Irish Culture, Traditions & Folklore Books

Have you ever wondered where your town or townland name came from? Do you want to know more about an Irish locality? Well if so this is the book for you. Featuring a comprehensive breakdown of the all available place names in thei…

Memoir Of An Irish Jew is the story of Lionel Cohen, who was born in 1922 into a Jewish family in Cork. Lionel served in the Irish Army, the British Merchant Navy, the Israeli Army and in the fledgling Israeli Merchant Navy. He re…

When they were in their twenties, Niall Williams and Christine Breen made the impulsive decision to leave New York City and move to Christine's ancestral home in the town of Kiltumper in rural Ireland. In the decades that followed…

From war to revolution, famine to emigration, The Darkness Echoing travels around Ireland bringing its dark past to lifeIt's no secret that the Irish are obsessed with misery, suffering and death. And no wonder, for there is darkn…

Death is a whisper in the Anglo-Saxon world. But on a remote island, off the coast of County Mayo, it has a louder voice. The local radio station runs a thrice-daily roll-call of the recently departed.The islanders keep vigil with…

From near Bantry to Inchigeelagh, on to Macroom, Dripsey and Coachford, all the way north to Millstreet and almost as far as Mallow. Like anywhere else in Cork and Ireland for that matter it’s dotted with murder. Some murders are …

Abandoned Ireland travels the length and breadth of the island of Ireland visiting and documenting our forgotten buildings, highlighting their social importance, and bringing their stories back to life through the medium of photog…

The seventeenth century in Ireland was a time of huge change. At its beginning, there were still significant areas under Catholic Gaelic ownership and cultural sway; by the end – almost none. The story of how the island made this …

For almost fifty years, Michael Harding has been crafting words in a bid to express himself and to explore truths about the human condition. But even still he found himself unable to say certain things he really wanted to. Then, w…

Allen Foster returns with the gruesome tales of some of Ireland's most infamous and lesser-known murders in history - a murder miscellany, you might say. From the murder of a teacher in his schoolyard and an ambush by dancing mask…

A fascinating look at the lifestyle and values of ancient IrelandThousands of years ago, Celtic Ireland was a land of tribes and warriors; but a widely accepted, sophisticated and surprisingly enlightened legal system kept society…

True crime meets local history. This book contains 39 true historical murders in West Cork. From Clonakilty in the east to the Beara Peninsula and the Kerry border, murder is never more than a few miles away. Each crime is complet…

From medieval monks to recent renaissance, From Barley to Blarney: A Whiskey Lover's Guide to Ireland includes everything you need to understand, appreciate, and mix one of the world's fastest-growing (and most delicious!) spirits…

Dark Beauty focuses on the minute detail in Harry Clarke's stained-glass windows, particularly in the borders and lower panels of his work. Clarke's brilliance as a graphic artist is clearly visible in his book illustrations, whic…

Tales of passion and romance, love on the battlefield, affairs kept secret on pain of death ... From the bride who married in a prison cell, to the leader caught in a love triangle, to the revolutionaries who did their loving on t…

The perfect stocking filler for lovers of Irish Castles. A pocket-sized guide to around 140 of Ireland's most dramatic castles and strongholds, all of which are open to the public, with structures from across the whole island of I…

First published in 1895, St. Multose Church Kinsale: As it was, and is, and ought to be was the work of the then rector of Kinsale, the Rev. John Lindsey Darling. It used detailed architectural drawings, sketches and photographs t…

Why did the Romans never try to conquer Ireland? Why did the King of Spain give his name to an Irish county? And how did brandy change the course of Irish history? Turtle Bunbury explores unexpected corners of the past to offer an…

George Touchet, 11th Baron Audley and 1st Earl of Castlehaven was a leading English commander in the decisive Battle of Kinsale in which he was wounded. He later became one of Ireland’s largest landowners, possessing 200,000 acres…

Proverbs in Irish grants the reader a look into the vast and rich world of aphoristic Irish folk-wisdom, as vibrant today as they were then. Chosen on the basis of relevance in the modern context, universality, frequency of usage,…

Lloyd George boasted that he had “murder by the throat” in a London Guildhall speech on 10 November 1920.  He had flooded Ireland with troops, Black and Tans, Auxiliaries, secret service, touts and informers.  Eighteen months late…

'A tale of arson, loot and murder' was how one source described the events that would befall Cork city on the night of 11-12 December 1920. In a scene of almost unprecedented destruction, members of the British forces bent on reve…

Unintended Consequences reveals how America's door closed on legal Irish immigration in the 1960s, and how America's Irish mounted a counterattack when nation-changing political forces were sweeping the country during the era of c…

From patriots to pirates, warriors to writers, and mistresses to male impersonators, this book looks at the unorthodox lives of inspiring Irish women. In times when women were expected to marry and have children, they travelled th…

John Creedon has always been fascinated by place names, from growing up in Cork City as a young boy to travelling around Ireland making his popular television show. In this brilliant new book, he peels back the layers of meaning o…

The Irish have always been a travelling people. In the centuries after the fall of Rome, Irish missionaries carried the word of Christianity throughout Europe, while soldiers and mariners from across the land ventured overseas in …

In a land like ours, the old beliefs bring pleasure and wisdom... Exploring the legends, special places and treasured practices of old, Jo Kerrigan reveals a rich world beneath Ireland's modern layers. So many of today's Irish tra…

The essential book for 2020, capturing the heart-breaking and uplifting stories that made it a year we will never forgetIn March 2020, the arrival of Coronavirus in Ireland saw our world change overnight. We watched in shock as it…

This breathtakingly exciting book discovers the Irish language as you've never learned it before! Fatti Burke's amazing illustrations and her father John's fabulous teaching bring the language alive with every turn of the page. A …

It's time for a new take on the Cork vs Dublin rivalry. Cork is more kefir cocktails than Tanora these days; Dublin reckons it's like Berlin because it has two intersecting tram lines. This book takes a 21st century look at the tw…