched them through town and locked them up in St Mary's church. Through…

Well, in the period leading up to the anniversary, our children were young. Carys was born in 1990 and Iwan in ’93. So when the possibility arose to help out with the creation of the Tapestry, my hands were full and I was, unfortunately, not able to…

The St Patrick was the only ferry still sailing between Ireland and Wales during World War Two. The others, the St David and the St Andrew, had been requisitioned as hospital ships serving the European front. The St. Patrick made a regular daily…

Mary Delany (1700-1788) was no stranger to crossing the Irish Sea. She had made one trip to Ireland as a young widow in 1731 and, when she later lived in Ireland between 1744 and 1767, she made regular visits back to England. Delany generally made…