The Story of Ireland DVD

A joint production between the BBC and RTÉ, presented by Fergal Keane, landed on my mat a couple of days ago, via the Amazon.

For someone like me who knows the square root of feck all about Ireland, somewhere all but ignored in history lessons when I was at school (other than the potato famine and the Easter uprising) it has been an easy and reasonably informative introduction to the place.

I had no idea that the ‘English’ had as much claim to be Celts as the Irish, if not more so. I knew about the trade between us from very early times but not that there were ‘Irish’ settlements in Wales nor as far away as London. I certainly didn’t know that there was quite a powerful Irish abbot / monk living in Italy at around the same time as St Patrick, who became a saint and whose echoes live on today. That was all just from episode 1. Next, the Normans are coming....:



Recommend.

Wapping said:

A joint production between the BBC and RTÉ, presented by Fergal Keane, landed on my mat a couple of days ago, via the Amazon.

For someone like me who knows the square root of feck all about Ireland, somewhere all but ignored in history lessons when I was at school (other than the potato famine and the Easter uprising) it has been an easy and reasonably informative introduction to the place.

I had no idea that the ‘English’ had as much claim to be Celts as the Irish, if not more so. I knew about the trade between us from very early times but not that there were ‘Irish’ settlements in Wales nor as far away as London. I certainly didn’t know that there was quite a powerful Irish abbot / monk living in Italy at around the same time as St Patrick, who became a saint and whose echoes live on today. That was all just from episode 1. Next, the Normans are coming....:

Recommend.

Click to expand...

Does it mention anything about the Cornish connection Wapping?

Wapping said:

A joint production between the BBC and RTÉ, presented by Fergal Keane, landed on my mat a couple of days ago, via the Amazon.

For someone like me who knows the square root of feck all about Ireland, somewhere all but ignored in history lessons when I was at school (other than the potato famine and the Easter uprising) it has been an easy and reasonably informative introduction to the place.

I had no idea that the ‘English’ had as much claim to be Celts as the Irish, if not more so.

Click to expand...

Other than that fitba team on the other side of Scotland, no one is entirely sure what "Celtic" means. The generally accepted view back in the day was based on the idea of migration from a central European origin. That seems to have changed and folk are now more comfortable talking about cultural exchange rather than migration of people themselves. In all probability, it was a bit of both. I'm surprised Neil Oliver hasn't spotted the gap in the market and done a series on it! I have to say, I much prefer Fergal Keane as a presenter though.

It's on Youtube also.

snelly said:

Does it mention anything about the Cornish connection Wapping?

Click to expand...

He showed the earliest known map of Ireland, in Latin and very old, which showed the same named tribe or ‘peoples’ in Wales, Cornwall (I think) and Normandy.