Sir Edmund Spenser and Croghan Hill -a Damascus moment? By Dr Mary O’Connor

When renowned Offaly archaeologist Caimin O’Brien, cited Sir Edmund Spenser’s inclusion of a verse on Croghan Hill in his most famous poem, The Faerie Queene, in Stories from a Sacred Landscape: from Croghan Hill to Clonmacnoise; the curiosity bells began to ring.  This was an amazing revelation and posed questions as to how Spenser was familiar with Croghan Hill and its religious history? Had he visited the area? When did he visit? What were the circumstances pertaining to his visit? And latterly, the question arose as to whether it was possible that this visit influenced him in some distinctive way? And furthermore, whether that influence was positive or negative?

The O’Sullivans in Santiago de Compostela, by Elías Cueto

Galicia is known to many Irish people as Camino country. The Way of St James or Camino de Santiago begins for the Irish at St James’ Gate in Dublin, more usually known for the black stuff. For Irish peregriños, however, it will also conjure up memories of scallop shells, yellow arrows, meandering paths through the meseta, and the magnificent cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Now as the summer ends and many of us back from our travels, let’s take a look at some of the historic links between Galicia and Ireland with this guest post from Elías Cueto , an historian from Santiago whose research on the urban history of the city has been recently published.