Frank McNally on 19th century engineering project that linked Tipperary with ‘civilisation’
Fr Edmond Walsh was a late vocation, having previously worked as a carter
‘So long as these people are here, we’ll never starve’: In the queue for Christmas vouchers at Dublin’s Capuchin Day Centre
The volunteers of Dublin’s Capuchin Day Centre handed out free €50 vouchers for Dunnes Stores to more than 3,000 people
A Passage to Innocence – Frank McNally on an anthology of old school routes remembered
Routes described range geographically from Caherdavin to China
Craicing the Case – Frank McNally on the origins of a cultural and linguistic phenomenon
I also lamented that the compunction to do things for the craic was not yet recognised as a defence in Irish courts
Frank McNally on a grand stretch in the evenings, a new Dublin restaurant and ‘Gloomsday’
Strung-out Joyceans will use any excuse for a hit
The woman who enchanted Proust – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of Gladys Marlborough
Gladys, meanwhile, entertained herself and guests with memories of countless former lovers
‘He never said that’: Frank McNally is tired of hearing a phantom WB Yeats quote
It was a week of oral exams as the art of storytelling excelled at parties and awards ceremonies
Fighting Farney – Frank McNally on the battle for his hometown’s ‘western front’
Carrickmacross's lopsided pub distribution seems to be indirect effect of a deeper division
Monumental misstep: Frank McNally on the ‘tragedy’ of a great Irish sculptor, John Hughes
What should have been the peak of the sculptor’s career was doomed to coincide with what the Chinese call interesting times
Frank McNally: Investigating the mystery of the black stork’s Irish roots
This beautiful and shy bird is a rare visitor now, but that may not always have been the case
Bognor Bodies – Frank McNally on the Irish literary connections of an English seaside town
Its English origins stem from a holiday James Joyce and his family spent there in the summer of 1923
‘The cadet was now descending rapidly towards Cavan without any training in the use of a parachute’
The lesson for the day in question was how to deal with an aircraft when it stalled and went into a spin
Bitter Harvest – Frank McNally on the darker side of farming in Flanders and the Somme
Body parts are still being found, exhumed, and if possible identified
Fields of Gold – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of a colourful Monaghan family
Theirs was an old English surname, derived from proximity to cornfields or work as a harvester
A stranger in a pub in Spain hugged me like we were old friends after Parrott’s heroics
In the ensuing mayhem, a man I’d never met before hugged me like we were old friends