The History and Heritage Podcast

Irish Surnames — More Than a Name

Irish surnames weren’t chosen. They were inherited long before birth — and they told the world exactly where you stood.Long before much of Europe had fixed family names, Ireland was already encoding kinship, obligation, protection, and memory into language itself.This episode looks at how Irish surnames actually worked, why they appeared so early, and how conquest and bureaucracy broke their grammar.It’s not a lesson in genealogy — it’s an attempt to relearn how to read a system that once held Irish society together.

Surname Series: Leahy/Lahy

This episode of The History and Heritage Podcast examines the Irish surname Leahy, along with variants such as Lahey and Leahey.
Although often treated as a single family name, Leahy derives from two distinct Gaelic lineages with different meanings, social roles, and regional histories. The episode explores how anglicisation, regional pronunciation, and administrative record-keeping caused separate families to be recorded under the same spellings.
A grounded exploration of language, identity, and the hidden complexity behind a familiar Irish name.

Surname Series: Flanagan

“Certavi et vici — I have fought and I have conquered.”
Few family mottos carry as much lived experience as the Flanagan line. From the medieval chiefs of Roscommon to Olympic champions, artists, priests, soldiers, and reformers, the Flanagans have spent centuries turning struggle into purpose.
This episode explores• the origins of the Flanagan name,• the meaning of the motto Certavi et vici,• their roots in Roscommon,• and the extraordinary people who carried that spirit into the modern world — including athletes, artists, priests, and even a Pearl Harbor survivor.
A story of grit, stewardship, faith, and the quiet power of Irish resilience.

Surname Series: O'Dwyer/Dwyer

Surname Series: O’Dwyer (Ó Dubhuir)From the rugged slopes of Kilnamanagh to the courts of Europe, the battlefields of the 17th century, and the sporting arenas of today, the O’Dwyer story is one of resilience, identity, and reinvention.
This episode explores their ancient Laigin roots, the stronghold they built in Tipperary, their resistance against Norman and Tudor pressure, the dramatic capture of the Rock of Cashel, and the upheaval that followed Cromwell’s conquest. Forced abroad, many became leaders in foreign armies and courts — while others rose in America and Australia through public service, law, and community leadership.
The legacy continues today through figures like Mick O’Dwyer, Orla O’Dwyer, Joseph O’Dwyer, and Gráinne O’Dwyer, each carrying the same drive into sport, science, and culture.
A story of perseverance, faith, and the enduring strength of one Irish name.

Four Patrons Series: St. Malachy

In this episode of The History and Heritage Podcast, we turn to one of Ireland’s most compelling medieval saints: St Malachy of Armagh (1094–1148) — reformer, peace-weaver, and one of the key figures who helped shape the Irish Church at a turning point in our island’s story.
From his childhood in Armagh to his tireless work restoring discipline, rebuilding churches, and healing political rivalries, Malachy emerges as a man of deep faith and sharper courage. His friendship with St Bernard of Clairvaux, his reform of monastic life, and his final pilgrimage to France all unfold here with the rich historical context that defined his world.
This episode marks the final instalment in the Four Patrons Series, bringing the journey full circle as we explore the lives, legacies, and spiritual imprint of the saints at the heart of Irish identity.
If you enjoy immersive storytelling, human-centred history, and a quiet thread of hope running through each tale, this episode is for you.

The Four Patrons of Ireland: St. Jarlath

Saint Jarlath of Tuam rarely makes the headlines of Irish history — yet without him, the spiritual map of Ireland would look very different.
A monk trained by the disciples of Patrick.A teacher who shaped Brendan the Navigator.A founder who built where a wheel broke — and changed a landscape forever.
Tuam did not begin as a town. It began as a sign.
In this episode, we uncover the story of a saint who didn’t seek fame, power, or glory — but whose quiet legacy still echoes through Ireland’s faith, identity, and memory.
Who was Jarlath?Why did Brendan send him wandering in old age?And what does it mean when a broken wheel becomes destiny?
Press play — and rediscover a forgotten founder.
—Hosted by Liam BlakeThe History & Heritage Podcast

The Four Patrons of Ireland: St. Laurence O'Toole

The twelfth century was a time of upheaval — kings at war, monasteries in reform, and a young Ireland caught between worlds.From this storm rose one man: Lorcán Ua Tuathail — Saint Laurence O’Toole.A prince taken hostage.A monk who fed the hungry with the gold from his own altars.A bishop who stood between Norman swords and his people — and stopped a massacre by the sheer power of faith.
This episode follows Laurence’s life from the glens of Wicklow to the councils of kings, and from Glendalough’s still waters to his final moments in Normandy. It’s a story of courage and conviction, of holiness lived through hardship, and of a man who proved that faith isn’t retreat from history — it’s redemption through it.
Join Liam Blake on The History and Heritage Podcast as we rediscover the life and legacy of the saint who became the conscience of a nation.

The Four Patron's of Ireland —1. St. Ailbe / St. Elvis

Before Patrick, before Armagh or Clonmacnoise, there was Ailbe of Emly — Ireland’s forgotten first bishop.
Legend says he was cast out as a child and suckled by a she-wolf in the forests of Tipperary. But when he grew, he sought wisdom beyond the sea — trained in Wales, ordained in Rome, and returned to the Irish plains to kindle a light that would never go out.
From Emly, the earliest centre of Christian learning in Munster, he taught kings, converted pagans, and set down the first Irish monastic rules. In Wales, his memory lived on under another name — St Elvis, said to have baptised St David himself.
This episode follows the historical and legendary threads of Ailbe’s life:
From early references in the Martyrology of Tallaght and Annals of Inisfallen, to his enduring veneration in Cashel and the strange echo of his name across the sea.
It’s a story of the earliest Irish Christianity — a world of wolves, wells, and whispered prayers — where holiness felt close to the wild earth itself.
And whether you believe or not, Ailbe’s tale challenges the modern listener:Could faith still be something fierce, free, and deeply rooted — like Ireland once was?

Surname Series- Ryan

From the Gaelic “Ó Maoilriain” of medieval Tipperary to the emigrant Ryans who crossed oceans with little more than their faith and their name, this episode traces one of Ireland’s most enduring surnames. Through true stories of ordinary men and women — a famine-era schoolmaster, a soldier far from home, a nurse in 1918 — we explore what it means to carry a name through centuries of change.
Featuring people and reflections on identity, belonging, and endurance, this is the story of how one Irish name became a living heritage.
Listen now on Podbean or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow @liamblakepodcaster on Instagram for more history and heritage stories.

Surname Series: Blake

Join Liam Blake of the History and Heritage Podcast on a journey through one of Ireland’s most storied surnames — Blake — where faith, conquest, and endurance intertwine. From the martyred monk Bláthmac on Iona’s altar to the Norman knight Richard Caddell, “le Blak,” who forged a lineage of Galway merchants, bishops, and exiles, this episode traces a thousand years of courage and conviction. Discover how the Blakes became part of Ireland’s very soul — from castle walls along the Corrib to the dreamers and soldiers who carried their name across oceans. Two nations, one name, bound by faith and fortitude. Virtus sola nobilitas — virtue alone ennobles.