THE BARRACK SQUARE

A familiar stretch of road to me is the Tullamore - Birr road, which I’ve been on countless times. Passing by Eglish I always catch...

The recent release of the World War One pension cards has made spotting large family contributions to the war effort much clearer. One...

While looking through online auctions sites I came across the following brass plaque or 'trench art', clearly a souvenir of service in...

The medals of James Stephens. Recently a friend linked me to some medals for sale, the group consisted of the 1914 Star, the British War...

Today marks the 102nd anniversary of the death of Sergeant Gordon Brooker of the Leinster Regiment. Sergeant Brooker was buried in an...

A number of years ago, I was keen on collecting postcards of soldiers of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Some postcards would be named...

As it was the anniversary of the death of Private Christopher White during this past week it would only be fitting to feature his story...

The Silver War Badge, often incorrectly called the Silver Wound Badge, is a fascinating award. First issued in 1916 the badge was issued...

Today we look at Gunner Patrick Brien of the Royal Garrison Artillery who is buried in Killoughy Cemetery, County Offaly. Killoughly...

My early days of researching soldier’s in Birr began with spending countless hours wandering around Clonoghill Cemetery, which is just a...

A number of years ago I came across a Queen's South Africa medal. On initial research there did not appear to be much information about...

11 November 2020 marks one year to the day since the 6.6-meter-tall oak cross commemorating Captain Lancelot Joseph Moore Studholme was...

Robert Malcolm Vernon Willington was born at St Kieran’s, Dorrha, County Tipperary on 13 November 1895.He was the youngest son of James...

Venice Clementia Henrietta Hackett was born at noon on 27 February 1887 in Strathblane, Scotland. She was the daughter of Edward Augustus...

James Cummins was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary on 7 May 1881. He was the son of James Cummins and Mary Cummins (née O'Donnell)....

Clonoghill Cemetery, Birr, County Offaly is filled with numerous impressive monuments, many of these were carved by the skilled hands of...

Today we look at the life of Stephen Scully, someone who started off in life with very little, yet distinguished himself during the Great...

Oliver was born in Trim, County Meath on 6 September 1896. He was the son of Head Constable Michael Holmes and Marianne Holmes (Nee...

This is the story of Peter Craffey. A professional soldier, wounded and taken prisoner during the Great War. Peter's post war life was...

This post appeared on the Offaly History Blog in August of 2019, but with current world events and the cancellation of Birr Vintage week....