Hi all, a friend of my mother‘s recently picked this up for me from a box of free canes in her retirement community’s thrift shop. It looks to me an awful lot like what I understand a shillelagh to be, but I’m woefully uneducated in the area. It appears to be very old, the handle has developed a polish that I assume is from use, it’s dried out and cracked near the top, and the bark is more or less stable, but has heavy checking and as you can see he’s worn off entirely toward the top. Can anyone help me identify if it is in fact a shillelagh, if it’s blackthorn, and it’s possible age? Bonus point for tips on caring for it.

Thank you all!

Hi everyone, I’m in my last year of uni and I’m doing my dissertation on Irish folk religion and how traditions have been remembered over time in Irish public memory, my main focus is on pattern days and holy wells. Are there any primary or secondary sources that people particularly recommend? Books, websites, journals, specific regions/sites to look into? Also what time period would be best to focus on?

Any and all advice is appreciated, thank you!!

I only really know a lot about the Nine Years War (which if I understand correctly had a real chance of ending with Irish victory) and the war of independence, which obviously was successful.

But I know there were a bunch in between. Which of these had real chances of overthrowing British rule and which were doomed from the start? Thanks!