History of Ireland Collection Symbol Meanings

No beginning.... the unwinding path, symbolised by a Celtic swirl similar to those carved in stone by our ancestors some 5,000 years ago and still evident today in the magnificent Neolithic structures that litter our beautiful countryside. The diversity of the earliest settlers from the Atlantic coastlines of Europe to the Nordic regions, incorporating both rituals of death and rituals of rebirth, qualities that were important to life in the universe have over time formed a culture that is rich in heritage, beliefs and tradition.

Paganism can be traced back to Neolithic times and survived until the middle ages when Christianity became powerful enough to erase it from existence. Saint Patrick - Ireland’s patron saint, was not, as many mistakenly believe, a native Irishman. He was in fact most likely Welsh and until the age of 16 lived among the Roman-British gentry, his father Calphurnius being a Deacon and his grandfather Potitus, a priest. The most accurate estimates suggest Patrick practised his faith in what is now modern day Northern Ireland from 428AD onwards until his death on the 17th March 461. This date is now celebrated throughout Ireland and the world as St Patrick’s Day.

From the 6th century onwards, as the Irish people embraced Christianity, great monastic centres were established all over the country. The medieval Round Towers of Ireland were built approximately between the 9th and 12th centuries and through time have become a source of historical puzzlement. Probably originally intended as bell-towers, they also served as places of refuge for the religious community and their precious relics during times of invasion and persecution.  

They are, however, an enduring image of the Christian faith in Ireland. These magnificent stone structures proudly stand up to 130ft high and their construction is a testament to the ingenuity of the early Christians in Ireland. It is thought that there were once about one hundred and twenty of these imposing structures but unfortunately most now lie in ruins, with less than twenty surviving in almost perfect condition.

At the end of the 8th Century Ireland was a rural nation with the Christian monasteries at the heart of its communities. Over the next two centuries this society was to be torn asunder by waves of Viking raiders who pillaged its monasteries and towns. The Viking raids (first recorded in 795) were at first small and intermittent, but over the following decades they intensified in number and ferocity.

 The Vikings began to stay in Ireland over the winter months instead of returning to their native Scandinavia and their raiding parties grew in size to become small armies, gradually progressing further inland on their plundering sprees. An attempt to gain control of the whole country was defeated by Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 The Vikings retained the permanent settlements they had established notably Waterford, Cork, Dublin, Wexford and Limerick. Thus irrevocably changed the landscape and society of Gaelic Ireland.

The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between the Catholic King James II and his nephew and son-in-law the Protestant King William of the Dutch House of Orange. In 1688, the English Parliament invited William, who was married to James’ daughter Mary, to depose James as monarch of England and Scotland. It was in Ireland however that William and James faced each other at the Battle of the Boyne, as James made his desperate attempt to regain control of the crown.

 Both Kings commanded their armies in person. William had around 36,000 men and James had 25,000 – the largest number of troops ever deployed on an Irish battlefield. English, Scottish, Dutch, Danes and French Huguenots made up William’s army (Williamites), while James’ men (Jacobites) were mainly Irish Catholics, dispossessed gentry and peasants pressed into service, reinforced by 6,500 French troops sent by King Louis XIV. There were three issues at stake at the battle: The Throne of England, French Dominance of Europe and Power in Ireland.

William's camp was on the north side of the river. James’ was on the south side with the two armies facing each other. All the fighting took place on the south side of the river as the vastly outnumbered Jacobites defended their position. As folklore would have it, James provided his troops with alcohol to boost their morale - this just resulted in weakening their position further as they went to battle with hangovers and less sophisticated weaponry. Ultimately the Jacobites had to retreat. James returned to Dublin and from there he went to Cork and set sail for France, never to set foot in Ireland or England again. William triumphantly marched in to Dublin two days after the battle, where he commemorated his victory in St. Patricks Cathedral.

In September 1791, Irishman Theobald Wolfe Tone published “Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland” which maintained that “religious division was a tool of the elite to balance the one party by the other, plunder and laugh at the defeat of both”. Tone’s pamphlet was hugely influential. Tone and friend, Thomas Russell, became passionate fighters for Catholic rights. A group of nine Belfast.

Presbyterians interested in reforming Irish Parliament liked his ideas and invited Tone and Russell to Belfast where the group met on October 14, 1791. At this first meeting, the group, that became known as the United Irishmen passed three resolutions. The movement became supporters of the Catholic Committee, which had been working to get Catholic Emancipation bills through Parliament, repeal the remaining Penal Laws and abolish the Tithe laws. However, the ultimate goal for the United Irishmen was to separate religion from politics.

Ireland’s national flag is the distinctive tricolour of green, white and orange. History suggests that the green represents Ireland’s older Gaelic tradition and community, whilst the orange represents the Protestant supporters of William of Orange and his victory in the Battle of the Boyne. The inclusion of orange in the Irish Tricolour was to reconcile the Protestant Orange community with the Irish independence movement. The hope of peace between these two cultures is symbolised by the central band of white. The Irish flag is therefore an emblem of inclusion and union of all Ireland’s people regardless of their religious or political beliefs.

The flag was first unfurled publicly on 7th March 1848 by Thomas Meagher, the leader of Young Ireland, from the window of the Wolfe Tone Club in Waterford. Young Ireland was an Irish nationalist movement of the 1840s. Begun by a group of Irish intellectuals who founded and wrote for the Nation, the movement advocated the study of Irish history and the revival of the Irish (Gaelic) language as a means of developing Irish nationalism and achieving independence. The influence of the group waned after a break with the National Repeal Association in 1846. In 1848 the movement came to an end when a revolt led by the radical wing of the Young Irelanders was suppressed. Although the tricolour was not forgotten as a symbol of union and a banner associated with the Young Irelanders, it was little used between 1848 and 1916. Associated with the secession movement in the past, flown over the GPO during the Rising and capturing the banner of the new revolutionary Ireland, it was soon acclaimed throughout the country as the national flag. It continued to be recognised by official usage during the period 1922 – 1937, when its position as the national flag was formally confirmed by the Constitution of 1937.

The Act of Union passed in 1800 was a drastic and far-reaching political decision that formed a new country which would be called 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'. 19th Century Ireland was no stranger to hunger, but between the years 1845 – 1852 the country saw mass starvation on a scale never witnessed before. It is estimated that in Ireland during the Great Famine approximately one million people died and over a million more emigrated. Such widespread hunger was the result of the total dependence of one third of the population on the potato for food.  

The sheer magnitude of the Famine was not only caused by crop failure. A large number of the Irish lived in abject poverty even at the best of times, dependent on their Landlords, whose power over them was virtually unlimited. During the 1800s the majority of Irish landlords were Anglican Protestants since the law forbade Catholics from owning land. The Irish peasants from these affected groups lived almost exclusively on a diet of potatoes since land was scarce and potatoes were easily grown. Then, in 1845 the potato blight struck and destroyed almost one-third of the potato crop in Ireland. By 1846, the potato supply was non-existent. When the crops failed the starving tenant was often evicted from his home by greedy landlords for non-payment of rent and these disenfranchised families added to an already out-of-control problem. Throughout this period Ireland continued to export food whilst its people starved.

While the British Government set up soup kitchens and workhouses to relieve the stress of the disaster, they drastically underestimated the problems they were facing and much of the relief failed to reach its intended victims. The majority were completely oblivious to the Irish plight. The famine was a watershed in the history of Ireland. It was at this stage that the great ‘Irish Emigration’ began (especially to America). The Famine Ships offered hope for a better future and many left Irish shores, facing the unknown.

Many Irish people were left with a stark choice during the Great Famine – emigrate or die? In one year alone 250,000 Irish people fled their homeland in the hope of a better life. They often found their dreams were dashed long before they reached their destination. Those attempting to escape the horror of famine were herded on to crowded, filthy, disease ridden ships and left with little access to even the most basic food and water supplies. Sadly for many, the dream of a new life turned to a horrible nightmare as hundreds died on the overcrowded and poorly provisioned ships.  

Whilst crossing the Atlantic it was common for around 30% of a ship’s passengers to die. It is not surprising that these vessels became known as Coffin Ships. From a population of eight million, by 1851, the country’s population had fallen to six million and when emigration finally slowed down around 1900, only about four and a half million were counted in the population. Whilst the population had fallen dramatically, the impact of the famine was the first step in the global phenomena whereby a vast number of people of many nationalities worldwide can trace their heritage back to such a small island.

The Easter Rising of 1916 was organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, with the aim to end British rule in Ireland and to form an Irish Republic. Under the command of the Republican Military Council, key buildings in Dublin were seized on the morning of 24th April. The General Post Office (GPO) was chosen as the headquarters of the military operation. James Connolly, the military commander, and four senior members of the Military Council gathered here to raise the Irish Tricolour and to read the Proclamation of the Republic.

The British forces were unprepared for the rising but took little time in rushing some 16,000 reinforcements to Dublin, where they set about bombarding the rebel strongholds. After days of relentless shelling, the Republican Military Council was finally forced from their headquarters when the GPO caught fire. On Saturday 29th April 1916, the Irish Republican order to surrender was given. The subsequent execution of the leaders of the rising provoked great anger, the Easter Rising thus triggered the War of Independence which eventually brought about the setting up of the modern Irish State.

One result of the 1916 rising was the willingness of Irish Republicans to take up arms in defence of the Republic. Following the nationalists victories in the 1918 parliamentary elections and their subsequent declaration of independence from British rule in January 1919, the War of Independence broke out. The Government of Ireland Act 1920, partitioned Ireland into two separate Home Rule institutions – one for Northern Ireland and one for the remainder of the island. However, the Home Rule parliament in Southern Ireland failed to function.

When a truce in the War of Independence was declared in July 1921, there followed detailed and often long drawn out negotiations between the British and Irish representatives, resulting in the Anglo Irish Treaty. On 6th December 1922 this treaty established Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland as independent self-governing states. The following day however, Northern Ireland’s parliament opted to remain as part of the United Kingdom. At this time, Northern Ireland was populated and governed predominantly by protestant’s, loyal to the crown and they did not wish to be dictated to by the Oireachtas (the Parliament of the Irish Free State). In 1948 the Irish Free State became ‘The Republic of Ireland’.

The partition of the 6 counties of Northern Ireland and the 26 counties of the Irish Republic resulted in many years of turmoil between North and South, between those Irish who wanted a United Island of Ireland and Unionists who wished to stay loyal to the United Kingdom. The 1998 Peace Agreement was ratified by two referendums in both parts of Ireland, including an acceptance by the Republic that its claim to Northern Ireland would only be achieved by persuasion and peaceful means. This was an important part of the Northern Ireland peace process that has been under way since 1993. Whilst the geographical split still exists today, relations between North and South are now peaceful.

In the 12th century the invaders were Norman, Flemish and Norman-Welsh, and their language and customs were French. Their 'over-lord' was the French-speaking Henry Angevin, who had, among his many titles, the important one of Henry II of England. This never became a 'Norman Conquest' but was used later as an excuse by the Tudor monarchs of England in their attempts at conquest.