Irish Kilts

[Skipper1]

Hi - for those of us who are of irish or mixed irish/scottish descent,(such as myself), and who support the "irish" kilt, I want to pass on a bit of news from "Irish Kilt Society Newsletter Volume 6 No 2 ~ Christmas 2009". The Society has a new permenant home at Charleville Castle, Tullamore , Co. Offaly. If you are interested in the Society you should soon be able to find links to the society's news letters and other interesting info at http://charlevillecastle.ie/

Of course, if the societyisn't for you, the info on the castle you will find by clicking the link might be of passing historical interest.

Slainte a charide

Tim

[O'Callaghan]

I belong to their Yahoo group, but it's pretty quiet.

I must say it gives me pause that the castle was built to commemorate the defeat of the 1798 rebellion.

This was started by the United Irishmen, lead by Napper Tandy and Wolfe Tone, who were actually protestants, but came from Dublin, although the majority of the rank and file were catholics. You have to understand that catholics were barred from owning land or being a member of a learned profession, and then it makes sense.

They relied upon France to supply troops to help them, but AFAIK all the French did was hand out green cockades for the rebels to wear in their hats and commission the leaders as officers in the French army, so it's no wonder it failed. Sort of emblematic of French military history.

At least the castle flies the Irish tricolour in the picture, but then it is in the Republic, so those who built it ultimately lost their cause in the long run.

I am English, but have Irish blood, and from all the way South in County Cork, where the Callaghan name comes from. To be clear, I don't agree with the Northern Loyalists, but I think if the Republic were to take over the North they would get more than they bargained for, i.e. lots of new people who regard themselves as different, who don't necessarily think of themselves as Irish atall. Not to mention that a lost cat would be headline news in the Republic, whereas the North has considerable crime.

I apologise for the politics, but if you follow the link there is a serious political slant on the castle website.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Could you please point out the "serious political slant" on the Charleville Castle web site? Seems like a very straight forward recounting of the history of the building, if you ask me.

[starbkjrus]

snip...


I apologise for the politics, but if you follow the link there is a serious political slant on the castle website.

Could you please point out the "serious political slant" on the Charleville Castle web site? Seems like a very straight forward recounting of the history of the building, if you ask me.

All, we here at XMarks just LOVE history. I'm a huge history buff (not nearly the expert that a lot of our members are however) - a lot which interest has been generated by my years on XMarks.

All I'm saying is that lets keep this in an historical perspective and not bring any modern day conflicts into this one.

Nothing is wrong in this thread but let's keep it that way.

[Skipper1]

Ah well, I suppose it is nearly impossible to bring up anything irish without stiring up a political discussion.

Sigh

My intent was only to make it known that the Irish Kilt Society, which has been languishing, now has a permenant home base and may receive a bit of a boost because of it.

sauimhneas

[The Thing]

Cheers for sharing that information Skipper 1, about the Kilt Society and their soon to be published news letter for 2009. I don't think the Kilt Society is on it's last legs yet, they just need some new committed members and advice from others who have helped establish successful clubs or organisations......!
I guess there'd be no better place to start than by asking some of the Kilties here how or where to go about it...!

[Kiltman]

Ah well, I suppose it is nearly impossible to bring up anything irish without stiring up a political discussion.

Sigh

My intent was only to make it known that the Irish Kilt Society, which has been languishing, now has a permenant home base and may receive a bit of a boost because of it.

sauimhneas

That's all I heard you say. No politics. Thanks for the link. Irish tartan are some of the most beautiful ones.

[O'Callaghan]

Could you please point out the "serious political slant" on the Charleville Castle web site? Seems like a very straight forward recounting of the history of the building, if you ask me.

"It owes its "Tin Soldier Fortress" look to the celebration of victory over the third French revolutionary expedition to Ireland - the first decisive victory by Britain over the revolutionary republican movement, which was sweeping across the monarchies and their colonies at that time."

Just referring to it as a victory is taking a position.

[OC Richard]

Irish tartan are some of the most beautiful ones.

What amazes me is that a single person at a Scottish tartan mill (Polly Wittering at House Of Edgar) can, in 1996, invent out of thin air, tartans for each County in Ireland, and that these would be immediately accepted and worn by people of Irish descent all over the world.

It also suprised me that she designed all of these without regard to the colours associated with each county, as appear for example on each county's GAA uniforms. I see that recently someone has addressed this and designed tartans in line with the County colours.

But, it's true that Ms Wittering's designs are very nice.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

"It owes its "Tin Soldier Fortress" look to the celebration of victory over the third French revolutionary expedition to Ireland - the first decisive victory by Britain over the revolutionary republican movement, which was sweeping across the monarchies and their colonies at that time."

Just referring to it as a victory is taking a position.

No, that's not taking a political position, it's called placing the style of the architecture in it's historical context, and it is done by architectural historians all the time.