Three Castles Burning

Latest Episodes:

Red Roses For Me (with Spider Stacy and James Fearnley) Jun 19, 2024

Show notes

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Red Roses For Me, the first album from The Pogues. Borrowing its title from Sean O'Casey, it also carries literary influences like Ulysses and Brendan Behan proudly. As an exhibition on the London-Irish currently runs in Dublin's EPIC emigration museum, what better time to discuss this defining London-Irish band who still mean so much? Here Comes Everybody by James Fearnley (Faber & Faber) is available now.

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

We know it as 'On Raglan Road', but the journey of the song that began life as a poem tells us a lot about Bohemian Dublin in an earlier time. In the Bailey tent at the Luke Kelly Festival, playwright Jimmy Murphy takes us through the story of the Kavanagh masterpiece Luke Kelly made his own. We also get a great rendition from Fergus Whelan (with a little help from Patrick Kavanagh in the recording!).

Remembering The Dubliners (with Brian Hand and Phelim Drew) May 29, 2024

Show notes

Like his father Jim Hand before him, promoter Brian Hand would build a real and lasting relationship with The Dubliners over many years. For singer and actor Phelim Drew, the band were like an extension of family. In this discussion, recorded live at the Luke Kelly Festival, we get into great personal memories of The Dubliners and what the band still mean today.

Contains some bad language.

The Anatomy of a Massacre May 17, 2024

Show notes

Fifty years ago today, a series of no-warning car bombs erupted across Dublin and Monaghan. This would prove to be the bloodiest day of the Troubles. Immediately, questions were raised about how this event had come to pass. In a new documentary, director Joe Lee and producer Fergus Dowd explore what happened on 17 May 1974. Warning: This episode is quite graphic in describing the day. This episode of the podcast is dedicated to the memory of Derek Byrne.

Portals, Clocks and Cows May 15, 2024

Show notes

Temporary interventions into the Dublin streetscape have a curious history. This week, the livestream portal with New York made international headlines. For me, it recalled the CowParade, Bowl of Light and other such things.

When you put something out there on the street, there's no way of telling how people will respond.

Support TCB: www.patreon.com/threecastlesburning

The Isle of Wight on Emmet Road Apr 26, 2024

Show notes

In 1970, the outdoor rock festival was a totally new idea in Ireland. Amidst press coverage of Woodstock and the Isle of Wight, focused on LSD and exagerated crowd trouble, the booking of Mungo Jerry, Thin Lizzy and others for Richmond Park would be the first Dublin experience of such a festival here. Why did this festival fail? And how, just a few short years later, had the festival become such an integral part of Irish youth culture?

The Battle of Tallaght: 'Yankee Fenians' and 1867 Apr 12, 2024

Show notes

To the Dublin press, the American Civil War veterans in Dublin cut an unusual shape. These 'Yankee' characters looked different, but they also behaved differently. Under the direction of Captain Thomas J. Kelly, these men would be centrally important to the Fenian uprising of 1867. While history remembers this as a skirmish on a hill in Tallaght, much more happened in March 1867 than that.

'Then Mount Jerome for the Protestants.' Mar 30, 2024

Show notes

The story of Mount Jerome Cemetery is the story of Victorian Dublin. There, many of the great innovaters of the city are at rest. If Glasnevin brings to mind the Irish revolution, Mount Jerome instead makes us think of the nineteenth century. Still, there is great diversity in who is (and isn't) buied there. This is a story that touches on everyone from Charles Stewart Parnell to the so-called 'General.'

Thanks to Patrons of the podcast whose support made this research possible.

The Divine Mission of Discontent (Jim Larkin Part II) Mar 12, 2024

Show notes

The labour leader Jim Larkin was international news when he departed Ireland in 1914. In America, Larkin would cross paths with the FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover, landing in prison for 'Criminal Anarchy'. What did all of this mean back in Dublin? My guest is Ronan Burtenshaw, author of a recent piece on Larkin for Jacobin magazine: https://jacobin.com/2024/01/jim-larkin-ireland-labor-150

The Rising of the Moon (Jim Larkin Part I) Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jim Larkin. In this two-part special, Ronan Burtenshaw (author of a recent piece exploring Larkin for Jacobin magazine) joins me to discuss this important and divisive revolutionary figure. Larkin in Dublin means 1913, but where did he come from? This story brings us from Liverpool Cathedral to the streets of West Belfast.

Ronan's piece: https://jacobin.com/2024/01/jim-larkin-ireland-labor-150)

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