Before the Olympia: Dan Lowrey's Palace of Varieties
In the Victorian age, the entertainer Dan Lowrey created a truly special theatre, music hall and Palace of Varieties in the laneway of Cramp...
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Society & Culture
Three Castles Burning
Three Castles Burning is a social history podcast, dedicated to the story of the Irish capital. Dublin is a city of many stories, Three Castles Burning tells some of the more forgotten ones.
Episodes
20 of 110 episodes
A Tribute to Frank McDonald (1950-2026)
Marking the passing of one of the most significant commentators on the past and present of Dublin city, this episode draws from a different...
Executioners: The Pierrepoint Family
Albert Pierrepoint was a household name in his own lifetime, even penning the best-selling memoir Executioner. A hangman who followed in the...
Madame Tussaud and Dublin: Guillotines and Escape Cars
In the early nineteenth century, Madame Tussaud spent several years in Dublin. Her waxworks and relics of the French Revolution proved a big...
Bia Duit: Food in Dublin in 1904 (Live at The Signal House)
In Ulysses , the pub we know as J & M Cleary's appears as The Signal House. It seemed a good location to explore food in the time of James J...
A Vision for Irish Theatre: Deirdre O'Connell (with Sabina Higgins)
At the recent Luke Kelly Festival, I was delighted to speak with Sabina Higgins (née Coyne) all about the Focus Theatre and Deirdre O'Connel...
Cold War Football: Yugoslavia in Dalymount Park
In October 1955, the visit of Yugoslavia to Dublin caused real division in Irish society. A top-class football side on the world stage, oppo...
Citizen or Lord? The Life of Edward Fitzgerald (with Fergus Whelan and Annie Hughes)
There could be nowhere more fitting to discuss the life of Edward Fitzgerald than upstairs in the Lord Edward, as part of Culture Date with...
Back to the Census: The Story of Us (with John Gibney)
John Gibney is co-editor of The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census. On a sunny day, we sat on a bench dedicated in part to...
Stephen's Green Shopping Centre: Dandelions and Developers
It would seem everyone in the city has an opinion on the shopping centre at the top of Grafton Street. With that in mind, it seems a good ti...
Unquiet Ghost: The Bones of Roger Casement (with Rory Carroll)
In 1965, the body of Roger Casement was returned to Ireland. No longer condemned to the grounds of Pentonville Prison, he would be buried in...
More Pricks Than Kicks: The Dublin of Samuel Beckett
Today marks the 120th birthday of Samuel Beckett. Inspired both by this milestone anniversary and by the wonderful new exhibition of the wor...
Quiet Revolutionary: The Life of Éamonn Ceannt
With the 110th anniversary of the Easter Rising upon us, it seems a good time to look at one of the less familiar figures of the story. Some...
Drowning the Shamrock? The Gaelic League and the War on Pubs
In 1903, Saint Patrick's Day formally became a national holiday in Ireland, following a push from the Gaelic League. In the pages of their n...
Little Wonder: David Bowie's Secret Gig at The Factory (with Ray O'Donoghue)
In 1997, David Bowie released Earthling, an album deeply influenced by the sound of drum and bass and industrial electronic music. Spending...
Census City: Dublin 1926
The release of the 1926 census from the National Archives of Ireland is now imminent. These returns should give us fascinating insights into...
Before the Summer of Love: Emmett Grogan's Dublin Adventure
SERIES 4, EPISODE 1. Welcome back to a new series. Emmett Grogan was one of the defining figures of American counterculture in the 1960s. Th...
From Rutland to Parnell: The Story of a Dublin Square (With Elizabeth Kehoe)
One of Dublin's Historians in Residence, Elizabeth Kehoe has developed a walking tour of Parnell Square which shines a lot on many aspects o...
When Earley Met Gandon: Bringing Light to the Custom House
James Earley comes from a family rooted in the story of Irish stained glass. As an artist, his work often pays homage to Earley Studios and...
Simms City (with Gayle Cullen Doyle and Eoin Ó Broin)
More than just a resident of Oliver Bond House, Gayle Cullen Doyle is a vital voice within her community, advocating for and representing he...