Through Her Eyes

A New History of Ireland in 21 Women

Clodagh Finn

• Publisher: Gill Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780717183197
• eBook ISBN:
  9780717183210
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Told through the prism of the lives of 21 extraordinary women, this remarkable book offers an alternative vision of Irish history – one that puts the spotlight on women whose contributions have been forgotten or overlooked. Author Clodagh Finn travels through the ages to 'meet', among others, Macha, the Celtic horse goddess of Ulster; St Dahalin, an early Irish saint and miracle worker; Jo Hiffernan, painter and muse to the artists Whistler and Courbet; Jennie Hodgers, a woman who fought as a male soldier in the American Civil War; Sr Concepta Lynch, businesswoman, Dominican sister and painter of a unique Celtic shrine; the Overend sisters, farmers, charity workers and motoring enthusiasts; and Rosemary Gibb, athlete, social worker, clown and accomplished magician. From a Stone Age farmer who lived in Co. Clare more than 5,000 years ago to the modern-day founder of a 3D printing company, this book opens a fascinating window onto the life and times of some amazing women whose stories were shaped by the centuries in which they lived.

Bibliographical Notes

Chapter 1: Woman of the Burren

The content for this chapter draws heavily on the report of excavations at Poulnabrone tomb published in 2014, as well as the findings of recent analysis of ancient DNA carried out at Trinity College Dublin.

The portrait of the Woman of the Burren is constructed from the detailed findings outlined in Dr Ann Lynch’s Poulnabrone: An Early Neolithic Portal Tomb in Ireland, Archaeological Monograph Series: 9, 2014. I am very grateful to Dr Barra O’Donnabhain, author of the chapter on the bioarchaeology of human remains with Dr Mara Tesorieri, for sharing his many insights with me.

I am also very grateful to Dr Lara M. Cassidy who spoke about her research in ancient DNA. Her findings are outlined in ‘Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and the establishment of the insular Atlantic genome’, Lara M. Cassidy, Rui Martiniano, Eileen M. Murphy, Matthew D. Teasdale, James Mallory, Barrie Hartwell and Daniel G. Bradley, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, September 2015; ‘Scientists Sequence First Ancient Irish Human Genomes’, tcd.ie, 28 December 2015.

The notes on Ötzi come from South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology http://www.iceman.it/en/clothing/.

Chapter 2: Macha

I am very grateful to Damien Houlahan and the staff at Navan Centre and Fort in Armagh for showing me around this singular site and explaining its many aspects.

Thank you too to Kate Fitzpatrick, whom I met there, for taking the time to explain her work with Celtic myth. It is outlined in beautifully written detail in her book, cited below.

The story of Macha was drawn from the version told at Navan Centre and Fort and the one recounted by Kate Fitzpatrick.

Works cited:

Fitzpatrick, Kate, Macha’s Twins: A Spiritual Journey with the Celtic Horse Goddess (Imran Publishing, 2017).

Lynn, Chris, Navan Fort: Archaeology and Myth (Wordwell, 2003).

Lynn, Chris, McSparron, Cormac, and Moore, Peter, Excavations at Navan Fort, Data Structure Report: Navan Fort, Co. Armagh, Centre of Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University Belfast, 2002.

Mallory, J.P., and Stockman, G. (eds), Ulidia, Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha (December Publications, 1994).

Raftery, Barry, Pagan Celtic Ireland, The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age (Thames & Hudson, 1994).

Waddell, John, Archaeology and Celtic Myth (Four Courts Press, 2015).

Waterman, D.M., Excavations at Navan Fort, County Armagh 1961–71, completed and edited by C.J. Lynn; general editor Ann Hamlin (The Stationery Office, Belfast, 1997).

Warner, Richard B., ‘Ptolemy’s Isamnion Promontory: Rehabilitation and Identification’, Emania 21, 2013.

Articles and online sources:

An Trumpa Creda, Archaeology Ireland, Winter 2000, Vol. 14, No. 4, Issue No. 54, also at Ancient Music Ireland, http://ancientmusicireland.com/page/papers-articles.html.

Lönze, Holger, ‘Exploring the Alchemy of Sound’, Archaeology Ireland, Winter 2018, Vol. 32, No. 4, Issue No. 126.

Moriarty, Colm, and Corless, Adrienne, ‘A Barbary Ape Skull from Navan Fort, Co Armagh’, irisharchaeology.ie.

Táin Bó Cúailnge, recension 1, https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T301012/text001.html.

Chapter 3: St Dahalin

I owe a great deal to historian and author Bryan MacMahon who shared his research and very many insights into the history and archaeology of Kerry Head.

Sincere thanks are also due to Dr Elva Johnston, Associate Professor at the School of History, University College Dublin, who was so generous with her time and offered suggestions based on her extensive research on Irish saints and early medieval Ireland. She also explained the etymology of Dahalin’s name.

I’m indebted to local people Joe Slattery, the Gentleman family (Billy, Amanda and Patrick), Dr Maurice O’Halloran and Ciaran Walsh, who told me about the well’s history and its enduring legacy.

Details of what sixth-century religious, daily and political life might have been like were drawn from the following archaeological and historical sources:

Harney, Lorcan, ‘Christianising pagan worlds in conversion-era Ireland: archaeological evidence for the origins of Irish ecclesiastical sites’, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 117C (Royal Irish Academy, 2017).

Johnston, Elva, ‘The Saints of Kerry in the Early Middle Ages’, forthcoming.

O’Sullivan, Aidan, and Nicholl, Tríona, ‘Early medieval settlement enclosures in Ireland; dwellings, daily life and social identity’, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 111C (Royal Irish Academy, 2010).

O’Sullivan, Muiris, and Downey, Liam, ‘Early Churches – Agriculture and Food’, Archaeology Ireland, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring 2017), pp. 18–21.

During a tour, Annie Birney at the National Museum of Ireland opened a fascinating window into the period by explaining the relevance of some of the artefacts that survive from early medieval Ireland.

Other works cited include:

Johnston, Elva, ‘The “pagan” and “Christian” identities of the Irish female saint’ in Mark Atherton (ed.), Celts and Christians: New Approaches to the Religious Traditions of Britain and Ireland (University of Wales Press, 2002); ‘Powerful women or patriarchal weapons? Two medieval Irish saints’, Peritia, 15. pp. 302–10 (Brepols, 2001).

Johnson, Máire, ‘In the Bursting of an Eye: Blinding and Blindness in Ireland’s Medieval Hagiography’, in ‘Wounds and Wound Repair in Medieval Culture’, Explorations in Medieval Culture, Volume: BRILL (2015).

MacMahon, Bryan (ed.), Our Christian Heritage (Ballyheigue Parish History and Heritage Group, 2012).

MacMahon, Bryan, The Story of Ballyheigue (Oidhreacht, 1994).

O Donovan, J., The antiquities of the county of Kerry (Royal Carberry Books Ltd, 1841), pp. 46–7.

Ó Riain, Pádraig, A Dictionary of Irish Saints (Four Courts Press, 2011).

Tarrant, Bernadette, Exploring the Rich Heritage of the North Kerry Landscape (Listowel Archaeological and Historical Committee, 1990).

Toal, Caroline, North Kerry Archaeological Survey (Brandon, 1995).

Stokes, Whitley (ed.), Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore (Oxford, 1890), pp. 72–3, lines 2431–7, details the exchange between Canir and Senán. Available online: https://archive.org/details/LivesOfSaintsFromTheBookOfLismore/page/n5. Translation courtesy of Dr Elva Johnston.

Journals and newspapers:

Bitel, Lisa M., ‘Women’s monastic enclosures in early Ireland: a study of female spirituality and male monastic mentalities’, Journal of Medieval History Vol. 12 (1986) pp. 15–36.

Cogitosus, ‘Life of St Brigit’, Sean Connolly and J.M. Picard, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 117 (1987), pp. 5–27.

‘The Danes in Ireland’, report of a talk by The Very Rev. T. Lee to Cork Young Men’s Society, Cork Examiner, 9 December 1897, which contains the description of the Vikings.

O’Shea, Rev. Kieran, ‘Bishop Davis Moriarty’s Diary, 1856’, extracts in Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, No. 17, 1984, pp. 113–26.

The testimony from Michael Godley, Dromatoor, Co. Kerry, and collected by Eily Godley is part of the National Folklore Collection UCD, www.duchas.ie.

Chapter 4: Gormlaith

I am very grateful to Dr Catherine Swift, Lecturer in History at Mary Immaculate College Limerick.

Works cited:

Clarke, Howard B., ‘Sitriuc Silkbeard (Sitric, Sigtryggr Ólafsson Silkiskeggi)’, Dictionary of Irish Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Cusack, M.F., Illustrated History of Ireland, from the Earliest Period (Longmans, Green, & Co., 1871).

Duffy, Sean, Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf (Gill & Macmillan, 2013).

Mac Shamhráin, Ailbhe, ‘Gormlaith’, Dictionary of Irish Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Ní Bhrolcháin, Muireann, ‘Who was Gormlaith’s mother? A d...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Author’s note
• Woman of the Burren, one of Ireland’s earliest farmers (circa 3600 BC)
• Macha, the Celtic horse goddess of Ulster (Early Iron Age)
• St Dahalin, early Irish saint and miracle worker (circa 500 AD)
• Gormlaith, a queen to three kings (died circa 1030)
• Aoife MacMurrough, countess and wife of Strongbow (circa 1153–1204)
• Roesia de Verdun, castle-builder, landholder and priory founder (circa 1204–1247)
• Margaret O’Carroll, medieval lady, patron of the arts and negotiator (died 1451)
• Katherine Fitzgerald, Countess of Desmond, who reputedly lived to be 140 (circa 1460s–1604)
• Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh, intellectual, woman of science, physician – and the brilliant older sister of chemist Robert Boyle (1615–1691)
• Ellen Hutchins, Ireland’s first female botanist (1785–1815)
• Lady Sligo, landlady, style icon, humanitarian and mother of 14 (1800–1878)
• Jo Hiffernan, painter and muse to the artists Whistler and Courbet (circa 1843–1903)
• Jennie Hodgers, a woman who fought as a male soldier in the American Civil War (1843–1915)
• Lizzie Le Blond, Alpine mountaineer and photographer (1860–1934)
• Clotilde Graves, acclaimed journalist, playwright and bestselling novelist (1863–1932)
• Sr Concepta Lynch, businesswoman, Dominican sister and painter of a unique Celtic shrine (1874–1939)
• The Overend sisters, farmers, charity workers and motoring enthusiasts
• Mabel Colhoun, pioneering archaeologist, artist, photographer and teacher (1905–1992)
• Rosemary Gibb, athlete, social worker, clown and accomplished magician (1942–1997)
• Jemma Redmond, groundbreaking biotechnologist who printed living tissue (1978–2016)
• Bibliographical notes
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright
• About the Author
• About Gill Books