Atlas of Ingenious Ireland

In TCD’s engineering department you can inspect a working model of the steam turbine, the engine that  revolutionised marine transport and naval warfare and, most importantly, made cheap and plentiful electricity a reality.   It was invented in 1884 by Sir Charles Parsons,  from Birr Castle in Co Offaly, and you could say, his turbine made [...]

In 1821 the first children’s hospital in Ireland and Great Britain was founded on what is now Balfe Street.   Called  the ‘Institute for Sick Children’, it was located at Numbers 8 and 9 Pitt Street — beside a farmyard that is now Dublin’s Westbury Hotel — and it came to be known as the ‘Pitt [...]

This fascinating site was the 2nd biggest gunpowder manufacturing plant in Britain and Ireland in the 19th century.  It’s a lovely mix of parkland and historic industry, and well worth a visit. The Royal Irish Gunpowder Mills was founded in 1794 by Charles Henry Leslie and John Travers.   Gunpowder for industrial, sporting and military [...]

Howth Martello tower has a long connection with radio transmission in  Ireland and abroad.   Today, it houses Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Radio Museum, home to the various collections of curator Pat Herbert, and showcasing his knowledge of radio communication and Irish historical artefacts.  It’s a must for anyone interested in the history of radio and communications. [...]

The sugar industry was once at the forefront of computing in Ireland. Today this place is an uninspiring business park, just south of Thurles, yet this was where Ireland’s first “stored program computer” was installed in 1957, by the Irish Sugar Manufacturing Company (now Greencore). Sugar beet was a major Irish crop from the foundation of [...]

In December 2012, Connemara Mining Company announced it had found gold in Wicklow and Wexford. For many people this was no surprise: we’ve known there was gold there for centuries, and in 1795 Wicklow even had a ‘Gold Rush’ – though it lasted only six weeks! It began in early September, when gold was found [...]

The flat and featureless land of the North Slobs in Co Wexford is an artificial landscape… and well worth a visit. This fertile land was reclaimed from the sea in the 1840s. It lies 3 metres below sea level and is maintained by this pump house. A high embankment wall keeps the sea at bay, [...]

  The Light house is important because of the stunning scenery and views. Also the fact that there has been a light house on this spot since 1670 is important. The lovely drive up to it by the coast road make it a must see. If you are lucky you might get to see some [...]

This plaque marks the spot where Sir William Rowan Hamilton, arguably Ireland’s greatest scientist, invented a revolutionary new algebra in 1843. His ‘quaternions’ describe things moving in 3D, and are now used to orient spacecraft, in 3D animations and computer games. You could say that they helped to land a man on the Moon! They [...]

The world’s first comprehensive inventory of nature in a single location was when scientists from around Europe surveyed Clare Island. Led by Irish naturalist, RL Praeger, they surveyed all the plants and animals on the island, in the sea, and on the neighbouring mainland, and identified 8,488 species, including 120′new to science’ and nearly 2,000 [...]