Brendan Bracken – Churchill’s Faithful Chela

Brendan Bracken – Churchill’s Faithful Chela

Brendan Bracken, one of Winston Churchill’s closest friends, was the son of a prominent Irish nationalist. He ran away from school as a child and reinvented himself as an Australian schoolteacher. Brendan served as Britain’s Minister of Propaganda during...
Launch of Carloviana 2026

Launch of Carloviana 2026

The 2026 edition of Carloviana, the journal of the Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society was launched in the Seven Oaks in December 2026. I was asked to give the speech, and these words are filleted from that. Become a member of Turtle’s History Library to...
Tales of Lough Erne – An Interview with Michael Clarke

Tales of Lough Erne – An Interview with Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke, Admiral of the Lough Erne Yacht Club, recounts his early sailing experiences, including seeing D-Day ships as a boy and circumnavigating Ireland in 1961. He also highlights Lough Erne’s yachting tradition, tracing its roots to the early 1800s and...
Becher of Aughadown, Lough Ine and Bagenalstown House

Becher of Aughadown, Lough Ine and Bagenalstown House

Tracing a line of the Becher family of County Cork, Ireland, that descend from Phane Becher (c.1546-1592), including the Venerable John Richard Hedges Becher (1861-1946), Archdeacon of Ossory & Leighlin, John Hedges Becher (1888-1967) who worked on railways in...
Notes on Monasterevin, County Kildare

Notes on Monasterevin, County Kildare

Exploring notable figures from the towns past from St. Abban, who entrusted the site to Evin to the composer Franz Liszt, as well as the Marquess of Drogheda; Wimbledon champion Willoughby Hamilton; Florence Fulton Hobson, Ireland’s first female architect; and Count...