The History and Heritage Podcast

Place-Name Series: Edgeworthstown/Mostrim

“People cling to their ancient names.” When John O’Donovan wrote those words in 1837, he had just walked the roads of Longford, listening to locals insist that their town was not just Edgeworthstown, the name imposed by a planter family, but Mostrim — Meathas Troim — the fertile ridge, the frontier of the elder tree.
In this episode of The History and Heritage Podcast, Liam Blake explores the long, layered story of a town with two souls. From its Gaelic beginnings under the O’Farrells, through the arrival of the Edgeworth family in the 1580s, to the turbulence of rebellion, famine, and emigration, this is a history that mirrors Ireland itself.
We meet Maria Edgeworth, the novelist whose Castle Rackrent shaped English literature, and Henry Essex Edgeworth, who whispered the last words to Louis XVI at the guillotine. We walk the market square where jewellery was sold to fund the town’s market house, and the railway station where generations said farewell. We stop at the grave of Isola Wilde, Oscar Wilde’s sister, whose tragic death here inspired one of his most poignant poems.
And we trace the tug-of-war between the names Edgeworthstown and Mostrim, from nationalist revival to modern-day GAA pride. Two names, one town — a story of belonging, identity, and resilience.

Place-Name Series: The Two Charlevilles

One name, two very different stories. In County Cork, Charleville was born of Restoration politics — a plantation town tied to kings, conflict, and commerce, later reshaped by faith, fairs, and remarkable people whose voices echoed across the world. In County Offaly, Charleville Castle rose as a Gothic masterpiece — the dream of an ambitious heir, scarred by fire, neglect, and tragedy, yet revived by love, legend, and even ghosts.
This episode of The History and Heritage Podcast explores both Charlevilles: one a bustling market town in the Golden Vale, the other a haunted castle of spires and shadows. Together, they remind us how names can carry centuries of ambition, resilience, and memory — stories of power and ruin, saints and spectres, still written into the Irish landscape today.

The Vatican Pimpernel: Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty

He was hunted by the Gestapo, with a bounty on his head. Yet Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty—an Irish priest from Killarney—saved over 6,500 Allied prisoners, Jews, and civilians in Nazi-occupied Rome. Known as the “Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican,” O’Flaherty built a vast escape network under the eyes of the Gestapo, using disguises, safe houses, and sheer courage to defy fascism.
This episode of the History and Heritage Podcast tells his remarkable story—from his early life in Kerry, through his rise in the Vatican, to his wartime heroics and quiet postwar years. It’s a story of faith, defiance, and moral courage, summed up in his enduring motto: “God has no country.”

Native Breed Series: Kerry Beagle and Cladoir

From the hunting fields of County Limerick to the tidal shores of Connemara, two rare survivors of Ireland’s past take centre stage.
In the final episode of the Native Breeds series, I explore the history and heritage of the Kerry Beagle — a deep-chested scent hound with roots in Celtic hunting traditions — and the Cladoir Sheep, a small coastal breed once thought extinct but rediscovered grazing on seaweed in the west.
Their stories stretch from medieval hunting laws to famine-era survival, from 19th-century agricultural reports to 21st-century DNA conservation projects. Both came close to vanishing. Both endured because someone cared enough to keep them alive.
🎧 Listen in for a journey through hunts, coastlines, folklore, and the people who refused to let these breeds disappear.

Native Breed Series: Native Irish Honey Bee

Native Breed Series – The Irish Honeybee
“If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.”
Ireland’s dark honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera, has been part of this island’s story for 5,000 years: shaping laws, folklore, farming, and faith — before disease, imports, and neglect nearly erased it.
This week, Liam Blake tells its story: from Neolithic settlers and medieval hive laws, to rural “bee lore” and the modern DNA rescue mission keeping this native pollinator alive.

Native Breed Series: The Old Irish Goat

🐐 Native Breed Series – The Old Irish Goat
“The goat was the poor man’s cow.”
This week, we’re telling the story of Ireland’s only native goat — a five-thousand-year survivor that gave milk to the poor, parchment to monks, and placenames to our maps, before almost vanishing in the 20th century.
Join me, Liam Blake, as I trace its journey from Neolithic farms to nineteenth-century goat droves, to a modern DNA rescue mission on a Mayo hillside. This is history that eats gorse for breakfast.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Native Breed Series: The Galway Sheep

The Galway Sheep: Ireland’s Last Native Breed Long before the Galway Sheep was entered into rare breed registries, it was a backbone of Connacht’s rural economy. Developed from local stock and English Leicesters under landlord supervision, the breed flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries — before near-extinction after the Famine. In this deeply researched episode of The History and Heritage Podcast, Liam Blake examines: The breed’s 18th-century formation in east Galway and Roscommon Its commercial importance in pre-Famine Ireland Collapse during post-Famine land clearances and economic shifts Its recovery as part of the 20th-century heritage livestock movement A story of class, land, and survival — told through the wool on a sheep’s back. Listen now on Spotify, Podbean, Apple & more Follow on Instagram: @liamblakepodcaster

Native Breed Series — The Kerry Bog Pony

When we think of the great animals of Irish history, our minds might turn to the elegant Connemara pony, the noble Irish wolfhound, or perhaps even the mythic Cú Chulainn’s steed, Liath Macha — the famed grey horse of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley, one of the central epics of early Irish literature. But for over two centuries, no animal was more central to the everyday life of Irish people — than the humble, hardworking, and often overlooked Kerry Bog Pony.

Native Breed Series: The Irish Cob – Ireland’s Quiet Workhorse

“The history of the horse is the history of human civilisation.” – Prof. James Serpell.
For over 200 years, the Irish Cob was the quiet, tireless heart of rural Ireland. It pulled carts, carried families to Mass, and survived famine, poverty, and prejudice. This is the story of the horse that built Ireland from the ground up — and the people who kept its memory alive.

Native Breed Series: The Enduring Spirit of the Irish Draught Horse

Dive into the rich history of Ireland's true 'horse of the people': The Irish Draught. From essential farm worker to foundation of global eventing champions, discover the resilience and legacy of this remarkable breed. Learn about its journey through famine, war, and mechanisation, and why it's more important than ever to protect its future