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Thanks a million! It is always great to read comments like this!

Thanks a lot! Thanks for the lovely comment

Thanks for the comment. As regards water sources, it varied. Most would have had nearby sources, such as springs or streams. But I think it would have been rare to have one inside - evidence that these were homesteads not fortifications built for sieges etc. Probably rainwater was also collected (and there would have been lots of that).

Hi Denis, lucky you... I would love to find something like that (but all I have is nettles and gorse. Be sure to email the OPW and eventually they will add to the official count! :-) Thanks for the Coffee you bought, much appreciated.

You are very welcome! :-)

It is a good excuse to come back to Ireland for another visit :-)

@@forasfeasa My last visit in 2019 broke my heart. NOT the Ireland of 2002 that I loved so much. When some house-cleaning is done, I might reconsider. Ireland for the Irish. Prayers from the USA.

Not that I am aware of. I would love to see one though (and will look for one). However, I have a feeling that the 19th reconstruction messed things up in terms of getting an idea of what it originally looked like. I also know that some argue that the original Aileach (as in the Cenel nEoghain capital) was elsewhere. Close by is Elagh castle, some people reckon this was the Aileach - though the location of Aileach seems correct to me....

Several of the monastic sites had their own farms - as on Valentia. On some of the island sites where they have found middens, basically piles of bone waste, they have identified the diet (which was very varied). Some of the bigger ones would have been markets, but they might also have had large herds of cattle. They would have been integrated with the local ringforts and would have offered a market in more than just cattle - they would have needed many things, such as metals, ink, fabrics, perhaps wine... probably the emergence of towns under the Norse contributed to the change/decline of ringforts. Staigue is beautiful. I have to get back to Dun Aengus. Dun Aengus is much older than the usual ringfort, but at the end of the ringfort period it seems to have been reused. Probably Staigue was as well. There is a lot we do not know about both these places (about many places in fact)

​@@forasfeasa It's another irony of history that there is little written or reliable record of the social history of Ireland from the arrival of Christianity (& writing) to the end of the Viking period, while at the same time Ireland was vaunted as the Land of Saints and Scholars and the standard of education was greatly elevated compared to continental Europe. Having said that it's clear that this education was religious in nature, with little or no focus on the humanities - philosophy in its wider guise, natural philosophy (physics & chemistry), mathematics and science. It perhaps highlights the comparison with Islamic Spain at the same time, which was undoubtedly the intellectual centre of Europe from the 8th century. Why were there no great Irish mathematicians, philosophers or scientists from that period? Rhetorical question... I think it's a reasonable statement to say that the Christian Church wasn't great with intellectual competition.

@@AnBreadanFeasa interesting questions! Though there were some Irish philosophers from that time, such as John Scotus Erigena. IN addition, there were very interesting engineering innovations, such as the tidal mills (which I must admit I don't know enough about.) Rather than solely blaming the Christian Church, I think other factors mattered in Ireland, especially population. Ireland lacked the population mass which could allow universities and scientists. Many other factors would have mattered. However, it is a question rarely raised - and an important question! In short I think the answer to your question is a book! :-) Worth discussing it though

@@forasfeasa Apologies for taking a while to respond... life getting in the way of philosophising and speculating on YT. Isn't that is the sole purpose of online anonymous commentary... right? Here goes... Why no great Irish mathematicians, natural philosophers or scientists during the Age of Saints & Scholars: 1. Your point about the small population is probably valid, qualified with the observation that it was probably not dissimilar to that of Classical Greece 1,500 years previously. However when a relatively small population is culturally isolated, when Greece clearly was not, it is less likely to produce a broader intellectual environment. 2. I do think the Christian Church had a fair bit to do with it, though I'm guessing of course. The Roman and Eastern Churches did not formally split until 1054, but doctrinal conflict was a central factor in the development of Christianity. Though the Irish/Scots brought Christianity to the Saxons/English, the Synod of Whitby in the 7th century meant the exclusion of the Celts and the primacy of Rome in England (hmm... that seems little ironic now). Rome hated heresy of all stripes and my understanding is that's why Armagh ultimately became the national See, when previously it had been on a par with Cashel. 3. Now, something a little questionable. There is zero doubt that the Islamic world was the centre of science, mathematics, engineering, medicine, secular philosophy and education from the 8th to the 12th centuries. I think one of the main reasons is they used Hindu-Arabic numerals, meaning their calculus was widely understood and taught. In contrast, Europe and the Christian world (excluding Copts) used Roman numerals. Building a church with the biggest stones available was therefore simpler than calculating angles and vertical loads by dividing MCCDLXIII by CLXI. Right or wrong I think that meant few real engineers, who can be genuine intellectuals when it comes to architecture and building massive structures. 4. Again another guess... Dark Ages Britain was located between Ireland and the continent. Until Charlemagne's time I don't think there were any higher educational establishments north of the Alps other than monasteries. I know that Don Scotus was his tutor and advisor, but I believe all of his writings were theological in some form or other and didn't address humanist subjects in the same was Plato and his ilk did. The geographical distance between Irish thinkers (theologians) and "real" intellectuals meant there could be little exchange of new ideas, by which I mean that Islamic non-theological thought never made its way to Ireland in any influential fashion. 5. To follow the previous point, Islamic Spain or Andalucia was the closest centre of scientific thought to Ireland. However, the Muslims never conquered Galicia or Asturias so Northern Spain was still Christian, and pretty archaic I believe. I'm purely guessing that there would have been regular Irish visitors to La Coruna and Compostela, but I doubt the conversation often strayed into what has happening with medicine or maths in Cordoba or Seville when Christian priests were performing exorcisms for mumps and measles. 6. Pre-Vikings there were no recognisable towns in Ireland, and certainly no cities that might have developed into centres of science and learning. It might be unfair to them but perhaps our ancestors spent their evenings and weekends (",) discussing the quotidian rather than the academic? I think that all "modern" technology at the time had been imported so there wasn't a class of metallurgists or chemists thinking about creating the next Silicon Valley in the 7th or 8th centuries. 7. I'm really gonna stretch on this last point. Christianity had displaced, replaced and repressed Druidic practices. We really don't know what these pre-Christian practitioners learned, taught, thought or practiced due to the lack of written records and misrepresentation by Christian commentators. However, though the Druids undoubtedly were healers, thinkers, theologians, jurists and influencers, they were not engineers, architects and mathematicians. Perhaps that means there simply was no Irish tradition of secular or physical enquiry that didn't have some spiritual element? So despite our Saints, who were undoubtedly impressive individuals who contributed much to European culture, and our Scholars from Dun Scotus to Yeats, Shaw and Heaney, our most notable scientists are probably English born Richard Boyle (physics), Austrian born Erwin Schrodinger of dead cat fame, and English born George Boole (mathematics and logic). I'm a finance/economics guy so maybe my conclusion is that we should stick to what we're good at. Leave the science to the rest of the world so that we can stick to the limbo of the demi-physical-spiritual where we can indulge our "myst-ellect". Slán tamall...

@@AnBreadanFeasa Very interesting observations. You should really develop them into a very interesting essay. 1. In relation to Greece, I have a feeling the population of Classical Greece was bigger than early medieval Ireland - remember the Greeks had cities in parts of Asia (until the 1920s there was a considerable Greek population in Turkey and until the 1960s or 70s so did Alexandria. Marseille, Scilly, and other parts of the Western Mediterranean were full of Greek settlements. So Greece had some of of excess population - whch can also be seen in mercenary armies in Persia (Xenophon). In addition, Greece did not emerge out of nothing. It was part of a Mediterranean/Middle East world in which there had always been contemplation on philosophical themes. The Greeks took it further for some reason. 2 Rome did hate heresy, but how Roman was Irish Christianity. Totally in some ways, but less so in others. Though I have a feeling the drive to Romanise the Irish Church under Malachy and others in the 11th century, probably distracted any budding philosophers. 3& 4 Excellent points - though you could also tentatively argue that the political instability (and the political-religious structures) in Western Europe resulting from the end of Rome prevented humanist discussions from multiplying 5 years ago I saw an excellent film about the Arabic philosopher Averroes (An interesting review here www.rogerebert.com/reviews/destiny-1999). I thought of it reading this point 6 Most technology was imported, but the tidal mill seems to have been an Irish development 7 Was it possible anywhere between the medieval period and the englightenment to have any research without a spiritual element? The modern world has been so secularised that this aspect is often overlooked. I am also sceptical about the repression of Druidic practices. I think that pre-Christian beliefs were incorporated by Christianity (as other religions also did). Before the Gaelic people large tombs such as New Grange, stone circles, and stone rows were built in Ireland. Some sort of semi-scientific knowledge was involved in this, as they (among other things) functioned as sort of calendars, and/or observatories - intersected by other needs. Many stone rows for example have orientations to astronomical events, but often these are slightly adjusted to the landscape, such as a sacred mountain in the distance. However, this knowledge was lost at some stage. I like the idea of myst-ellect! Thanks again for your wonderful comments, which I again think you should flesh out. I really think they are ideas that deserve/need to be heard!

What was the name of the area it was in? North Kerry has much better land than South Kerry, so less stone, meaning that it was easier to build out of clay/earth. There must be some cashels (stone ringforts) there, but I can't think of any!

@@forasfeasa Bedford

@@Dhhhhj27 Thanks.... another place on my long list of places to visit 🙂

The book? They talk about everything really. It is quite technical and dry in some points, but it is a good book. Actually, I would also recommend by the same author "Early Medieval Ireland, 431-1169". He sums up in it his ringfort research and provides a very good account of the period

@@forasfeasa Cheers

@@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf Thanks for the 'coffee' I hope you don't mind if I spend it on beer :-)

I would say so - especially going by the place names. Dundalk, Dun laoghaoire, etc. Admittedly, the main cities and many towns were founded by the Norse, but often they were near Irish settlements.

Go raibh maith agut. We all need a ring fort or two (or more). Or a hill fort, but that is another story :-)

It would have! Definetely

@@forasfeasa

Aye, that it would!

I`d like a Rath of my own😋

@@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf I want a cashel, need the stone walls! (To sit on contemplating the sunset..)

You are very welcome Geraldine. I think I know the grave. I will be leading a walk up their on Wednesday for heritage week.

@@forasfeasa My mother grew up at No 6 Cable Terrace. Her grandfather - the above Denis O'Sullivan and her father Maurice O'Sullivan and at least three of her uncles worked at the Cable Station. My great grandmother Ellen Jane Jenkins came to Valentia with her father, Daniel Jenkins who was head of the Coast Guards for a time. He was widowed and brought many of his nine children with him from England. He also brought a "nanny'" who he married shortly after coming to Valentia. Daniel's father, another Daniel was also in Valentia for a time with the Coast Guards. Most of Daniel's children married "local" partners and headed off to the US and Australia & New Zealand. These stories are all on my mother's fraternal side of the family (O'Sullivans). On her mother's side there is a lovely story that I tell! Her grandfather, Patrick Murphy was a well known builder in Tralee and got the contract to build one of the big buildings on the island (I don't remember which one!). So he visited often and I believe on one of these visit he brought along his daughter, Mollie (Mary Jane). She met Maurice O'Sullivan and fell in love. That's my romantic side conjuring up that story!! Anyway she did marry Maurice in Tralee in early 1911 and settled in Cable Terrace and had four children, one being my mother! Denis & Ellen had 10 children. I wonder what size house they lived in. I imagine all the boys shared a room and all the girls shared another one, if they were lucky!! I have lots of details on my family tree on Ancestry.com Enjoy your Heritage Week. I hope you have lots of visitors to your beautiful island.

@@geraldinehealydwyer3816 Thanks for your beautiful stories. They are important - and I hope your family know of them. You should write a book or an article about it. It is amazing what you might produce

Thank you very much for your comment. It comes at a good time. The algorithim has not been nice to me recently. It is good to know my videos are appreciated! Hopefully another one will be out on Sunday, trying to write it now, Eoin

@@forasfeasaI’ll be watching out for it! Once again, thanks for your work. TH-cam doesn’t appreciate long form educational work, more so ridiculous slop. Though there is a vast amount of exceptional work on the platform I have to work very hard to keep my recommendations relevant to my interests…

@@FPSIreland2 You're welcome. I know what you mean about youtube

Thank you very much! :-) :-)

Many thanks! Glad you liked them. Yes, the memorial to the Spanish sailors runs from the 1930s to 1989. There may well have been others buried much before. I am thinking about the Fenian Rising, still have a lot of research to do on it... Slan from Valentia

Yes, it was a horrific period and meant that much that could have been achieved was lost. I would not put the blame on Collins alone, both sides helped open the pandora's box

Thank you very much, Glad you like them (and it is always good to hear nice comments)

You are very welcome

Many - perhaps most - of the IRA in the north actually supported the treaty. I wonder what would have happened had the Civil War not happened? History would have been different, very different and probably Northern Ireland would have a far different shape now.

@@forasfeasa Chucky r law

It is... well worth visiting if you get a chance

They are everywhere.... :-)

​@@forasfeasaThere was also the Coshmang McCarthys around Castlemaine they allegedly took turns sharing Castlemaine castle with the Fitzgeralds...there are illustrations of a siege there in 1572.

I used to think so too, but it is not really the case. If you look at medieval signatures/documents, it is O'Neill, O'Domhnaill, etc, not An Ua Neill... I think it came into English through a bad translation and then to picked up like many supposed historical conventions.

Thanks for the reply. Yes Glenmama was a major victory for Brian. Indeed a bigger and clearer victory than Clontarf, as it gave him Dublin. I would like to make another video about Brian, but there are so many sites to visit! Interesting what you say about Mountjoy Sq. I had never heard that before. Mind you it is not really that far from the traditional view of him camping at Phibsboro.

@@forasfeasa I thought he passed through Phibsboro, even camped near the location of the Brian Boru pub aka Hedigans, soon to be knocked down BTW, that's a fair click from the battle site though, who knows.

@@antseanbheanbocht4993 After 1000 years it is impossible to know! It is funny that no Irish pub claims that Brian Boru drank there. I know it England Cromwell seems to have drunk in a million pubs (but no Irish ones :-)

I would tend to agree with you - but I think there were other winners as well

Exactly... or to be more precise a battle of Gaelic, Hiberno-Norse, and Scottish/Isle of Man Norse against Gaelic and Hiberno-Norse! :-)

@@forasfeasa Thanks for an excellent summary. It conforms with my existing leanings on the issue, but is far, far better informed. These days Brian's legacy seems to be bound up with the rhetorical issue of whether Ireland is on the brink of "unification" or "reunification". "Brianists", of course, favour the latter.

@@markaxworthy2508 Thank you very much. Interesting point you make about Brian's legacy these days. I would add here that some people are very strongly attached to historical legends and refuse to believe evidence to the contrary. It leads to difficult conversations!

Thank you! Excellent comment!

They were from the Dal gCais, so were probably at Clontarf. A friend of mine made a video about which groups were at Clontarf. It may answer your question. It is th-cam.com/video/MkUpVvLEOug/w-d-xo.html

You are very welcome! Glad you enjoyed it

I will try.. thinking about how to do it... watch this space

@@forasfeasa 😜

I recognize that name from somewhere... I will have a look. Thanks

@@forasfeasa Howard`s biggest creation was Conan the Barbarian

Thanks Denis, actually I just got notified of your donation! Thanks a million. (It is something new to me...)

Modern technology can be crazy,. TH-cam is insisting with me that I haven't replied to your comment yet..! 🙂

@@forasfeasa haha, computer says no ....but I did get it , 👍

Yes, the mythology of the 'peopling' of Ireland is quite complex. Some day I would like to make a video or series of videos on it. Since I use the real places in my videos, unlike the animation/AI graphics so popular these days, it is going to be a while. But West Cork is on my hit list!!!! :-) THanks for your comment and the idea it put in my head.

Tá failte romhat.

Thanks for the comment. I largely agree with you. However, this video is more about the 15th century onwards. I make one reference to descendants of Normans and others. In the time the video was about, the O'Connor Kerry lords identified as Gaelic, with the various Fitzgeralds and Fitzmaurices saw themselves as English - English born in Ireland, but definitely English. I find the differences in identity fascinating. Unfortunately this is hard to make videos about :-) You mention Brian Boru. My next video will probably be on Clontarf. I am working on it at the moment.

ipas site?

​@@forasfeasaA doss house for the fakeugees.

Wouldn't doubt it.

Thanks for the lovely Eileen. Are you from North Kerry? And I wonder if your grandmother also mentioned the Earl of Desmond and Knight of Glin? :-) O'Connor Kerry was very isolated as a Gaelic lord in North Kerry!

​@@forasfeasaShanahan was a name linked to Kerryhead

@@Dhhhhj27 Thanks

I think you may be mistaken. The so-called senior line of O'Connor Kerry seem to have Carrigafoyle until Cromwell. Cathal Rua, according to Mary McAuliffe, the last member of the senior line of O'Connor Kerry, failed to get Carrigafoyle or Iriaghtconnor back under Charles II. He supported James II and was thus forced into exile.

@@forasfeasa I've never heard of that account....very interesting.

@@Dhhhhj27 I just realised I forgot to post in the bibliography. Have a look at this article Mary McAuliffe "O'Connor Kerry of Carrigafoyle: History and Memory in Iraghticonor," In: Béaloideas, Iml. 82 (2014), It is available at JSTOR

I will thanks.

@@Dhhhhj27 you're welcome

Looking forward to seeing your film on Ötzi !!!!!

A very interesting comment. You kind of described working class Belfast of the 1970s and 80s, where the provisional IRA or UVF ran certain neighbourhoods in the way you describe - supposedly protecting them, though this involving killing or maiming large numbers of their own, all the while profiting from criminality. (Not exempting the security bosses, police or army who also did terrible things). Unfortunately, the more we find out about these times, the stronger the simplistic narratives get. The pre-reformation/enlightenment period has been portrayed very badly in the historiography (and in film). Identity was something very complex, forming by competing beliefs, cut across by money, class, gender, patronage, employment, and many other things. However, way before Hobbes and Locke there was a strong belief in a (real) social contract. In Ireland lords had to protect those they ruled over - otherwise the latter could transfer their allegiance elsewhere. Since there was a shortage of labour/peasants, this meant the latter had the ability to simply walk away from one lord and go to another. It was not a perfect society, but it was not a primitive unchanging one. Lots to think about

@@forasfeasa Thank you for your reply, likewise, I find that a very interesting subject.. to try to imagine the dynamics. Your mention there of social contract, I meant to mention that as being apparently part of that 'old school' mafioso culture - I watched something on a little village in Sicily where the townsfolk had genuine admiration for them and hated the centralised power that was unreachable - they preferred going to 'Uncle Luigi' to sort out their problems, so, in that way there was a certain nobility to it. I think the Crays in London were a similar thing, a genuine care for the community, though dangerous at the same time. Anyhow, that's stretching the analogy but... That somehow gave a route in for me to begin imagining what the power dynamics of those isolated (in comparison to today's world) lords and communities might have felt like. Reminds me... I found myself looking at a plaque on a statue in North Yorkshire a year or so ago of Lord Feversham, who stands, cut in stone, in Helmsley town square. The plaque read something like: "Loved and respected by the people of this town, commemorated here." - I immediately poo-pooed it as a bit of propaganda, with my 21st century scepticism, but caught myself and thought: "Yes, but _what if they actually DID love and respect him_ ?!?" It's an almost unbelievable concept in our world of cut and paste politicians etc. to imagine someone in charge who was _genuinely_ loved and admired. Mmm. Anyway, just struck me. The heartfelt social contract guiding interactions between those in power and those beneath is very easy to dismiss through the contemporary lens, but, as you say... well, that's our world, not theirs. It was the thought that that Lord Feversham had governed that town through the industrial revolution and built it up, made it prosperous - so actually, it's not crazy to think the townsfolk felt genuinely indebted to the fellow. Tis a pity we seem to have strayed so far from that constructive mentality in our power dynamics today... Anyhow, I am writing too much, apologies - a night off editing before the final clean up tomorrow! 🤓 All the best.

Thanks a lot. Glad you liked it

On the Irish archaeological sites nowadays they give metric measurements, so I use these. Meters are easy enough to convert to yards, but the rest is complicated, so I stick with the metric measurements! Sorry...

Thank you very much!

Definitely... especially if you had lived at the end of the 1590s... a bad time!

@@forasfeasa At least my relies must of made it through mate

@@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf Indeed! :-)

@@forasfeasa Some might of been on the other side. My mum has pom in her

@@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf Just a little..!

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for your comment

Thank you very much. The Civil War era was a brutal time, but it is important to tell the history. Thanks for the lovely comment!

Thanks...