📖 Ancient Restoration

Gráinne Ní Máille, sea queen of Connacht, meets queen Elizabeth I, 1593. Their entire conversation was conducted in Latin.

By the 16th c. Hiberno-Latin was a second colloquial language among the Irish. Visitors to Aran were astonished by 'Latin-speaking rustics'

"Homer's Iliad, Paradise Lost, the Old Testament, Ovid.. these books were in every peasant's cottage" Education in Ireland circa 19-20th C.

Teachers in Ireland were once known as 'poor scholars' & seen as responsible for passing on wisdom that stretched back to Gaelic antiquity.

A mural to the Hedge school-masters in Ardoyne, Belfast. They educated the rural poor, teaching language, math, & even astronomy.

The famous Hedge schools of 18th century Ireland came about when the class of poets turned to teaching in order to maintain the tradition.

The Irish poet was almost certainly a descendant class of the druid (filidh); both used a poetic style of rhymed verses to retain knowledge.

The Irish poet was almost certainly a descendant class of the druid (filidh); both used a poetic style of rhymed verses to retain knowledge.

In Celtic times the bull was a symbol of wealth and status. It was a dispute about one such magnificent animal that gave rise to the war between Queen Medb and her husband, Ailill, resulting in the legend known as Táin Bó Cúailnge, The Cattle Raid of Cooley

The intellectual caste always carried a long staff, much like Merlin the wizard, going back to Sumeria. A medieval Irish priest carried a staff, bell and holy book. The cane showed the power entrusted to him to guide the flock. The bell was used to call prayers…

The Dagda is the hammer-god of the Irish pantheon. Like Sucellus he carries the sacred tokens of magical wand (club)& regenerative cauldron.

The Yew tree in the cloisters of Muckross Abbey near Killarney. Thought to be Ireland's oldest tree at 670 years old.