Ireland in Brick and Stone takes 50 buildings and other man-made constructions from different parts of Ireland and uses them to illustrate the history of the island over 1;500 years. All but three of the buildings are still surviving and they offer us a very personal way into history by teasing out the context in which each building was constructed; the uses to which it was put and the people associated with it.For example; Rockfleet Castle is a tower house in Co. Mayo; typical of a kind of building from the late medieval period to be found all over Ireland. It was a stronghold of the Burkes of Mayo; into which family Grace OMalley - otherwise known as Granuaile - married in the 1540s. Ireland in Brick and Stone says very little about the castle itself but uses it as a chance to discuss the Burkes and other Norman settlers in late medieval Connacht; as well as the story of Granuaile herself.Another example from more modern times is the small Marian Shrine in the Liberties in Dublin; built for the centenary of Catholic Emancipation in 1929. It is used as a starting point to describe religious devotion and the power of the Catholic Church in twentieth-century Ireland. Other buildings in the book include Robinson & Cleavers department store in Belfast; the English Market in Cork; Pearses cottage in Connemara and Newtown Pery in Limerick.Liberally illustrated with evocative photographs this is a quirky and accessible take on Irish history.
#4612926 in eBooks 2012-05-23 2012-05-23File Name: B00872DZGO
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