www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
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Map of Ireland
(Click on map)
Ireland (Eire)

While visiting the UK WE took a ferry, across the Irish Sea, and spent a couple of days in and around Dublin. i love Ireland and look forward to a return trip, sometime soon, to take a closer look around!

Ireland has a total area of 70,280 sq km, making it slightly larger than West Virginia. Ireland rises from sea level (of course!) to an elevation of 1,041 metres (3,415 ft) atop the summit of Carrauntoohil. Ireland's weather is influenced by North Atlantic currents which makes for mild winters and cool summers.

 

 

Yellow Arrow Pointing Right Click Here for our trip through England.
Yellow Arrow Pointing Right Click Here for pix of Wales and Scotland.
Yellow Arrow Pointing Right Click Here for our daytrip to France...

 

A Brief (very brief!) History of Ireland:

Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600 and 150 B.C. Norsemen began invading the island in the late 8th century but ended when King Brian Boru defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century - starting seven centuries of struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions.

Several years of guerrilla warfare were touched off after a failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion. In 1921 this resulted in independence from the UK for 26 of Ireland's southern counties (Ireland was partitioned under the terms of the United Kingdom's Government of Ireland Act 1920). Six northern (Ulster) counties still remain part of the UK. In 1948 Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth, joining the European Community in 1973. Irish governments continue working for the peaceful unification of Ireland with various difficulties still in the way - at the bottom of this page I have a bit more information on Bloody Sunday and The Troubles...

Today (or at least as I write this in early 2007!), Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom and consists of the six aforementioned counties (out of a total of nine) of the province of Ulster. Northern Ireland, as I mentioned above, became its own political entity in 1921 and is part of the four "Home Nations" that form the United Kingdom. The remaining counties and provinces of the island, comprising about five sixths of the land area, are the sovereign state of the Republic of Ireland. Most of the people throughout Ireland are Catholic while those in Northern Ireland are Protestant.

Like most Americans, I don't know as much about European history as I should so I asked some of my Irish friends (many of whom were either born there or have spent lots of time on the island) how Protestants ended up controlling Northern Ireland and where the political division and violence came from that I remembered as a kid in the 60s and 70s?

From what I can piece together, Protestant King William of Orange's troops defeated the Catholic army of King James at the Battle of the Boyne to strengthen his claim to the English throne and British control over Ireland. By the end of that century Ulster was heavily settled by those who would eventually be more aligned with Britain than Ireland itself. From that time forward, until about the time I created this page, various factions, guerrilla groups and political entities have fought and argued over the unification of Ireland or the continued status quo of Northern Ireland.

Okay, not a very eloquent presentation as evidenced by serious email complaint I received from Desiree, a college researcher in the eastern U.S., but probably a good summary that is broad enough to increase my own countrymen's understanding of Ireland!

- Roger J. Wendell
Golden, Colorado - 2007

(Click on any of this page's "thumbnail" images for a larger view...)

 

GPO
We made a special trip to the General Post Office where we could
still see the marks left by bullets from the 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion...

OifiganPhoist Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
OifiganPhoist
General Post Office Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
GPO - General Post Office
tamps for sale at the GPO in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Stampaí
Bullet-mark at the GPO in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Bullet-mark
Tami Wendell pointing to bullet-marks at the GPO in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Pointing to the bullet-marks
The GPO served as the headquarters for the 1916 Easter Rising's leaders. The assault by British forces severely damaged the building and it wasn't repaired until the Irish Free State government completed the work several years later. As you can see from my photo, the original outside columns are still pocked with bullet-marks.

 

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Misc. Pix:

Dublin from our room window - October 2006
Downtown Dublin
OShea's in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
OShea's
Roger and Tami Wendell in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Tax Relief
Tami Wendell on Irish Ferries - October 2006
Irish Ferries
Tami Wendell inside the Jonathan Swift - October 2006
Inside the Jonathan Swift

The Steine of Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
The Steine of Dublin
Trinity Collete in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Trinity College
Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Trinity College
The Book of Kells in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
To the Book of Kells
Tami Wendell at the Book of Kells in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
The Book of Kells

Dublin Area Rapid Transit, Ireland - October 2006
DART
River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
River Liffey
Tourist Transport in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Tourist Transport
Irish Nationwide in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Irish Nationwide
Sir John Gray in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Sir John Gray

Dublin Castle, Ireland - October 2006
Dublin Castle
Roger J. Wendell and a Mailbox in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Me and a Mailbox...
Thomas Read, Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Thomas Read, Dame St.
Street Musician in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Street musician
Knobks and Knockers in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Knobs and Knockers

Signs of Dublin:

Booze 2 Go in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Booze 2 Go
No Footballing in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
No Footballing
Roger and Tami Wendell in Dublin, Ireland - October 2006
Govinda's Vegetarian Res.
Dublin, Ireland City Hall - October 2006
Dublin City Hall
Bank of Ireland, Dublin - October 2006
Bank of Ireland

 

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Beatle Lyrics on Ireland:

Give Ireland Back to The Irish

Paul McCartney
Album: Wild Life

Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Make Ireland Irish Today

Great Britian You Are Tremendous
And Nobody Knows Like Me
But Really What Are You Doin'
In The Land Across The Sea

Tell Me How Would You Like It
If On Your Way To Work
You Were Stopped By Irish Soliders
Would You Lie Down Do Nothing
Would You Give In, or Go Berserk

Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Make Ireland Irish Today

Great Britian And All The People
Say That All People Must Be Free
Meanwhile Back In Ireland
There's A Man Who Looks Like Me

And He Dreams Of God And Country
And He's Feeling Really Bad
And He's Sitting In A Prison
Should He Lie Down Do Nothing
Should Give In Or Go Mad

Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Make Ireland Irish Today

Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Make Ireland Irish Today 
Sunday Bloody Sunday

John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Album: Some Time in New York City

Well it was Sunday bloody Sunday
When they shot the people there
The cries of thirteen martyrs
Filled the Free Derry air
Is there any one amongst you
Dare to blame it on the kids?
Not a soldier boy was bleeding
When they nailed the coffin lids!

Sunday bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday's the day!

You claim to be majority
Well you know that it's a lie
You're really a minority
On this sweet emerald isle
When Stormont bans our marches
They've got a lot to learn
Internment is no answer
It's those mothers' turn to burn!

Sunday bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday's the day!

You anglo pigs and scotties
Sent to colonize the North
You wave your bloody Union Jack
And you know what it's worth!
How dare you hold to ransom
A people proud and free
Keep Ireland for the Irish
Put the English back to sea!

Sunday bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday's the day!

Well, it's always bloody Sunday
In the concentration camps
Keep Falls Road free forever
From the bloody English hands
Repatriate to Britain
All of you who call it home
Leave Ireland to the Irish
Not for London or for Rome!

Sunday bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday's the day!  
The Luck of the Irish

John Lennon & Yoko Ono

If you had the luck of the Irish
You'd be sorry and wish you were dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!

A thousand years of torture and hunger
Drove the people away from their land
A land full of beauty and wonder
Was raped by the British brigands!
Goddamn! Goddamn!

If you could keep voices like flowers
There'd be shamrock all over the world
If you could drink dreams like Irish streams
Then the world would be high as the mountain 
of morn

In the 'Pool they told us the story
How the English divided the land
Of the pain, the death and the glory
And the poets of auld Eireland

If we could make chains with the morning dew
The world would be like Galway Bay
Let's walk over rainbows like leprechauns
The world would be one big Blarney stone

Why the hell are the English there anyway?
As they kill with God on their side
Blame it all on the kids the IRA
As the bastards commit genocide!
Aye! Aye! Genocide!

If you had the luck of the Irish
You'd be sorry and wish you was dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!
Yes you'd wish you was English instead! 

 

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Bloody Sunday

I think there were a few different "Bloody Sunday" incidents throughout world history. However, the most famous one took place on January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland. It was during that incident that 26 civil rights protesters were shot by members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment. Thirteen people, six of whom were minors, died immediately while a 14th died from his wounds a few months later. Other bands besides the Beatles, including U2, have also sang about the incident.

 

The Troubles

"The Troubles" describes two periods of violence during twentieth century Ireland. The first took place from about 1919 to 1921 and then 1922 through 1923. These were the Irish War of Indpendence and the Irish Civil War, respectively. The second part of The Troubles took place from the late 1960s until the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998. It's been estimated that over 3,400 people were killed during this later episode of The Troubles. The Troubles have been variously described as terrorism, a many-sided conflict, a guerrilla war, a low intensity conflict, and even a civil war...

 

- Roger J. Wendell
Golden, Colorado

 

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Links:

  1. Aconcagua (Argentina)
  2. Africa (Eastern) - Kenya, Tanzania, and my Kilimanjaro climb
  3. Africa (Southern) - Our trip through Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe
  4. Amazonia
  5. Antarctica
  6. Argentina and Brazil
  7. Australia Main Page
  8. Australia Part Two Page
  9. China
  10. CIA World Factbook on Ireland
  11. Ecuador
  12. France
  1. Govindas - Dublin
  2. Hiking
  3. India
  4. India Two (overflow)
  5. Japan
  6. Mexico
  7. Russia
  8. Silk Road
  9. Tibet
  10. Travel and Travel Two
  11. United Kingdom - England
  12. United Kingdom - Wales & Scotland

 

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