Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] Even if you’ve never been to Northern Ireland , you probably know about our murals. Certainly, no visit to Belfast appears to be complete without a trip on one of the number of ‘troubles tours’ busses to some of the less than salubrious quarters of the city in search of this form of painted gable sectarianism. Much has been written about their origins, meaning, symbolism, and all that and, should the mood take you, you can read about it in the Wiki article: here . The Wiki article gives some examples of the genre, as does the rather good Belfast Murals site: here . However you look at it, the murals break down into two main groups:...

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] The continuing saga of the Archaeology of Gatherings Conference, held in Sligo, in October 2013. < Part I | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI > Modern horse fair ( Source ) Sometime around 11:30, suitably refreshed, we assembled once again for Session 2, chaired by Fiona Beglane. First to the podium was Prof Elizabeth FitzPatrick , ( NUI Galway ) to speak on Shifting Territorial Boundaries and Medieval Assembly Places . FitzPatrick explained that she wanted to concentrate on the Ó enach (pronounced: i-nach) of Lough Gill, Co. Sligo and on how shifts in territorial boundaries could exclude former owners....

[** If you think the post is useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. **] European Heritage Open Days rolled round once again in early September. This year I said that I was going to be ready. This year we would get involved. This year we would get out and see some stuff! I downloaded the brochure and made my list – this year we were going to concentrate on what is on our own doorstep: East Belfast. Despite my best intentions, fate (and work) intervened to ensure that I only got to see one heritage building … but what a building it is ! With the creation of the Northern Ireland home rule region in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 there was a need to provide the province with a dedicated building for parliamentary debate. The building that we see today was designed by Sir Arnold Thornely, though it had originally been envisaged as but one component of a much grander complex. The original plan was to create a large, domed building with two side buildin...

[**  If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the button at the end.  If you think the post is useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. **] On the 28th of September 1912 Sir Edward Carson became the first person to sign the Ulster Covenant . I’m writing this on the 29th of September 2012 in East Belfast. As the closest Saturday to the anniversary, Ulster’s Loyal Orders and their associated bands are out in force. Even here, sheltered from the Upper Newtownards Road, I can still hear the pounding drum beats and the high, tinny sound of the fife. In my back garden you can clearly hear the drone of the police helicopter high above, obscured somewhere in the broken cloud.  Personally, I don’t ‘do’ politics. These days, all I’m looking for in my elected representatives is to ensure that I can go on living a quiet, peaceful life and that we are never again dragged into the dark days of sectarian m...