A very short blog post today, just to share a preview of my upcoming talk for the Hackney History Festival. I'll be speaking on Sunday 10 May 2026 at 3 pm in Sutton House (2-4 Homerton High Street, London E9 6JQ), one of the few Tudor mansions still existing in London today. Tickets are selling fast but as of today, you can still book tickets (£3) for my talk.

Seeing #SnaG26 social media posts in March for Seachtain na Gaeilge [Irish Week], I decided to revisit my research to find evidence of how long Ireland's native tongue Gaeilge has been present in London's past. I hope you enjoy this chronological timeline which demonstrates just how much the Irish lanuage in London has always been about more than pub signs promising Céad míle fáilte [A hundred thousand] & Ceol agus craic [music & fun]!

Fleetwood Street, Stoke Newington, London N16 (Photographed June 2024 © Breda Corish) In 2023, I was asked to give a local history talk...

How did James & Elizabeth Butler, the 12th Earl and Countess of Ormond first rise to the positions of Viceroy and Vicereine of Ireland?

What connected Ireland's great dynastic Norman family, the Butlers, with the most fashionable urban development in 17th-century London?