Sir Henry Bunbury (1565-1634)

Sir Henry Bunbury (1565-1634)

Henry Bunbury was grandfather of the Benjamin Bunbury who first acquired the land in County Carlow, Ireland. Henry succeeded as head of the family in 1601 and was knighted two years later by the new king, James I. He appears to have been of Calvinist persuasion in...
Richard Boyle (1566–1643) – The Great Earl of Cork

Richard Boyle (1566–1643) – The Great Earl of Cork

Without question, Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork,  was the dominant figure on Ireland’s Blackwater Valley for the first forty years of the 17th century.  Indeed, the entrepreneur from Canterbury was one of the most extraordinary and powerful characters in Western...
A History of Molesworth Street, Dublin

A History of Molesworth Street, Dublin

A history of the central Dublin street from its origins as a playground for citizens during the Tudor age through its development by families such as Molesworth, Rosse, Dawson and Hamilton, to its gentrification in the 19th century and its reemergence as an urban...

Peg Plunkett (Mrs. Leeson) (C. 1740-1797)

PEG PLUNKETT (MRS. LEESON) (C. 1740-1797) VICE-QUEEN OF GEORGIAN DUBLIN Christmas 1794 was a distinctly uncomfortable time for a large number of the well-to-do men who frequented Georgian Dublin. The word was out that Mrs. Leeson, long regarded as the city’s foremost...
Kick Kennedy, the Marquess & the Earl

Kick Kennedy, the Marquess & the Earl

On 13 May 1948, a plane crash in southern France ended the life of both Kick Kennedy, oldest sister of Jack and Bobby, and her lover, Peter, Earl Fitzwilliam. This story recounts the series of events that led up to the tragedy, including Kick's marriage to the Duke of...