Castleisland and the Herbert family

Michael O’Donohoe created a useful reference to names and places of local interest found in the 1963 edition of Herbert Correspondence (edited by W J Smith).1  Smith’s introduction to the Correspondence explains its relevance to the Castleisland collection:   The letters printed in this volume constitute all the sixteenth and the greater part of the seventeenth…Continue Reading

Cromwell in Kerry

The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings. Lines from Death, the Leveller by James Shirley, said to have chilled the heart of Oliver Cromwell   A chronology of the life of Oliver Cromwell from his birth in…Continue Reading

Castleisland Church of Ireland

Church history forms part of the O’Donohoe archive and includes Michael’s impressive 39-pg study of the Church of Ireland in Castleisland.  It commences with the division of land following the death of Gerald, 16th Earl of Desmond, in 1583:1   From 1587c onwards, the seigniory of Castleisland was owned by the Herbert family, apart from…Continue Reading