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The Sea Eagle – 1842

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White tailed eagle Photo: Yathin S. Krishnappa Wikimedia Commons
White tailed eagle
Photo: Yathin S. Krishnappa
Wikimedia Commons
The Cornwall Chronicle 11th June 1842

THE SEA EAGLE (abridged)

The process of catching birds on the Cliffs of Moher goes on to a great extent in the summer months. It is often attended with great danger. To defend themselves against the formidable sea eagles the men carry long knives. Some six or eight years ago there was an encounter between a bird catcher and a sea eagle which nearly proved fatal to the former.

The man had been lowered from the top of the cliffs and hung suspended from the overhang when an eagle darted at him from out of a fissure in the rock. It commenced a furious attack. The bird catcher drew his knife and defended himself as best he could but the eagle was swift, deadly and persistent. Finally, he dispatched the bird. However the stroke that freed him from the creature also struck his rope nearly severing it. The unfortunate man was left suspended by a single twist of coil over the yawning abyss.

His friends above had perceived this predicament. Slowly, and with the greatest of caution they commenced pulling him up. It required the utmost skill to keep the fractured portion of the rope from chafing against the sharp edges of projecting rocks and snapping completely. The men on the cliff were in a state of anxiety scarcely less than the man beneath.

The rope snapped within an inch of the top, but not before one of the men had seized a firm grip of their friend’s clothing. They were able to drag him to safety. The awful situation was too much for the bird catcher; he lay stretched on the grass without sense or motion. So profound and lengthy was his insensibility that his companions thought he was dead.

It is said he has never completely recovered from the effects of that fearful hour.

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Martello towers – deconstructed – 1863

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Finavarra Martello Tower at Finavarra Point, County Clare, Ireland A McCarron Wikimedia Commons
Finavarra Martello Tower at Finavarra Point, County Clare, Ireland
A McCarron
Wikimedia Commons
QUEENSLAND TIMES 28TH NOVEMBER, 1863 abridged

Owing to the great revolution which has taken place in war material, both for naval and military purposes, it has been decided to reconstruct (sic.) a great many of the martello towers around the Irish coast, it having been found from experiments with the Armstrong guns against similarly constructed towers in some parts of England, that they are entirely useless as works of defence.

At a late inspection of all the fortifications in Ireland, it was found that in some parts of the coast some of these towers were manned, armed, and kept in a state of repair at great expense to the public. As much from their position as from their useless construction, they were quite incapable of rendering the slightest service, either offensive or defensive. Consequently the whole of the towers in Galway Bay, also the tower and battery at Drogheda, have been dismantled, and the guns, stores, and artillerymen withdrawn. The buildings have been taken posession of by the the Barrack Department. We believe it is in contemplation also to withdraw the guns and stores from the towers in Dublin Bay, north and south.

Daily express

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Some cheek – 1913

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Galway Bay from Salthill Photo: Peter Clarke Wikimedia Commonw
Galway Bay from Salthill
Photo: Peter Clarke
Wikimedia Commonw
IRON COUNTY RECORD 7TH MARCH, 1913

“Cheek” in the sense of impudence is an old term. The earliest quotation in Sir James Murray’s dictionary is from Captain Marryat (1840). But it has lately been found in the sixteenth century records of Galway in the west of Ireland. The municipal rulers of that city decreed that any person giving “cheek” to the mayor should “forfeit 100 shillings and have his body put into prison.”

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Aiding your asters – with tobacco – 1905

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The Minneapolis Journal 14th March, 1905 p10

Aster amellus Wikimedia Commons
Aster amellus
Wikimedia Commons

Kerosene emulsion, frequently and liberally applied will prevent black lice from injuring your asters. I have got rid of them many times by showering the plants and dusting tobacco dust over them.

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Shannon Floods – 1910

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The Shannon Pot - traditional source of the River Shannon Photo: Gerard Lovett Wikimedia Commons
The Shannon Pot – traditional source of the River Shannon
Photo: Gerard Lovett
Wikimedia Commons
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 27TH MARCH 1910 P5
Ireland has had her share of floods and can sympathize with France. Along the Shannon in some places the water invaded the country for miles at each side, compelling people living near to hasten from their homes. In one or two places the inhabitants of entire villages sought shelter elsewhere. Some of these people suffered great loss as their entire farm produce was swept off on the swollen river. So great was the flood that the powerful cargo boats could scarcely make headway.
The district near Athlone suffered much and a considerable number of men were thrown out of work. The greatest sufferers are the inhabitants of the islands in Lough Ree, where the water rose to an alarming height. They were completely cut off from the mainland for days and unable to obtain supplies of food or fuel.

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Guaranteed Irish – Tobacco – Part II – 1904

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From Chute's pamphlet "Tabaco" 1595 Parker Burnette Wikimedia Commons
From Chute’s pamphlet “Tabaco” 1595
Parker Burnette
Wikimedia Commons
THE INTERMOUNTAIN CATHOLIC 1ST OCTOBER, 1904 P1
TOBACCO IN IRELAND – PART II
On this interesting subject a correspondent writes:
“A visit to The Farm, Kilmainham, Kells, County Meath, would satisfactorily show that there can bee little doubt as to the possibility or indeed, ultimate success of tobacco culture in Ireland. The plants are very fine and well grown, all seeming in robust health. The variet grown is Yellow Prior, an earlier and dwarfer variety than Virginian, hitherto planted.
The plants were raised under cover and planted out three feet apart. They promise to require all the space given and should indeed produce well. No pains seem to have been spared in their culture and the gratitude of all Irishmen is due to Colonel Everard for the practical philanthropy with which he has taken up and worked out to such a successful issue this important industry, which if carefully nurtured and upheld, will soon be the means of giving healthy employment to thousands of our rural population. Already numbers of women and children are being employed. It but remains for Irish tobacco manufacturers to prove themselves equal to the occasion and with the usual skill of the craft to second the efforts of Colonel Everard and the department of agriculture by producing a good sound Irish-grown tobacco”. Drogheda Independent.

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Guaranteed Irish – Tobacco – 1907

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Tobacco Flower, leaf and buds. Photo: William Rafti Wikimedia Commons
Tobacco Flower, leaf and buds.
Photo: William Rafti
Wikimedia Commons
THE INTERMOUNTAIN CATHOLIC, 10TH AUGUST, 1907 P1
TOBACCO IN IRELAND
Tobacco culture was introduced in Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh during the reign of Elizabeth. County Cork can boast of being the first part of the country in which the plant was cultivated. The plant thrived and grew abundantly in the prolific soil of this country for some centuries.
During the reign of Charles II a law was passed prohibiting the culture of tobacco in Ireland. However, in the reign of George III the act was repealed. The people had forgotten all about its culture until some inhabitants of Wexford returned. This state of things continued till 1829. In this year 1,000 acres were under cultivation in Ireland. The industry is now flourishing in County Meath.

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Western Waterspout – 1788

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Waterspout off the Florida Keys Image ID; wea00308 Historic NWS Collection Dr. Joseph Golden, NOAA Wikimedia Commons
Waterspout off the Florida Keys
Image ID; wea00308 Historic NWS Collection
Dr. Joseph Golden, NOAA
Wikimedia Commons
Western Waterspout
The Times 
London, 
May 20, 1788

On the 6th inst. between two and three in the afternoon, a water-spout of considerable diameter made its appearance between Adare and Barnakill-bridge in the county of Limerick in Ireland. This phenomenon, which is rather uncommon in Ireland, is described to have been of a spiral storm, exhibiting a very dazzling brightness, and attended with a ???? somewhat resembling the clash of arms. It is added that the beasts of the field appeared terrified, and that several crows, as if suddenly killed, dropped to the earth. At the same hour a very heavy rain (accompanied with loud thunder and unusually vivid flashes of lightning) fell in the city and liberties of Limerick, but did not extend beyond them. We have not heard whether the bursting of the water-spout occasioned any particular injury to the part where it fell. 

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The Scold’s Bridle – 1887

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The scold's bridle Artist: Frank Hazenplug from 'Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (Project Gutenberg) Alice Morse Earle. Originally published Chicago. H.S. Stone 1896 Wikimedia Commons
The scold’s bridle
Artist: Frank Hazenplug
from ‘Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (Project Gutenberg)
Alice Morse Earle. Originally published Chicago. H.S. Stone 1896
Wikimedia Commons
THE NEWS-HERALD 29TH DECEMBER, 1887 P3
PUNISHING SCOLDS (abridged)

Amongst the instruments of punishment introduced to Ireland was a kind of helmet formed of rods, a cage in fact, within which the heads of incorrigible scolding viragos were incased. Provision was made to stop any oral whirlwind of the patient by a counter tongue of metal extending inwardly from a frontal bar, and nicely adjusted to fit an average female mouth.
A fine and well-preserved specimen of a peace-maker of the kind in question, long used in Kiilkenny, at present forms an interesting and suggestive object amongst the antiquities preserved in the museum of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland.
Professor Ball, of the science and art department, Dublin, has had this tangible evidence reproduced in excellent work for exhibition in the national museum.

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A rare find – 1788

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German parchmenter, 1568 Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden, hoher und nidriger, geistlicher und weltlicher, aller Künsten, Handwercken und Händeln ..." / from Jost Amman and Hans Sachs / Frankfurt am Main / 1568 / thanks to www.digitalis.uni-koeln.de Wikimedia Commons
German parchmenter, 1568
Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden, hoher und nidriger, geistlicher und weltlicher, aller Künsten, Handwercken und Händeln …” / from Jost Amman and Hans Sachs / Frankfurt am Main / 1568 / thanks to http://www.digitalis.uni-koeln.de
Wikimedia Commons
The Times 
London, Middlesex, England 
July 17, 1788

    A short time since as some labourers were clearing the race ground of Loughmore, near Limerick, they found a small brass box, containing a piece of parchment five inches square, on which is written the admission of a fellow or scholar at Mungret University, which was at an early age, a famous one; at the top is a picture of St. Patrick, and it is signed Gulielmus Nophine, with the date A.D. 485. It was purchased for a guinea and sent as a present to a member of the Irish Academy.