From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
IRELAND'S EYE, a small island, in the parish of HOWTH, barony of COOLOCK, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 1 mile (N.) from the hill of Howth. This island, of which, according to Mr. Monck Mason, the proper name is "Hir-land-sie," was selected for the site of an abbey founded in 570 by St. Nessan, over which he presided till his death, and in which was preserved the book of the four Gospels, called the "Garland of Howth." The establishment was subsequently transferred to the mainland, but there are still some remains of the prebendal church and the conventual buildings on the south-west side of the island. It is situated opposite to the mouth of the harbour of Howth, and is about one mile in circumference; the surface is very irregular, rising in some parts into perpendicular masses of rugged rock, presenting a singular and picturesque appearance, and in others wrought into the form of arches by the action of the waves. The more level portions afford good pasturage for sheep and cattle; goshawks build among the rocks. On the north, east, and west sides the island down to the water's edge consists of quartz rock, and the eastern angle is a confused mass of clay-slate and quartz rock, the former of which predominates. Near the western extremity is a martello tower.
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Truelove's Journal: A Bookshop Novella
From a sad, comfortless childhood Giles Truelove developed into a reclusive and uncommunicative man whose sole passion was books. For so long they were the only meaning to his existence. But when fate eventually intervened to have the outside world intrude upon his life, he began to discover emotions that he never knew he had.
A story for the genuine booklover, penned by an Irish bookseller under the pseudonym of Ralph St. John Featherstonehaugh.
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Annals of the Famine in Ireland
Annals of the Famine in Ireland, by Asenath Nicholson, still has the power to shock and sadden even though the events described are ever-receding further into the past. When you read, for example, of the poor widowed mother who was caught trying to salvage a few potatoes from her landlord's field, and what the magistrate discovered in the pot in her cabin, you cannot help but be appalled and distressed.
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger
This book, the prequel to Annals of the Famine in Ireland cannot be recommended highly enough to those interested in Irish social history. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, travelled from her native America to assess the condition of the poor in Ireland during the mid 1840s. Refusing the luxury of hotels and first class travel, she stayed at a variety of lodging-houses, and even in the crude cabins of the very poorest. Not to be missed!
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
Henry Ford Jones' book, first published in 1915 by Princeton University, is a classic in its field. It covers the history of the Scotch-Irish from the first settlement in Ulster to the American Revolutionary period and the foundation of the country.
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
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