The moon like a searchlight over east London last night

My first ever sighting of the Jersey Tiger Moth - having a good feed by the railway line near Hackney Downs. Lovely to see but also "a reminder of how rising temperatures are altering our natural environment" butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blo...

I'm very fond of the Stoke Newington-Southampton connection. Like Watts, my husband went to school at King Edward VI. Here's Isaac Watts in Stoke Newington's Abney Park Cemetery as the seasons change around him.

The AI techbros may be marching onwards in their quest for world domination/benefiting humanity (delete as appropriate) - but doing history in an AI world still looks like this 😀

She was Irish actress Eliza O'Neill, later Lady Wrixon- Becher (1791–1872). Born in Drogheda to a theatrical family, she became the leading tragic actress on the London stage. #IrishLondonHistory ☘️ The scrimshaw appears to be based on this mezzotint of O'Neill as Belvidera in 'Venice Preserved'./2

Sometimes #IrishLondonHistory turns up in the most unexpected places ☘️ On a tour of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich yesterday, the very first object I looked at was this piece of scrimshaw - engraved whalebone - depicting a "Miss O'Neill in the character of Belvidera"./1

Any historian of female Catholic sodalities in 19th Britain & Ireland out there who could help w this ref in Mayhew's "London Labour & the London Poor Vol.1" c.1851? An elderly Irish woman joined the "Association of the Blessed Lady" & bought the dress - she says green velvet - but of which order?

I only had time to dip into the book very briefly - check out the index 👀

If you're interested in how women's occupations were categorised in 1880s Ireland and the efforts being made then to develop a wide range of cottage industries across the island of Ireland, this is the book for you! /2 #WomensHistory #IrishHistory #IrishLondonHistory ☘️

A great find in the British Library: "A Handy Book of Reference for Irishwomen", published in conjunction w 1881 Irish Exhibition at London Olympia ☘️ Edited by Helen Blackburn, Valentia Island-born suffragist, & backed by Mary Power Lalor, philanthropist, Catholic & Unionist landlord in Tipperary/1

RIP Anthony Head, the greatest librarian of all 🦇💔 Back in 2023 during my mature student days, it was very difficult *not* to roleplay Buffy the Vampire Slayer while visiting the Harry Price Magical Literature collection in Senate House Library 👻

Another v useful clue - thank you! Gort family papers in London Archives are only 19th century. They include a bundle from 1815 detailing John Jones' properties in what became the Gort Estate. Inherited by his daughter Elizabeth who married George Tudor (hence Tudor Place) & then 3rd Viscount Gort.

If you're in London anytime @limerickslife.com, you might want to check out these in the London Archives - a bundle of lease assignments & mortgages relating to various people who had a financial interest in Oatlands, Roxborough after the enforced sale of the Vereker/Gort estate landholdings. /3

In 1852, part of the Gort Estate at Oatlands in Roxborough, Limerick was bought by a local wine merchant & grocer, James Rowand of William Street, Limerick. A potent sign of the decline of the Ascendancy class and growth of the middle class in Ireland. The Gort estate in Galway was also sold. /2

Yesterday I learned that papers of the Vereker family of Ireland - the Viscount Gort in the Irish peerage - are in the London Archives. It was quite something to handle paperwork from the Encumbered Estates Court in Dublin which expedited the sale of bankrupt Irish estates during the Great Famine /1

A great day yesterday at @hackney-hist-fest.bsky.social in the Clapton Roundchapel. After Amir Dotan's talk, you'll never look at Stoke N's shop signage in the same way again. And thanks to Tony Rich, you'll always be wondering what's going on under the streetscape - and what might have been....

This isn't a big exhibition but the portraits of Elizabeth I and her court are so well presented in the Philip Mould Gallery. It was a joy to visit today. And an excellent online catalogue philipmould.com/usr/library/...

If you're into the Tudors, art history, the Elizabethan wars in Ireland, or all of the above, I can highly recommend a visit to the Philip Mould Gallery, 18-19 Pall Mall, London SW1. Just opened & free to visit - an exquisitely curated collection of portraits of Elizabeth I & her key courtiers.

📢 Salon For The City #134 - Metropolitan Migration: Histories of Irish London ☘️ Thurs 28 May, 7 pm at The Horse Hospital, London WC1N 1JD Delighted to be doing a two-part talk with Dr Rosa Gilbert of @irishinbritain.bsky.social on #IrishLondonHistory ☘️ Me: 17th-19th century Rosa: 20th century 1/2

Yesterday we had the otherworldly space of Caldragh Graveyard on Boa Island, Co. Fermanagh all to ourselves. Previous visitors had left offerings of coins, flowers & a Brigid's Cross for these two enigmatic figures - the double-sided Dreenan Figure & the smaller single-sided Lustymore Man. /1

If you're London-based, there's the opportunity to hear the arguments for & against a united Ireland during the Fleet Street Quarter's upcoming Festival of Words. Maughan Library, King's College London, WC2A 1LR 1.30-2.30 pm, Friday 15th May 2026 www.fleetstreetquarter.co.uk/festival-of-... 2/2

A topical read for yesterday's Expressway coach journey from Dublin to Ballyshannon - a collaboration between Fintan O'Toole (Irish Times) & Sam McBride (Belfast Telegraph) exploring the many facets of the debate around a possible future Border Poll & reunification of the island of Ireland. 1/2

For those of us living in Britain, you can also see an Irish elk/giant deer (𝘔𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘶𝘴) skeleton in Warwick's lovely Market Hall Museum ☘️Assembled from bones found in a Co.Limerick peat bog & acquired in 1866 by Warwickshire Natural History & Archaeological Society. 𝘓𝘶𝘪𝘮𝘩𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘈𝘣ú !

More 1926 Census of Ireland tonight ☘️ Delighted to have the opportunity to attend the launch of "The Story of Us" exhibition at the @britishacademy.bsky.social on Carlton Terrace, off Pall Mall. The exhibition is free & open to the public until 15 May 😃

Delighted to attend a book launch for "The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census" at the Irish Embassy last night ☘️ Another book for the 'to read' pile! Entertaining, informative & thought-provoking commentary from Orlaith McBride, John Gibney, Prof Maria Coleman & Prof Mo Moulton.

For a preview of my upcoming #IrishLondonHistory ☘️ talk at the 2026 @hackney-hist-fest.bsky.social - "One Thousand Years of Ireland's History in Abney Park Cemetery" - check out this week's issue of The Irish Post 💚 /1 www.irishpost.com/features/100...

Seeing #SnaG26 #SeachtainNaGaeilge posts prompted me to look back through my #IrishLondonHistory☘️ research for evidence of Irish being spoken in London's past. #Spéirghorm feedback on this 1605-1896 timeline of what I've found so far would be very welcome 💚 www.irishlondonhistory.com/post/finding...

Could any #Spéirghorm #Gaeilge linguists help with this phrase "Sassenach sarragchows (Protestant wretch)"? Said by the 19th century Irish in the Rookery of St Giles about members of the London City Mission. I know that 'Sassenach' was a synonym for Protestant and English - but what's 'sarragchows'?

A fine day on Hackney Marshes today, w a sidebar visit to Leyton Jubilee Park 💚

For more on the Pauper Removals process in #IrishLondonHistory ☘️, check out this analysis of the parish of St Clement Danes! You can drill into the detail of 43 people removed back to Ireland during the 18th century.