Spike Island –  Australian Convicts & the Vagrancy Act

Spike Island – Australian Convicts & the Vagrancy Act

Between 1787 and 1868, over 30,000 Irish men and 9,000 Irish women were transported to the Australian colonies as convicts. The vast majority were held at Spoke Island before they departed for exile from Cobh, the County Cork seaport which had been renamed Queenstown...
Michael Dwyer (1772-1825) – The Outlaw of the Wicklow Mountains

Michael Dwyer (1772-1825) – The Outlaw of the Wicklow Mountains

See here for more stories from County Wicklow.   Much of the post-1798 folklore in the Wicklow Mountains concerns the rebel leader Michael Dwyer who held out until 1803. Born in Camara, Co. Wicklow, in 1772, he was raised near Eadestown in the Glen of Imail and served...