The Chronology of Ireland.

Irish Timelines.

Irish Chronology.

Listed below are many important events in Irish history.
Choose a period from the jump menu below.

BC
c7000
Evidence in County Offaly of Early human activity.
c6100
Evidence of settlers found at Newferry Co Antrim
c4400
A huge burial mound built containing about three hundred tombs at Carrowmore Co Sligo.
3500
First Neolithic settlements, and megalithic tombs.
c.3000
Newgrange built in the Boyne valley.Video's about Newgrange.
c2200
Elaborate funeral rituals, many bodies are adorned with gold jewelry and decorated beakers.
c.1750 500
The bronze age, fine examples in bronze copper and gold
c1550
The elaborate funeral's seem to be dying out.
c850
Golden ornaments proliferating, many made from gold imported from Spain and Europe.
Circular defensive settlement built in Co Armagh 'Emain Macha'
714
The laws of the Fenechus (or land Tillers) Known as the Brehon Laws deriving from the word breitheamh (meaning Judge) Tradition has it that they were gathered by the high King Ollamh Fodhla
C600
The Celtic tribes invade Ireland
c.500
The iron age begins.
Ireland is mentioned under the name of Ierne in a Greek poem.
c465
Emhain Macha is chosen as the headquarters of the Ulaid tribe.
300
The Roman cartographer Ptolemy draws a map the river Shannon.
c100
The Black Pig's Dyke a defensive structure running along the southern border of Ulster was built by the Ulaid and Cruithin.
c50
Tribes in central Ireland build massive earth wall along the Shannon, to keep our warring northern tribes.

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A D

60
Queen Boudica of the Icini tribe England rise in revolt against the Romans, in response to seizure of her lands and the rape of her young daughters, after significant successes, the revolt was crushed later in the year.
c84
Following successes in northern Britain, the Romans consider invading Ireland believing it to have large reserves of gold
c120
Traffic on new Roman roads in Britain is ordered to drive on the left.
c.300
Development of the Ogham alphabet inscribed on stone.
325
The Emperor Constantine decides to unify Rome under Christianity.
331
At the battle of Achadh Leithdheirg in Co Monaghan the Ulaid of Ulster were defeated.
c350
The first water mill in Ireland was built at Tara in County Meath by King Cormac MacArt
c400
St Declan a monk from Wales set up a monastery at Ardmore in Co Waterford
406
The Suevs followed by the Bugundians and Alamanni fled from the advancing Rhine and entered Gaul
407
The Romans withdraw their legions from Britain
c408
Following the Roman withdrawal Irish naval forces begin raids on western Britain
410
Rome is sacked by the Vandals and the Visi-goth, latterly known as Goths under Alaric from latter day Germany
430
Ninian becomes the first known Christian missionary in Scotland.
431
Pope Celestine sends a deacon, Palladius to convert the Irish
432
St Patrick arrives in Ireland.
438
Lohaire high King of Ireland appoints nine people one of whom was Patrick to revise and transcribe the Brehon Law's into Latin.
441
Lohaire's commission presents its findings.
444
Armagh founded by St Patrick. Originally known as Ard Macha
540
Movilla Abbey Mag Bile 'Plain of the sacred tree' was founded by Finian
Examination of tree rings suggest that this was the second coldest year since the end of the Ice Age in Ireland.
448
Alphin McEochaid, King of Dublin, and his subjects, were converted to the Christian faith by St. Patrick More Info.
27th November. Bishop Sechnall 'Secundinus' dies
493
17th March Traditionally the date of St Patrick's death.
500-800
Establishment of Monasteries and Monastic art's flourish.
520
Finnian founds a monastery at Clonard Co Meath 3000 students
546
Derry founded by St Columcille.
555
St Comgall founded a monastery at Bangor Co Down.
561
Battle of Culdremna.
563
Columcille sails to Iona, where he Christianized Scotland and much of England.
The Cruthan were defeated at the battle of Moneymore (Moin Dairi Lothair) by the Ui Neill of the North.
The Annals of Ulster
575
The King of Dál Riata gained important support from the Uí Néill dynasty and, as a reward, he was granted the island of Iona for a new monastic foundation
Irish kings meet at Druim Cett to discuss relationship with Scotland
577
The death of St. Brendan of Clonfert known also as 'Brendan the Navigator'
579
Death of St Finian
A dispute between Columba and Comgall regarding the church of Ros-Torathair, a Bangor foundation, resulted in a battle at Coleraine between the Cruthan and the Ui Neill
584
The death of Fergus bishop of Druim Lethglassie. (Downpatrick Co Down)
589
Columbanus sets of on his great missionary journey
597
Saint Columcille dies.
603
Comgall of the Cruthan died at Bangor aged ninety one.
604
April; Pope John IV sent an outspoken letter to Tommene bishop of Armagh.
612
The St. Gall's school of music was founded in Switzerland by Irish harper Cellach, from Bangor, Co. Down, his name was later latinized to Gallus or Gall.
615
Death of Columbanus
619
Monks at Nendrum Co Down build a water powered mill.
633
St Aidan an Irish monk founds the monastery of Lindisfarne, Northumbria, more
634
The "Annals of Ulster" record this was the year of the death of Ailill the harper, son of Aedh Slaine.
637
Domnall II King of Tara defeated his foster son Congall near Moira in Co Down on 24th June
c.650?
The book of Durrow written.
The first biography of St. Brigit commissioned at the monastery she founded.
663
A plague lasting for several years breaks out, killing thousands.
664
At the Synod of Whitby Bishop Colman spoke on behalf of the Scots (Ulstermen) but in the end it was decided that the Celtic church should conform to the Roman celebration of Easter.
668
Colman the ex bishop of Lindisfarne founds a monastery on the island of Innishboffin Co Mayo.
670
A severe winter follows a great famine.
675?
The book of Durrow is written. (Now in Trinity College Dublin).
684
King Egfrith of Northumbria sends troops to raid Ireland, where his exiled brother and English refugees sought asylum, they ravage Co Meath.
703
A Church synod accepts the Roman method of dating Easter
c.700
The Breton laws established.
703
11th July The Battle of Corann/Cath Corainn was fought on this day.
714
The Kilnasaggart Pillar stone is carved in Co Armagh, it is the oldest dated monument in Ireland.
725
Irish craftsmen make the Ardagh Chalice.
730
The Senchas Mor 'Great old knowledge' A complication of the Brehon Laws is written.
735
Bede a Anglo Saxon monk declared that the world was a sphere. He died in April this year
Ulstermen defeated at the hands of the Gaels (Ui Neill) at Fochairt near Dundalk.
737
In Terryglass Co Monaghan Aed Allen mac Fergaile and Cathal mac Finguine the most powerful rulers in the north and south of Ireland respectively, agree to settle their territorial differences. The south agrees to recognize Armagh's primacy over the Irish church.
756
It is recorded that there was a battle fought between Clonmacnoise and the inhabitants of Birr in a place called Moyne Koysse Blaie.
760
The Clonmacnoise and Birr monasteries go to war.
764
Durrow monastery suffers 200 dead when it fights a pitched battle with the monks of Clonmacnoise.
795
The first recorded Viking raids took place on the monasteries of Rathlin, Inishmurray and Inishbofin.
796
Battle in Lough Ree between the Viking Turgesius and King Mael Schnaill of Tara
797
Viking attack on Lambay Island, off the Dublin coast.
800
Book of Kells created, it had 680 pages all but 2 were in colour.
802
The monastery on Iona (Scotland) is attached by Norsemen
803
17th March. More than one thousand people are killed in storms on the west coast of Ireland.
806
New law codes introduced in Ireland known as the 'Lar of Patrick'
More Info
807
Monks from Iona bring an illustrated manuscript which became known as the Book of Kells, to Kells Monastery Co Meath for safekeeping from Viking raids.
807-8
The Book of Armagh compiled. It is now in Trinity College Dublin.
811
The Ulaid of north eastern Ireland clashed with the Norse Viking's and defeated them. (More Info)
816
Viking's sack the monastery on Scattery island Co Clare.
823
Many monks are killed when Viking's raid Bangor, Movilla and Downpatrick in Co Down.
824
Viking's raid the Skelligs rock Co Kerry
Viking's raid Bangor again and destroy the oratory.
825
The monasteries of Down & Movilla on Strangford Lough in Co Down were raided.
827
The King Airgialla was defeated at Leth Caim, north eastern Ireland. (More Info)
832
A Viking chief called Thorgestr brought a fleet up the Shannon into Lough Ree
839
Viking 's sail up the river Bann into Lough Neagh and over-winter in 840-41.
840
Viking's founded Dublin
841
Viking's are reported to have spent a year in Lough Neagh plundering as far as Armagh.
Viking's raid Dublin and Annagassan in Co Louth
845
The Viking chief Thorgest attacks and desecrates Clonmacnoise, and places his wife on the high alter.
The primate of Armagh was captured and carried off by Viking's
850
Over 260 people hiding in a church at Trevet (Co Louth) were burned by Cinead mac Conaig King of Brega (Leinster) who was allied with the Norse against high King Mael Sechnall.
851
High King Mael Sechnall of the Ui Neill dynasty, who executed his rival Cinead Earlier this year is recognized as over Lord of the Ulaid dynasty.
853
The Norse King Olaf of Norway lands with his army and assumes control of the settlement at Dublin.
861
The Norse establish an alliance with Irish chief Aed Findlaith against high King Máel Sechnaill.
862
High King Máel Sechnaill died on 27th November
He is succeeded to the throne by his enemy Aed Findlaith
863
The Norse sack the ancient Boyne passage tombs
866
In north eastern Ireland Aed Findlaith destroys Norse settlements to avenge raids in the Boyne valley.
868
The high King Aed Findlaith defeats a force of Norse and Leinster men at Killinnery Co Louth.
20th Nov St. Edmund, Saxon king of East Anglia, was martyred by the Vikings, who tied him to a tree, shot at him with arrows, then beheaded him. His bodied is enshrined at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.
870
Aulaffe Norse King of Dublin raids Britain. More Info.
877
The Norse leader Halfdan is killed in battle on Strangford Lough Co Down by the Dublin Norse.
892
11th November Freak winds destroy forests churches and houses.
893
During the Witsun celebrations at Armagh many killed in tribal clash. More Info
897
Ireland visited possibly by a plague of locusts. More Info.
902
The Irish attack and destroy the Viking's ettlement of Dublin. Many of the inhabitants move to York.
908
The Eoganachta were defeated. Their King , Cormac MacCullenan killed.
914-20
Viking's attacks renewed they established settlements at Waterford and Limerick.
919
The Battle of Dublin. in which Nial Glendubh a northern King was killed.
922
Viking's establish settlement at Limerick.
926
Muirchertach, son of Niall Glendubh defeated the Viking's in a sea battle on Strangford Lough County Down
It was reported Muirchertach beheaded 200 Viking's at Carlingford
928
Viking's massacre a thousand Irish in the Dunmore Cave Co Kilkenny.
936
The Danes of Lough Cuan [ Strangford Lough ] were slaughtered.
939
Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks burned the Norse settlement in Dublin.
941
Muirchertach ravaged the Norse settlements in the Scottish isles with an Ulster fleet.
942
The son of Randalfe the Dane spoilt Dunleithglasse [ Downpatrick]. He was killed a week later by Mathew,(Muirchertach) King of Ulster.
943
Muirchertach died at the battle of Ardee.
948
Viking's destroy the monastery at Slane in Co Meath.
951
Viking's plunder St. Mullins monastery in Co Carlow.
967
The Viking city of Limerick is plundered by the Dal Cais (Brian Boru's tribe).
971
350 People burnt alive in Dunleer Monastery Co Louth by the O'Neills.
976
Brian Boru succeeds his murdered brother Mathgamain (Mahon) as King of the Dal Cais.
978
Brian Boru claims the King ship of Munster.
980
High King Mael Sechneill II, (Of the O'Neills) defeats the Viking King Olaf Sigtryggsson at Tara Co Meath, Olaf flees to Iona Scotland leaving behind his Irish wife Gormlaith a Leinster princess and several sons, he died on Iona the following year.
981
Eric the Red, who was exiled from Norway to Iceland in 961 leads an expedition of 700 people to Greenland, which they hope to colonize, only 14 of the 25 ships which set out arrived.
992
Viking 's establish the first mint in Ireland, producing silver pennies.
995
High King Mael Sechneill II, captures Dublin after a siege
997
Mael Sechnaill and Brian Boru agree to divide Ireland between them.
The first Irish coins are minted in Dublin by King Sitric Silkenbeard. ?
999
Brian Boru defeats the combined army's of Leinster and Dublin at Glenmama, Co Wicklow.

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AD 1000

1001
Brian Boru attacks the territory of the Ui Neill.
1002
Brian Boru becomes first high King of Ireland after Mael Sechnaill concedes the King ship to him.
1005
Brian Boru visits Armagh and confirms its primacy in the church.
1007
The book of Kells stolen from Kells monastery it was recovered 2 months and 20 days later minus its gold.
1013
Murtagh O'Carry Calma took Molloye or Moylemoy, Prince of Ferkeall out of the church of Durrow and killed him at Moylena close to Durrow.
1014
Brian Boru (940-1014) defeats Viking's at Clontarf. He is killed.
1028-36
Christchurch Cathedral Dublin built.
1029
Sitric Silkbeard's son is kidnapped by the Irish and ransomed for silver, 2,000 cattle and 120 British horses.
1039
4th June Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, Welsh King of Gwynedd and Powys, defeated an English attack.
1042
8th June: Harthacnut, King of England and Denmark, died. He was succeeded in England by his adopted heir, Edward the Confessor, and in Denmark by Magnus, King of Norway.
1066
5th January Death of Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. He was called ‘the Confessor’ because of his great piety. His death led to the Norman Conquest.
28th Sept Claiming his right to the throne of England, William, Duke of Normandy began his invasion of England, landing at Pevensey (East Sussex).
14th Oct Normans defeat Saxons in England at the Battle of Hastings
1076
Murrough MacFlann, claimant to the high King ship is murdered in the round tower of Kells Monastery.
1080
The beginning of a period when ecclesiastical metalwork inspired by a mixture of Norse and Irish styles flourished.
1086
Muirchertach Mor O'Brian becomes King of Munster
1088
Ulstermen destroy Mungrey Abbey (Limerick).
1092
Monks on Leane Island in Killarney begin to compile the Annals of Innisfallen.
1093
13th Nov Malcolm III of Scotland, son of King Duncan, died at Alnwick, Northumberland, during his fifth attempt to invade England
1095
First Crusade proclaimed by Pope Urban II, Irish join in great numbers.
1098
Many casualties when Munster men burn the monastery at Lusk Co Dublin.
3rd June After a five month siege during the First Crusade, the Crusaders capture the city of Antioch.

AD 1100

1100
The shrine of St Patrick's Bell is made.
1101
The first Synod of Cashel.
Muirchertach Mor O'Brian becomes high King of Ireland
The Rock of Cashel is granted to the church by King Muirchertach, son of Turlough O'Brian
The Grianan of Aileach capital of the O'Neill's, is torn down by the army of Munster.
1102
St Anselm of Canterbury urges the reform of the Irish church.
King Muirchertach marries one of his three daughters to Arnulf of Montgomery a Norman Lord who sends Gerald of Windsor as his envoy.
1103
Magnus Barefoot killed at Strangford Lough in Co Down
1105
The book of the Dun Cow is completed at Clonmacnoise by Maol Mhuire, it contains The Tain the Earl iest long literary text in Irish.
1110
Blind harper, Ferdomnach, Lector Of Kildare, who was known as 'Master Of Harping' was killed.
1120
Turlough O'Connor revives the Feast of Tara
1123
The high cross of Cong (Co Mayo) is made for Turlough O'Connor King of Connacht
1124
St Malachy is made bishop of Down and Connor.
The round tower at Clonmacnoise is built.
1126
Diarmuid (Dermot) MacMurrough becomes King of Leinster
1127
Erenagh Monastery founded in county Down by Savingac order of Normandy.
1130
The book of Leinster is compiled, it contains a diagram of the banqueting hall of Tara.
1131
Donnogh O Molloy, King of Fearceall was killed in captivity by Murrough O Melaghlin. Mortagh O Molloy who succeeded Doonogh as King of Fearceall, was burnt by the family of Moyntyr Swanym in the church of Rahan in Offaly
1133
5th March The birth of King Henry II, who was to become the first Plantagenet king of England
Cattle herds are afflicted by a disease lasting two years.
1134
The Clonmacnoise round tower is struck by lightening and badly damaged.
1135
1st Dec England's King Henry I died. He had fallen ill seven days earlier after eating too many lampreys (jawless fish resembling eels). He was 66, and had ruled for 35 years.
1142
Mellifont Abbey the first Cistercian monastery in Ireland is founded
1146
30th August A conference of European leaders outlawed the crossbow. It was hoped that by banning the weapon, wars would eventually end. Despite the prohibition, crossbows continued to be used until the 16th century, when they were replaced by firearms.
1150
Bective Abbey is founded by the Cistercian's in Co Meath.
1151
At the battle of Moin Mor Turlough O'Connor and Dermot MacMurrough defeat Turlough OBrien, King of Munster. Sources report 7000 Munster men killed.
1152
Synod of Kells established the Celtic church in its own Authority
Paparo the first papal legate sent to Ireland, presiding over the Synod of Kells.
Dervorgilla wife of Tiernan O'Rourke (Prince of Breifne.) Is abducted by Dermot MacMurrough (Diarmait Mac Murchada King of Leinster)
1153
Dervorgilla is returned to her husband.
1154
4th Nov Nicholas Breakspear becomes the first and only English Pope he adopts the name of Adrian IV
1155
Pope Adrian IV issues the Bull Laudabiliter, granting Henry II of England permission to go to Ireland to reform the Celtic Church. (Some claim this document a forgery)
1159
1st September Pope Adrian IV, (Nicholas Breakspeare), the only English pope, died.
1166
Dermot MacMurrough is driven from Ireland In England he seeks help from Norman knights.
1169
The Anglo Norman invasion begins. MacMurrough is given back the King ship of Leinster
1170
The Anglo Norman leader Richard FitzGilbert de Clare 'Strongbow' lands in Waterford. He marries MacMurrough's daughter Aoife He attacks and captures Dublin and invades Meath.
December 29 Henry II's men murder Thomas Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral
1171
1st May (Ferns Co Wexford) MacMurrough dies Strongbow assumes the King ship of Leinster
17th October Henry II of England arrives in Ireland.
1172
Hugh de Lacy is granted Lordship of Meath. He builds a motte and bailey at Trim Co Meath.
1173
Pope Alexander III writes to the Irish King s advising them to recognize Henry II.
King Henry II imprisons his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and takes up with his mistress, Rosamund Clifford. Henry's sons, Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey lead a revolt against him, but the House of Commons remains behind the King ..
Pope Alexander III writes praising Henry II on his Irish conquests.
1174
The Norman castles of Trim and Dunleek attacked and destroyed by Rory of Connaught.
1175
October Limerick City stormed by Anglo Norman's under Raymond la Gross
Treaty of Windsor Rory O'Connor submits to Henry II who recognized O'Connor as King of the UN-conquered areas of Ireland.
1176
20th April Strongbow dies age 47 of gangrene and is buried in Christchurch Dublin. His daughter and heir Isabella de Clare is a minor. Meath is administered by the state until she comes of age.
1177
Prince John of England becomes Lord of Ireland.
John de Courcy builds a castle at Downpatrick Co Down.
1178
John de Courcy begins the construction of Carrickfergus Castle.
1181
Hugh de Lacy marries the daughter of Rory O'Connor.
1183
Rory O'Connor retires to Cong abbey in Co Mayo after being forced to abdicate by his sons and William Fitz Adeln
1185
24th April Prince John lands to curb the power of John de Courcy
1186
Hugh de Lacy killed by a workman at Durrow Abbey Co Offaly.
1188
Monks from Mellifont Co Louth established an Abbey at Abbeyfeal Co Limerick
1189
William Marshall marries Strongbow's daughter Isabella, thereby inheriting Strongbow's estates.
Henry II, at Chinon, France. His son, Richard the Lionheart (Coeur de Lion), succeeds him. Although King for 10 years, Richard spent only 10 months in England.
1190
Great part of Dublin was consumed by an accidental fire.
1191
Giraldus Cambresis writes the first version of his account of Ireland
1193
Dervorgilla dies at Mellifont Abbey in Co Louth
Augustinian's from Bodmin Cornwall establish the priory of Kells Co Kildare.
1197
Rory O'Connor the last high King of Ireland dies and is buried at Clonmacnoise
1195
The body of Hugh de Lacy (who had been murdered at Durrow in 1186) was this year removed from among the Irish, and buried at Bective in the county of Meath, by Matthew archbishop of Cashel, and John archbishop of Dublin; but they deposited his head in the abbey of St. Thomas, near Dublin. (From the annals of Dublin)
1196
9th June: The remains of St Patrick, St Brigid and St Columcille are buried with great ceremony by Cardinal Vivian of Rome and fifteen Bishops at Downpatrick in County Down.
1198
Rory 'Roderick' O'Conor the last high King 'Ard-ri' of Ireland died.
1199
6th April: Richard I died age 41 at Limose in France after receiving a wound from a crossbob bolt, while sieging Chalus Castle

AD 1200

1200
William Marshall founds Tintern Abbey in Co Wexford with monks from Tintern Abbey in south Wales. In fulfillment of a vow made during a stormy crossing of the Irish sea.
12-1300
The Normans consolidate their position.
1201
In eastern Ulster the King of Dál Fiatach, Ruaidhrí Mac Dhuinnshléibhe, was slain by John de Courcy
1203
John de Courcy was defeated by Hugh de Lacy in battle at Downpatrick County Down.
1204
A. D. 1204. Great numbers fell by the plague this year, in Dublin and the neighbouring parts. (From The Annals of Dublin)
Clonmacnoise is burnt down for the 26th time in its history.
Great numbers fell by the plague this year, in Dublin and the neighboring parts.
Normans begin building Dublin castle.
1205

A. D. 1205. Meyler Fitz-Henry, lord justice of Ireland, signified to king John, that he had no secure place to deposit his treasure in, and that for that, as well as other necessary occasions, it would be requisite to erect a strong fortress at Dublin in pursuance of which application, the commanded him by writ (See chapter 1) to erect a castle in Dublin, in such a place as he should think proper, in order to secure and defend the same, and to inclose it with strong wails: but first he commanded him to build a tower, unless a castle and palace might be more conveniently raised; for the building which work he assigned him 300 marks due to the king by Jeffery Fitz-Robert.

(From The Annals of Dublin)
29th May. King John grants Hugh de Lacy all of de Courcy's land and created him Earl of Ulster.

Meyler Fitz-Henry, lord justice of Ireland, petitioned King John for permission to build a castle in Dublin, to store his treasure, John granted permission and awarded him 300 marks, due to the king by Jeffery Fitz-Robert

1207
William Marshall founds a Cistercian abbey Graiguenamanagh (Duiske) in Co Kilkenny
1st October King Henry III of England was born.
1208
De Lacy together with his half brother Walter are at war with the English of Munster.
1210
King John returns to Ireland to curb the powers of Hugh de Lacy.
1215
King John granted a license to the citizens of Dublin to erect a bridge over the Liffey,
15th June: King John agreed to put his royal seal on the Magna Carta, or Great Charter of English liberties, at Runnymede, near Windsor. The document, made peace between John and his barons, and guaranteed the nobles their feudal privileges and promised to maintain the nation's laws.

The Annals of Innishfallen were completed around this time

1216
11th Oct King John lost his crown and jewels whilst crossing 'The Wash'.
19th Oct King John dies, he is succeeded by Henry III as King and Lord of Ireland.
November Magna Carta issued for Ireland.
1220
The so called "Brian Boru's Harp" now housed in Trinity College, Dublin, was built in this year for Donnchadh Cairbre O'Brien, King of Thomond.
The Multi angular keep of Trim castle is completed by William Peppard.
1225
:Aedh, a harp maker, a son of Donlevy O'Sochlann, Vicar of Cong, died. Aedh is credited with designing the method of tuning harps still used today.
1227
The town of Clonmacnois in County Offaly was three times set on fire by the son of Donnell Bregagh O'Melaghlin.
1228
The Abbot of Mellifont resigns after a papal examination of abuses at the abbey.
1229:
O'Brien tried, without success to buy back his "Brian Boru's harp" from Scotland.
1234
16th April William the Marshall (Younger) Died under suspicious circumstances in Kilkenny castle.
1235
Richard de Burgo conquered Connaught.
1236
24th Jan The marriage of Henry III of England to Eleanor of Provence.
1251
Coins minted in Dublin depict the King's head within a harp.
1254
Henry III's son Edward becomes Lord of Ireland.
1258
Gallowglasses (Mercenary soldiers of Scottish-Norse origins from the western isles of.) come to Ulster from Scotland
1260
16th May. Brian O'Neill defeated by Anglo-Norman army at Downpatrick.
1263
Irish clans enlist the help of King Haakon IV of Norway He brings The gall-oglach (gallowglasses) Who were a combination of Scots and Norse.
1264
Walter de Burgo was made Earl of Ulster.
1266
The harp became the symbol of all of Ireland.
A great earthquake was felt in Ireland, which, being a thing very uncommon, struck more terror into the people, than it did them mischief. (Annals of Dublin)
1269
Robert de Ufford builds Roscommon Castle.
1272
Henry III dies he is succeeded by Edward I.

1283

On the 2d of January the greatest part of the city of Dublin was burned down by an accidental fire, which did not spare the steeple, chapter-house, dormitory and cloisters of Christ-church: but such was the devotion of the citizens, that they first set about a collection for the repair of the church before they thought of re-edifying their own houses.
1298
22nd July The English used longbows for the first time, when they defeated the Scots at the Battle of Falkirk. The Scottish pikemen were cut to pieces by Edward I's archers.
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AD 1300

1301
7th Feb Edward of Caernarfon (later King Edward II) became the first Prince of Wales, a title traditionally given to the English royal heir.
1304

13th of June A great part of the city of Dublin was consumed by fire, Bridge Street, the quay, the church of the Dominicans, and one quarter of St. Mary's Abbey were destroyed, the latter held records in chancery, many of which were lost. (Annals of Dublin)

1305
Muirchertach O Conchobuir (O'Connor) and 29 others were slain by Sir Piers Bermingham. Sir Piers was entertaining them before he had them murdered
   
1307
7th July England's King Edward I, conqueror of Wales and 'Hammer of the Scots' died on the way to Scotland to fight Robert the Bruce. He was succeeded by Edward II.
1308
Piers de Bermingham dies.
1310
The bakers of. Dublin were drawn on hurdles at horses tails through the streets, as a punishment for using false weights and other evil practices. This happened in a year of great scarcity, when a cronoge of wheat sold for 20 s. and upwards.
1312
Two daughters of Richard de Burgh 'The Red Earl' were married in Greencastle Castle County Down one to Robert the Bruce later to become king of Scotland.
The septs of the O-Birnes and O-Tools invaded Tassagard and Rathcool, striking terror into the citizens of Dublin, The citizens were powerless against them, as their forces were supressing a riot raised by Robert de Verdon in Urgile, (Louth.) But upon the submission of Verdon, the O-Birnes and O-Tools were quelled. (Annals of Dublin)
13th Nov Birth of Edward III, King of England from 1327. He invaded Scotland and was soundly beaten at Bannockburn.
1314
25th June Robert the Bruce defeated Edward II at Bannockburn and so completed his expulsion of the English from Scotland. Click here for a picture of Robert the Bruce.
1315
After the battle of Bannockburn, Edward Bruce is invited to invade Ireland by a coalition of Irish Earls led by O'Neill of Tyrone.
25th May. Edward Bruce lands at Larne Co Antrim with an army of 7,000 men.
1316

1st May Edward Bruce crowned himself King of Ireland at Knocknemelan Hill near Dundalk County Louth.
24th June At the Siege of Carrickfergus Castle by the Bruce army during a parley the castle defenders seized 30 Scots. The Laud Annals reports that 8 of these were killed and eaten.
September; Edward's brother Robert joins him they take much of the midlands.
As a result of the conflict famine is developing in Ireland.
1318
At the battle Disert O'Dea the O'Brien's regained their King ship
14th October Edward Bruce killed by the English, and his army defeated at the Battle at Faughart near Dundalk.
1327
Edward II abdicated his Queen rules until their son Edward III comes of age in 1330.
25th Jan Edward III acceded to the English throne.
Adam Duffe O-Toole was convicted of blasphemy in Dublin, viz. for denying the incarnation of Christ, the trinity in unity, for assuming that the blessed virgin was an harlot, that there was no resurrection, that the scriptures were a mere fable, and that the apostolical see was an imposture and usurpation, and the next year, pursuant to his sentence, was burned on Hoggin-green (Now College-green) near Dublin.
21st Sept Deposed King Edward II of England was murdered, with a red hot poker in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire by order of his wife, to ensure the succession of his son Edward III.
1328
The Annals recorded 'Much thunder and lightning this year, whereby much of the fruit and produce of all Ireland was ruined'.
1329
7 th June Robert I 'the Bruce', king of Scotland died. He earned a place in Scottish history for his legendary victory over the English at Bannockburn in 1314
1331.
A great famine afflicted all Ireland More Info
1338
So great a frost was this year from the 2nd of December to the 10th of February, that the river Liffey was frozen over so hard as to bear dancing, running, playing football, and making fires to broil herrings on. The depth of the snow that fell during this frost, is almost incredible; yet it is agreed, that such a season was never before known in Ireland; however, we do not find that it was followed by any scarcity. (Annals of Dublin)
1342
It is reported that on the 11th of October this year, and the 11th day of the moon, two moons were seen by many about Dublin, in the morning before day-break. The one was bright, and, according to its natural course in the west, the other in the east with very little light.
1348
Ireland records it first occurrence of the Black Death with outbreaks at Howth and Droheda, between August and Christmas, 14.000 perished in Dublin. More >>>
1356
19th Sept Led by Edward, the Black Prince, the English defeated the French at the Battle of Poitiers in the Hundred Years' War.
1361
An edict bans pureblooded Irish from becoming mayors, bailiffs, officers of the King or clergymen, serving the English.
1366
Statutes of Kilkenny prohibits any integration between the Anglo Normans and the Irish.
1371
22nd Feb King Robert II of Scotland succeeded to the throne.
1377
21st June: Edward III dies Richard II grandson of Edward age 10 becomes King of England.
1391
The book of Ballymote written, it gives keys to the Ogham alphabet.
1394
2nd Oct King Richard II, landed at Waterford, with an army of 30,000 foot and 4,000 horse, and having received the submission of most of the Irish of Leinster, marched to Dublin, where he continued till the beginning of summer.
1395
Richard II defeats the Leinster Irish, more of the rebel Normans and Irish Kings submit to him.
1399
3rd Feb John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and father of King Henry IV, died.
Richard II is deposed by his cousin Henry Bollingbrooke Duke of Lancaster, is crowned Henry IV.
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AD 1400

1402

11th July An armed band of Dublin citizens led by John Drake marched from the town against the O'Birnes and other rebels, at Bray they killed according to one report 4,000, while another states 493. Daniel O'Birne, surrendered the castle of Mackenigan to the King.

1405
The citizens of Dublin fitted out a fleet of barks, in June, invaded Scotland at St. Ninians, after this they sailed along the channel, and made a descent into Wales, brought from thence the shrine of St. Cubie, which on their return was deposited in Christchurch. Both these actions were in aid of King Henry IV. against whom the Scots had marched an army into England, and the Welsh under the conduct of Owen Glendower, had rebelled.
1406
The citizens of Dublin marched out their forces on Corpus Christi day, they were joined by a body of the country people in the neighbourhood of the town, they advanced against the Irish, whom they routed, slew many of them, took two standards, brought home the heads of those they had slain, and fixed them on the city gates.
1410
Thomas Butler, prior of Kilmainham, Lord deputy to the duke of Lancaster, Lord lieutenant, marched out of Dublin with 1,500 kerns into the country of the O-Birnes, and was joined by a band of citizens under the command of Robert Gallen, mayor of Dublin. Upon their approach to the enemy, 800 of the kerns deserted to the Irish, it might have proved fatal to the Lord deputy; who by that means made an orderly retreat, with the loss only of John Derpatrick.
1413
20th March Henry IV of England dies at the age of 45 after a 13 year reign. 1413 It partly fulfilled a prophecy saying that he would die in Jerusalem. He died in Westminster Abbey's Jerusalem Chamber.
1419
The mayor of Dublin marched out with the Lord lieutenant into the County of Wicklow, where they razed Castle Keivin.
1420
2nd June King Henry V of England marries Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI, King of France.
1421
6th Dec Henry VI was born he was to become the youngest King of England acceding to the throne at 296 days of age.
1422
31st August Henry V dies at Bois de Vincennes in France
1424
9th of June, upon the application of James Butler, Earl of Ormond, Lord deputy, it was ordered in council that the mayor and citizens of Dublin should have in prest the sum of £40l. to enable them to aid the Lord deputy in an expedition against the McMahon's, Magennis's, O'Donnell's, and other Irish enemies then in rebellion.
1429
6th Nov Henry VI was crowned King of England, seven years after acceding to the throne at the age of eight months. Two years later, in Paris, he was also crowned King of France.
Henry VI offers a £10 to every liege man of the King . Who will build a castle in Dublin, Meath Kildare and Louth within ten years.  
1431
30th May Joan of Arc, the French peasant girl who became a national heroine leading French troops against the English, was burnt at the stake in Rouen for heresy.
7th Dec Henry VI of England was crowned King of France, in Paris.
1433
First Franciscan house of Observant's founded at Quinn Co Clare by the MacNamaras.
1437
20th Feburary: James I, King of Scotland, was assassinated by a group of dissident nobles led by the Earl of Atholl. He is succeeded by his son, James II
20th Feburary Boy King Edward VI was crowned at Westminster.
1447
Large number died in Dublin of a plague and famine this year, which afflicted all parts of the King dom.
1450
27th June Irish born Jack Cade led a 40,000 strong demonstration march from Kent to London to protest against laws introduced by King Henry VI of England. Cade was later beheaded for treason.
1452
2nd Oct King Richard III, England's last Plantagenet King, was born.
1457
28th Jan Birth of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty in England. He restored order after the Wars of the Roses.
1459
A mint was opened in the castle of Dublin where not only silver but brass money was coined
The river Liffey at Dublin was entirely dry for the space of two minutes.
1461
29th March Over 28,000 people were killed in the battle of Towton, North Yorkshire during the War of the Roses (Lancaster against York). The Lancastrians, under Henry VI, were crushed and the throne was claimed by Edward IV and with it The Lordship of Ireland..
1466
Plague breaks out in Meath Leinster and Dublin.
1467
Bunratty Castle Co Clare is completed by Sean Finn MacNamaras
1470
Henry VI is reinstalled to the English throne
1471
21st May Henry VI, King of England, was murdered in the Tower of London where he had been imprisoned by Edward IV, who then resumed the throne.
1477
The plague again wasted Dublin this year.
1479
Gearoid Mor Fitzgerald, eighth Earl of Kildare is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland.
1483
April : Edward IV dies he is succeeded by his son Edward V.
Edward V is deposed and replaced by Richard III
1484
The plague raged this year in Dublin
1485
Henry Tudor kills Richard III at the battle of Bosworth and becomes Henry VII
1486
17th Jan After 30 years of civil war the Royal Houses of Lancaster and York were united by the marriage of Henry VII to the eldest daughter of Edward IV.
1487
The first recorded use of firearms in Ireland. ?
1489
This year the first musket or firearms, that (perhaps) were ever seen in Ireland, were brought to Dublin from Germany, and six of them, were presented to Gerald, Earl of Kildare, then Lord deputy.
1489
Hugh Roe O'Donnell took and demolished Belfast Castle plundering its contents.
1491
28th June The birth of Henry VIII, King of England and second son of Henry VII. He married six times, beheaded two wives, broke away from the Catholic church to form the Church of England, executed Catholics who failed to recognize the church and executed Protestants who complained that he should execute more Catholics! Yet he still managed to remain a popular King .

1493
The Lord Mayor of Galway hanged his son Walter Lynch for murder. Giving us the term Lynch Law.
1494
Edward Poynings appointed Lord Deputy. He introduced a law stating that all laws passed by Irish parliament had to be approved by the King this was not revoked until 1782
1494
First reference to 'The Pale' in an official document.
1497
There were great shortages this year through most of Ireland, but especially in Ulster In and around Dublin it was not so great; for a peck of wheat, almost four English bushels, sold for 10s and malt for 8s.

AD 1500

1503
26th Sept. The Earl of Kildare 'Garret More Fitzgerald' burns Belfast castle.
1504
Irish Lords rise against the Earl of Kildare.
 
1506
The prior of Kilmainham attempted forcibly to take some loads of hay from the Dominicans of Dublin. But the mayor and commons assembling together in favour of the friar's, rescued the hay, and drove the prior back to Kilmainham
1507
Henry VIII. Becomes King of England
1512
10th April:The birth of James V of Scotland, who allied his country with France against the English. He became King at the age of 17 months.
Garret More Fitzgerald sacked Belfast for a second time. He then attacked Glenarm and wasted the surrounding lands
Conflict between the Butlers Earl s of Ormond and the Fitzgeralds Earl s of Kildare in Dublin.
1513
Garret More Fitzgerald the Lord Deputy & 8th Earl of Kildare died of gunshot wounds. His son, the 9th Earl became the Lord Deputy. He fell foul of political intregue and was arrested in Feb 1534 and taken to the Tower of London where he died on 2nd Sept. 1534. His son Silken Thomas was executed on 3rd February 1537 at Tilburn.
1516
The Earl of Kildare's deputy, assisted by the citizens, invaded the O'Tools, and slew Shane O' Tool the chieftain, and sent his head as a present to John Rochford, mayor of Dublin.
1517
Dundrum castle Co Down is recaptured from the MacGuinness clan.
1521
28th Jan The 'Diet of Worms' (diet meaning assembly and Worms being a small town in Germany), at which Protestant reformer Martin Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic church.
The O'Mores of Leix confederating with the O'Connors, O'Carrolls, invade the English pale.
11th Oct Pope Leo X conferred the title of 'Defender of the Faith' (Fidei Defensor) on England's Henry VIII for his book supporting Catholic principles.
1523
The Earl of Kildare defeats Aodh Buidhe O'Neill of Clandeboye and captures Belfast and Carrickfergus Castle's
1530
7th March When King Henry VIII's divorce request was denied by the Pope, Henry declared himself (not the Pope) as the supreme head of the English church.
24th May A list of heretical books was drawn up in London. Tyndale's Bible was burnt.
1531
5th January Pope Clemens VII forbade English King Henry VIII to re-marry. The event led to the creation of the Church of England.
1533
25th Jan The Bishop of Lichfield secretly married King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry's six wives. She had, ten days before, discovered that she was pregnant.
1534
The Kildare rebellion.
28th July The English Archbishop of Dublin is murdered on Clontarf beach by supporters of Silken Thomas
A new coinage for Ireland is struck called 'The coin of the harp'
2nd Sept. London. The 9th Earl of Kildare dies, he is succeeded by his son Silken Thomas, although the title was not confirmed by the English crown.
1534
William Skeffington captures Maynooth Castle the seat of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare and massacres its garrison. Becoming known as 'The pardon of Maynooth'
Feb The 9th Earl of Kildare was arrested and taken to the Tower of London where he died on 2nd Sept.
1535
15th Jan Henry VIII assumed the title 'Supreme Head of the Church'.
1536
The estates of the Earl dom of Kildare are confiscated,. Lord Grey is appointed Lord Deputy.
7th January Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Mary I, died.
14th April Henry VIII dissolved the 'Reformation Parliament' resulting in the suppression of the monasteries.
12th May Sir Francis Weston, Mark Smeaton and several other alleged lovers of Anne Boleyn, wife of King Henry VIII, were executed.
30th May Eleven days after he had his second wife Anne Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, former lady-in-waiting to Anne.
8th JuneThe English Parliament mMet and settled the succession on the future children of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour. The Princesses Mary and Elizabeth were declared illegitimate.
6th Oct William Tyndale, English religious reformer and translator of the Bible's New Testament, was strangled and burned at the stake for heresy.
1537
3rd Feb Silken Thomas son of the 9th Earl of Kildare was executed along with five of his uncles at Tilburn, London.
12th Oct Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII by his third wife Jane Seymour was born. Jane died 13 days after giving birth to him.
1540
9th July England's King Henry VIII had his six-month marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled. She was nicknamed The Flanders Mare.
1541
The Parliament of 1541 was attended for the first time by native chieftains as well as by the Lords of the Pale, Henry's title of Lord of Ireland, which had been conferred by the papacy, was changed to King of Ireland.
1542
11th Feb Catherine Howard, the fifth queen consort of Henry VIII, was confined in the Tower of London to be executed three days later. Henry learned that Catherine had had several affairs before their marriage and had Parliament immediately, declaring it treason for an unchaste woman to marry the king. The night before her execution, Catherine spent many hours practising how to lay her head upon the block.
13th Feb Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was executed for adultery.
8th Dec The birth of Mary Queen of Scots, Scottish Queen who ascended to the throne aged seven. A rebellion led to her abdication and later Elizabeth I imprisoned her for the plot to restore the Roman Catholic religion and to take the throne from her.
1546
28 Oct. James Butler the ninth earl of Ormond along with 17 of his party were poisoned at a banquet in Ely House, London, 28 Oct. 1546
1547
28th Jan Henry VIII dies, exactly 100 tears after the birth of his father Henry VII, he is succeeded by the boy King Edward VI. England and Ireland were ruled by the nobility of England.
1549
21st Jan Parliament passed the first of four Acts of Uniformity, the first requiring the exclusive use of the Book of Common Prayer in all public services of the Anglican Church.
The Jesuit Order was by St. Ignatius, founded in Ireland in 1561 by Father David Wolfe
9th June The Church of England adopted the Book of Common Prayer, compiled by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer.
1551
The Scots carry out a massacre on Tory Island Donegal.
1552
7th June Edward VI devalues the Irish currency to combat inflation.
1553
9th July Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen of England in succession to Edward VI. Her reign lasted only nine days. Her successor was Mary I.
Mary Tudor becomes queen of England.
1554
25th Jan Sir Thomas Wyatt gathered an army of 4000 men in Kent at the start of his rebellion against Queen Mary. His fellow conspirators were timid and inept and he eventually surrendered. He was executed and his body 'quartered' on 11th April.
The Fitzgeralds are reinstated to the Earl dom of Kildare.
29th June Bishop Edward Staples of Meath is deprived of his diocese for being married.
1555
16th Oct English bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burnt at the stake for heresy.
1556
21st March England's first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake as a heretic, under the Catholic Queen Mary I, also know as "Bloody Mary".
Counties Louth and Offaly are planted with English settlers.
1557
10th July Co Offaly. The Earl of Sussex begins a campaign against the O'Connors.
27th October. The Earl of Sussex destroys Armagh City in his campaign against Shane O'Neill.
1558
7th Jan English forces were ousted from the French port of Calais, led by the Duke of Guise. The town's burghers had surrendered to an invading English army in 1346.
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England.
Shane O'Neill has Matthew, baron of Dungannon a possible rival for the Earldom, assassinated.
1559
The MacQuillan and O'Neill clans defeated by the MacDonnell's at Orra Bog in Co Antrim's glens.
15th Jan Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England at the age of 26. She was the daughter of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn.
18th Dec Queen Elizabeth I of England sent aid to the Scottish Lords to drive the French from Scotland.
1560
Shane O'Neill is undisputed Ruler of Ulster, from "Drogheda to the Erne."
1561
The Rebellion of Shane O'Neill, caused by an internal row amongst the Gaels, over the succession of the O'Neill clan.
Father David Wolfe, S.J., founded the Jesuit mission in Ireland.
Shane O'Neill lays waste Co Fermanagh ruled by the Maguire's.
1562
Elizabethan Wars in Ireland.
Shane O;Neill submitted to Queen Elizabeth I in January.
1563
March: Inquiry into the behavior of the Earl of Sussex's troops.
April: The Earl of Sussex campaigns against Shane O'Neill.
11th September Shane O'Neill submits to Sussex.
1565
Shane O'Neill defeats the the MacDonnell's at Glenhesk Co Antrim.
1566
Shane O'Neill ignoring his oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth launches a campaign to bring the whole of Ulster under his control.
1567
March: The Earl of Desmond is put in Dublin castle by Sir Henry Sidney the Lord Deputy after being arrested at Kilmallock Co Limerick.
Shane O'Neill is killed by the O'Donnell's, some historians claim this was planned by the English.
December: The Earl of Desmond is sent to London a prisoner.
1569
The English crown seize all the O'Neill lands in Ulster.
(August 1572 ?) Sir Thomas Smith tried to bring English settlers into the Ards Peninsula and County Down.
1570
25th Feburary Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V. He declared her a usurper for her persecution of Roman Catholics in England.
1571
June: John Kearney's book 'Gaelic Alphabet& Catechism' is the first Irish book to be printed in Ireland.
1572
15th Jan Thomas Howard, the Fourth Duke of Norfolk, was tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. He was later executed at the Tower of London.
August ? Around a hundred prospective colonists disembarked at Strangford village in County Down. Led by Sir Thomas Smyths inexperienced son, the expedition moved north towards Newtownards only to find that Sir Brian MacPhelim was burning any building which might give shelter to the English. Smith had to seek refuge in Ringhaddy castle and it was in vain that he appealed to Dublin for help. He was killed by his Irish servants the following year.
1573
The Earl of Essex was granted Clandeboye estate by Queen Elizabeth I he arrived in Carrickfergus on 16th August with plans to colonize Ulster.
1574
The Earl of Essex kills several hundred Irishmen at a banquet he holds in Belfast.
1575
22th July Sir James Norrie & Francis Drake, acting on orders of the Earl of Essex takes Rathlin Island (Co Antrim) and massacres the entire inhabitants, men women and children some six hundred people in all.
6th Sept: Sorley Boy MacDonnell attacks the town of Carrickfergus, in revenge for Rathlin, the fail to enter the town but kill 100 defenders and carry off all the towns animals.
1576
The Earl of Essex was executed.
1579
15th June: Francis Drake anchored the Golden Hind just north of what would one day be San Francisco Bay, California and proclaimed England's sovereignty over an area he named New Albion.
1580
600 Papal troops land at Smerwick, establish themselves at Dun an Oir.
The papal force surrender and are massacred by forces led by Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Grey.
English forces under Sir William Pelham sacked the town of Abbeyfeale Co Limerick and destroyed the Cistercian Abbey.
25th August Co Wicklow Lord Grey is defeated by Munster rebels at Glenmalure It was the worst defeat by an English army in Ireland, who were completely routed with losses of between 500–1,000 officers and men, including Sir Peter Carew.
Plantation of Munster begins.
1581
1st Dec Edward Campion (later St. Edward) and three other Jesuits were martyred. He was tried on a charge of treason for promoting Catholicism and was hanged in London.
1582
Pope Gregory X111, updates the calendar there was a difference of 10 days between the old Julian calendar, many people objected claiming they had been robbed of 10 days of their life.
1583
The Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrott marked out the boundaries of Co Leitrim.
1584
Dermot O' Hurley, archbishop of Cashel is executed for alleged complicity in the Munster rebellion.
1586
Following the death of Gerald Fitzgerald 14th Earl of Desmond in rebellion the crown seizes 245,000 ha (600,000 acres)
Scottish mercenaries hired by the Burkes are massacred together with their families, by Richard Bermingham
4th Nov Queen Elizabeth I confirmed the death sentence on Mary Queen of Scots.
1587
1st Feb Under pressure from her Council, Queen Elizabeth I of England signed the warrant authorising the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.
8th Feb.: Mary Queen of Scots beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle after 19 years imprisonment.
1588
8th August In a nine-hour battle off Gravesend the Spanish Armada sent by Philip of Spain, to conquer England was defeated.
11th September at least 25 of the Spanish Armada Ships wrecked on the coast of Ireland.
18 (26)? October the Gerona shipwrecked at Dunluce Co Antrim.
4th November Sir William Fitzwilliam begins a search for Spanish castaways.
1591
Hugh O'Neill Earl of Tyrone elopes with and marries, Mable daughter of Nicholas Bagnell, the commissioner of Ulster.
1593
Grace O'Malley the pirate queen of Mayo visits the court of Elizabeth I.
1594
Start of the nine year war the O'Neill's and O'Donnells try to remove the English from Ulster.
2nd Feb.: The English led by John Dowdall and George Bingham capture Enniskillen Co Fermanagh.
Hugh O'Donnell defeated an English army that was attempting to relieve the beseiged garrison at xxxxx this came to be known as 'Ford of the Biscuits' because of the food scattered in the river after the battle.
June: Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell besieges Enniskillen
1595
Battle between Hugh O'Neill and his brother in law Sir Henry Bagnell at Clontibret Co Monaghan, Bagenell is killed.
1597
James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald led a revolt which was crushed by the English army.
October: A Spanish fleet bound for Ireland is wrecked in the Bay of Biscay.
Late June: Sir John Chichester is appointed governor of Carrickfergus, Co Antrim.
4th Nov: Sir John Chichester was defeated and killed in the battle of Altfracken near Ballycarry Co Antrim by Sir James MacDonnell, Chichester's headless body was buried in St Nicholas Church Carrickfergus.
1598
Hugh O'Neill defeated an English army led by his brother in law Sir Henry Bagnell, at Yellow Ford on the River Blackwater in County Armagh, Bagnell was killed.
1599
12th March Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex is appointed Lord Lieutenant.
The Earl of Essex is defeated by Owen O' Moore, near Ballyknockan Co Laois.
Autumn Sir Arthur Chichester is appointed head of the English garrison at Carrickfergus Co Antrim.
7th September the Earl of Essex and Lord Tyrone (Hugh O'Neill) meet on the Louth-Monaghan border to discuss a truce.
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AD 1600

1600
August: Chichester lays waste land within a 20 mile radius of Carrickfergus, killing everything and one he finds, many of those not murdered die later of starvation.
2nd Oct.Lord Mountjoy's army trying to move north into Ulster through the Moyry Pass (The Gap of the North) is repulsed by the army of Hugh O'Neill, on the 9th Oct Mountjoy retreated to Dundalk.
1601
25th Feb.: The Earl of Essex is executed for treason.
27th Dec: In the Battle of Kinsale Hugh O'Neill (Earl of Tyrone) and his Spanish supporters are defeated by Queen Elizabeth's army.
1602
Dublin: The new testament is translated into Gaelic.
September In an attempt to subdue the native Irish in Tyrone Lord Mountjoy desimates the area around Tullaghoge Fort and destroyes the coronation stone of the O'Neill's.
1603
23rd March Queen Elizabeth I dies in Richmond Palace, London after a 45 year reign.
With the accession of James I. to the English throne, enforcement of English Law begins in Ireland.
30th May Sir George Carew is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland.
31th March The treaty of Mellifont is signed in which the O'Neills surrender.
1604
October. Arthur Chichester is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland.
1605
5th Nov Guy Fawkes was arrested when 30 barrels of gunpowder, camouflaged with coal, were discovered in the cellar under The Houses of Parliament in London. Robert Catesby’s small band of Catholic zealots who planned to blow up James I and Parliament were only arrested after Fawkes revealed their names when tortured on the rack. The 'Gunpowder Plot' is commemorated each year in Britain on 'Guy Fawkes' Night'
13th November Chichester issues mandates that all Catholics attend the established church services.
1606
30th Jan Sir Everard Digby, Thomas Winter, John Grant and Thomas Bates who, along with others, had tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in November 1605 were hanged, drawn and quartered for their part in the 'Gunpowder Plot'.
31st Jan Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, was hanged, drawn and quartered.
Settlement of Scots led by Hugh Montgomery in Ards Peninsula Co Down.
1607
14th Sept The leading Gaelic families of Ireland led by Hugh O'Neill leave for the continent from Rathmullen Co Donegal, in what comes to be known as the Fight of the Earls.
1609
The plantation of Ulster begins in earnest, Montgomery (Ards), Hill (North Down), Hamilton (North West Down), Annesleu (Mourne).
1613
Derry becomes Londonderry when James I grants all the lands between the rivers Foyle and Bann to the company of London merchants. See The History of Derry.
1616
20th July Hugh O'Neill died in Rome.
1618
29th Oct Sir Walter Raleigh, English seafarer, courtier, writer and once a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I (he named Virginia after her) was beheaded at Whitehall. He had been falsely accused of treason and sentenced to death, commuted to imprisonment. He was released after 13 years to try and find the legendary gold of El Dorado. He failed, and returned to an undeserved fate.
1619-21
The plantation of Leitrim, Longford, Laois, West Meath and Offaly.
1620
19th Nov The ship Mayflower arrived at Cape Cod, America. Its 87 passengers were members of a Protestant sect, known as The Pilgrim Fathers.
1623
9th June British Forces made a treaty with the 'Potomac River tribes' proposing a toast to perpetual friendship. The Indian chief and 200 men then dropped dead from poisoned wine.
1631
June The village of Baltimore in Co Cork was attacked by Algerian pirates about 100 people were carried off and two killed, it is thought that a local person may have arranged the raid.
1632-38
Compilation of the Annals of the Four Masters.
1636
8th Sept Sir Hugh Montgomery receives a Scottish state funeral in Newtownards Priory
9th Sept 140 Presbyterians from County Down embarked at Groomsport on the Eagle Wing for New England, bad weather forced the voyage to be abandoned.
1640
7th July Robert Sidney was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1641
Irish form the Confederate Catholics of Ireland at Kilkenny. The 1641 Rebellion begins. Read about The 1641 Rebellion from Eleanor Hull's History of Ireland
21st Nov: A force of Ulster rebels besieges Droheda Co Louth.
November: Over 80 Protestants die when rebels attack Portadown bridge Co Armagh.
1642
The Confederation of Kilkenny.
19th March The Adventurers Act passed in English parliment The Act invited members of the public to invest £200 for which they would receive 1,000 acres of lands that would be confiscated from Irish landowners
Civil war begins in Ireland.
1645
10th Jan Execution of William Laud, the archbishop of Canterbury. He was beheaded on Tower Hill after being found ‘guilty of endeavouring to subvert the laws, to overthrow the Protestant religion, and to act as an enemy to Parliament’. The next archbishop was not appointed until fifteen years later, with the Restoration of Charles II.
14th June At the Battle of Naseby in Northamptonshire. Parliamentary forces commanded by Oliver Cromwell despite being heavily outnumbered. defeated the Royalist troops of Charles I in the English Cival War.
   
1646
5th June Confederate forces under Owen Roe O'Neill are victorious in the Battle of Benburb.
1647
4th June Roundhead troops capture King Charles I of England ending the English Civil War with the Royalists defeated.
1649
30th Jan: The executioner Richard Brandon beheaded King Charles I at Whitehall. The courts deemed him a 'tyrant, traitor, murderer and enemy of the people'
9th Feb The funeral of the executed King Charles I. His personal dignity during his trial and execution had won him much sympathy and he was buried at Windsor rather than Westminster Abbey to avoid the possibility of public disorder at his funeral.
17th March Oliver Cromwell abolished the position of King of England and the House of Lords and declared England a Commonwealth.
15th Aug: English soldier & statesman Oliver Cromwell landed at Dublin.
11th Sept 2,600 defenders of Droheda in County Louth massacred by Cromwell's troops.
11th Oct: Cromwell's troops storm Wexford City killing 2,000 soldiers and civilians.
6th Nov Owen Roe O'Neill died in Cloughoughter Castle near Lough Oughter, County Cavan.
1650
2nd Feb Birth of Nell (Eleanor) Gwynne, former orange seller at Drury Lane Theatre, who became a comedy actress and later mistress of Charles II, by whom she had two sons.
Catholic landowners exiled by Cromwell to Connaught.
1651
1st January Charles II is crowned King of Scotland at Scone.
17th Oct Charles II was defeated at the Battle of Worcester, after the battle he hid from Cromwell's forces in an Oak tree before fleeing to France.
26th Nov Henry Irton Lord Deputy of Ireland son in law of Oliver Cromwell died of fever. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 his body was exumed and mutilated in a postumous execution on the orders of Charles II.
1652
Disease famine and war has reduced the population of Ireland to 500,000.
1653
Cromwell victorious, Irish landowners evicted, land given to his supporters and settlers.11,000,000 Acres confiscated and divided between Cromwell's supporters.
1656
Over 60,000 ? Irish Catholics had been sent as slaves to Barbados, and other islands in the Caribbean.
1660
29th May Charles II marched into London and was restored to the throne, 11 years after the execution of his father Charles I.
1661
30th Jan Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was exhumed and formally executed, after having been dead for two years!
23rd April Charles II was crowned King of England, completing the restoration of the monarchy. His father, Charles I, had been beheaded by Oliver Cromwell following the Civil War.
1665
2nd Feb British forces captured New Amsterdam, the centre of the Dutch colony in North America. The trading settlement on the island of Manhattan was renamed New York in honour of the Duke of York, its new governor.
6th Feb Birth of Queen Anne, the last Stuart ruler and second daughter of James II. She bore Prince George of Denmark 17 children, but 16 died in infancy and the remaining child died when aged 12. Her desire for national unity led to the union of the English and Scottish parliaments (1707).
The population of London is decimated by the plague 100,000 people one fifth of the population are said to have died.
1666
6th Sept: Fire swept through London destroying 160 hectares (400 acres) of the city. 39 churches and 13,000 houses have been destroyed.
1673
12th June The future King James I of England was forced to resign as Lord High Admiral because of his Catholic faith.
1672
Over 6,000 Irish boys and women sold as slaves since England gained control of Jamaica.
1677
4th Nov: Prince William of Orange (Holland) married a niece of Charles II (England) Mary age 15.
1679
6th Dec: The Roman Catholic primate Archbishop Oliver Plunkett is arrested for allegedly plotting against the crown.
1680
15th Nov: Peter Talbot, the Roman Catholic archbishop, dies a prisoner in Dublin castle.
1681
4th March King Charles II granted a Royal Charter to William Penn, entitling him to establish a colony in North America called Pennsylvania.
1st July: Oliver Plunkett archbishop of armagh executed at Tyburn. (London).
1683
12th June The Rye House Plot, to assassinate English king Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York, was discovered.
23 June William Penn, the English Quaker, signed a treaty with the Indian chiefs of the Lenni Lenade Tribe in an attempt to ensure peace in his new American colony, Pennsylvania.
1685
6th Feb Charles II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, died after several days of revelry with his concubines and his favourite mistresses.
In France The Treaty of Nantes is revoked, thousand of Huguenots come to Ireland.
August: The first issue of the Dublin News Letter, published by Joseph Ray.
6th Feb.: Charles II dies after a short illness.
Charles' 51 year old Catholic brother The Duke of York becomes King James II
1686
9th Jan: Henry Hyde the Duke of Claredon is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
1687
12th Feb.: The Earl of Tyrconnell is sworn in as Lord lieutenant.
1688
11th Dec James II was forced to abdicate after William of Orange landed in England on November 5th.
1689
11th April: William II and Mary II were crowned joint monarchs by the Bishop of London. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to officiate.
James II lands at Kinsale.
20th April: The siege of Londonderry began when supporters of James II attacked the city.
James II's sets up a Parliament in Dublin and promises to restore all lands confiscated since 1641.
30th July The Mountjoy broke through the boom across the river Foyle, ending the siege of Londonderry.
August 13th. Marshal Schomberg landed at Groomsport Co Down with 10,000 thousand men to defend the Williamite cause in Ireland.
22nd Aug About fifty ships anchor off Carrickfergus and bombard the castle and town.
27th Aug 2,500 men in the castle surrender.
1690
Saturday 14th June William III lands with his army at Carrickfergus (Co Antrim).
1st July Battle of the Boyne (Co Meath).
1691
12th July The Battle of Aughrim, (Co Galway).
The siege of Athlone.
Siege and surrender of Limerick Catholic army defeated.
3rd Oct Treaty of Limerick signed.
22nd December Patrick Sarsfield & 11,000 defeated soldiers sail for France the so called 'Wild Geese'
The Penal Law introduced.
1692

13th Feb The massacre of the MacDonalds at Glencoe in Scotland was carried out by English forces led by John Campbell, Earl of Breadalbane.

1694
28th Dec Mary II, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, died from small pox, leaving William III to reign alone.
1697
The Bishop banishment Act. All bishops with ecclesiastical jurisdiction ordered to leave the country.

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AD 1700

1701
17th Sept King James II of England died whilst in exile in France.
1702
21st February William III thrown from his horse. He died two weeks later.
1704
Act introduced prohibiting Catholics from buying land or inheriting it from Protestants. Catholic landowners had to divide their property equally between their male heirs.
1707
15th Jan The Act of Union was passed, merging the English and Scottish parliaments and paving the way for the new country of Great Britain.
1714
Catholics hold 7% of land in Ireland.
1729
Turnpike trusts were first established by an Act of George II. The Trusts levied a toll on road users to support maintenance works.
1731
The first canal in Ireland is begun it ran from Lough Neagh to Newry in Co Down
1738
24th May John Wesley first attended evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, then went on to a meeting at Aldersgate where he experienced his conversion. This was the start of Wesley’s Methodism, and over 250 years later there are 54 million Methodists in 60 countries.
1739
Severe winter followed by much shortage.
1741
Famine which killed an estimated 300,000 people
1742
28th Sept. The first cargo of Tyrone coal arrived in the port of Dublin carried by the Cope and the Boulter of Lough Neagh via the newly opened Newry canal.
1745
18th Oct Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, died aged 77.
1746
8th Jan Bonnie Prince Charlie occupied Stirling. Such early successes would prove short-lived for the pretender to the throne.
17th Jan ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ and his Highlanders won the battle of Falkirk. It was to be their last victory in the 'forty-five' Jacobite uprising, as three months later they were defeated at Culloden.
1752
Britain & Ireland adopt the Gregorian Calendar 02/09/1752 is followed by 14/09/1752
1759
25th Jan Birth of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. His birthday is celebrated as ‘Burns Night’ by Scotsmen all over the world.
1760
Arthur O'Neill plays the O'Brien "Brian Boru's Harp", through the streets of Limerick.
21st Feb.: A French force under Commodore Thurot successfully attack Carrickfergus castle
1769
18th June: The birth of Viscount Castlereagh, 2nd Marquis of Londonderry, born in Ireland who, as foreign secretary to Lord Liverpool, organized the coalition against Napoleon. The family home was Mountstewart Co Down
1773
16th December. Samuel Adams and 150 ‘Sons of Liberty’ disguised as Mohawk Indians threw £18,000 worth of tea into Boston Harbour. The event became known as 'The Boston Tea Party'.
1775
Henry Grattan, becomes leader of "Patriot Party".
1775
6th Aug Daniel O'Connell born at Derrynane,Co. Kerry. Received Early schooling from Parish Priest, then sent to France to receive further instruction at St. Omer and Douai.
1776
4th July The American Congress voted for independence from Britain.
1777
3rd Jan George Washington defeats the British at the Battle of Princeton.
1778
April: The American privateer 'Ranger' under John Paul Jones captures the 'Drake' in a sea battle off Carrickfergus Co Antrim.
1779
The first boat begins service on the Grand Canal between Dublin and Ballyhealey
3 July The Irish Brigade in the service of France helped to capture the Caribbean island of Grenada on this day. They were part of an expeditionary force of some 2,300 men tasked with seizing the island from the British garrison based there.
1781
19th Oct The American War of Independence came to an end when British commander Lord Cornwallis surrendered his 8,000 troops to George Washington at Yorktown, in Virginia, after a three week siege.
1782
A Colonel Conyngham, presents the Brian Boru Harp to Trinity College Dublin
The Irish Parliament began its 18 years of independence
1785
Ballooning craze hits Ireland when Richard Crosbie makes first balloon flight at Ranelagh Co Dublin
1788
The first iron works in Ireland was set up at Arigna in Co Roscommon by three brothers, O'Reilly, locally mined coal was used, the venture closed in 1808.
17th Jan A British fleet of eleven ships and 800 convicts landed at Botany Bay, Australia. They created the first British penal colony, in Port Jackson - Sydney.
31st Jan Death, in Rome, of Charles Edward Stuart (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’). After his father's death, Charles was recognised as 'King Charles III' by his supporters.
1789
 
First mail coach service's from Dublin to Cork and Belfast started
Outbreak of the French revolution.
1790
30th Jan The first purpose-built lifeboat, The Original, was launched on the River Tyne at South Shields
1791
October Woolf Tone Rowan Hamilton, Napper Tandy and Henry Joy McCracken founded the society of United Irishmen
1792
The Belfast Harp Festival records some of the Harp music of Ireland.
1793
Catholic Relief Act passed.
1795
January. Lord Fitzwilliam, an Irish landowner appointed Lord Lieutenant. He planned to bring about full Catholic emancipation.
January 24: Protestants of Belfast petition parliament for repeal of all penal and restrictive statutes against Catholics (petition presented, 2 February.)
February 12: Grattan introduces Catholic relief bill in House of Commons.
May 5: House of Commons rejects Grattan?s Catholic relief bill, by 155 to 84
May 10: United Irishmen of Ulster secretly meet in Belfast and adopt new constitution.
May 24: New constituition for United Irish Society accepted by existing clubs
June 13: Tone embarks at Belfast for USA
September 7: Lawrence O'Connor, schoolmaster and Defender leader, hanged at Naas, Co Kildare.
21st Sept The Battle of the Diamond takes place in Co Armagh between Catholics Defenders and Protestants Peep O Day Boys, 30 Catholics were killed, no Protestants are reported killed.
As a result of The Battle of the Diamond The Orange Order was formed.
October circa 1: Catholic seminary, Royal College of St Patrick, opened at Maynooth, Co Kildare.
1796
The Insurrection Act passed.
12 July The Orange Order's first ever marches celebrating the "Battle of the Boyne" and they took place on in Portadown, Lurgan and Waringstown.
15th Dec Woolf Tone arrives in Bantry bay with 43 French ships and 15,000 troops. Bad weather forced them back to France
1797
The Spanish fleet was defeated off Cape St. Vincent by Admiral John Jervis and Captain Horatio Nelson
22nd Feb Over 1,000 French troops attempted to invade Britain and landed at Fishguard, but were soon captured by the brave ladies of the town. No other foreign force has managed to invade mainland Britain since.
March to October. Ulster is disarmed. The Yeomanry is formed from Protestant tenants and towns people under the command of the gentry.
Oct 11th A second attempt by the French to invade Ireland was also defeated
14th October. William Orr a United Irishman was executed at Carrickfergus, his comrades could see no alternative but armed insurrection
1798
March:
Arrest of Leinster Directory of United Irishmen
May 23 The United Irishmen Rebellion began.
May 29 Massacre at Gibbet Rath on the Curragh (Co Kildare)
May:
Arrest and death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald.
June 7th Battle of Antrim
5th United Irishmen defeated at New Ross
9th United Irishmen defeated at Arklow
9th The Battle of Saintfield County Down
12-13th Battle of Ballynahinch (Co Down)
21st Battle of Vinegar Hill. United Irishmen defeated
August 22nd French troops landed at Killala and won a striKing victory at Castlebar,
October
French forces defeated on 8th at Ballinamuck in County Longford.
A French naval force was overwhelmed in Lough Swilly, Wolfe Tone captured.
November
Death of Wolfe Tone.

AD 1800

August:
1800
The population of Ireland is almost twice as large as that of the United States.
1801
2nd Feb The first parliament of Great Britain in which Ireland was represented.
1st January The Act of Union passed uniting England and Ireland.
1802
The Grand Canal reaches Edenderry in Co Offaly.
1803
Robert Emmett's rising, trial and execution.
1804
6th Feb The world's first locomotive, converted from a steam-hammer power source and developed by Cornish engineer, Richard Trevithick, ran on a line near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
1808
Mail coach service from Belfast to Armagh started.
1809
19th June: Curwen's Act was passed in Britain, to prevent the sale of parliamentary seats, thus decreasing the number of seats which the British government could manipulate for its regular supporters.
1812
22nd July The Duke of Wellington defeated the French in the Battle of Salamanca, in Spain.
18th October. Ten workmen were swept to their deaths of the Tusker Rock Co Wexford while constructing the lighthouse.
1814
Apprentice boys of Derry formed.
1815
8th Jan Britain lost the last battle it ever fought against the US in the War of 1812. General Sir Edward Pakenham and his men were defeated at New Orleans.
1st February Daniel O'Connell kills John D'Esterre a member of Dublin corporation in a duel.
28th March Dublin The Thames, a paddle steamer makes the first crossing from Dublin to London carrying passengers and cargo.
18th June: The Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon Bonaparte suffered defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, who was born in Dublin, bringing an end to the Napoleonic era of European history. Wellington once famously rematked "Just because you were born in a stable, it doesn't make you a horse"
Carlo Bianconi started his coach transport business, with a service between Clonmel and Cahir
1816
7 July The great Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan died in the City of London in impoverished circumstances.
1818
The Rob Roy built by Ritchie and MacLaine of Belfast became the first steam vessel to make the crossing between Belfast and Scotland.
1820
17th Jan Birth of poet and novelist Anne Brontë. She was the youngest of six children of Patrick and Maria Brontë. The Brontë Museum is in the former parsonage at Haworth, West Yorkshire with one near Rathfriland Co Down.
29th Jan King George III died, aged 81, at Windsor Castle. At the time he was the longest reigning monarch (over 59 years).
1821
3rd Feb Birth of Elizabeth Blackwell, in Bristol, who became the first woman doctor in the US where her parents emigrated.
George IV visited Powerscourt Co Wicklow almost fatally
1823
1824
19 people were drowned when a boat carrying a coffin overturned on its way to Devenish Island in Lough Erne.
1825
Unlawful Societies (Ireland) act passed. Catholic Association dissolves as does the Grand Lodge of the Orange Order. The law is ignored by the Orange lodges who continue to parade.
1828
5th July Daniel O’Connell won the Parliamentary seat of County Clare in a bye –election
1829
21st March The Duke of Wellington, aged 60, fought a bloodless duel with the Earl of Winchelsea. The reason for the duel was the Duke’s support of Catholic emancipation. Wellington was both Prime Minister and leader of the Tory Party at the time.
13th April The British Parliament passed the Catholic Emancipation Act, lifting restrictions imposed on Catholics at the time of Henry VIII.
1830
The Tithe War
The first Land Act introduced.
1831
The national schools system begun.
1834
The first railway in Ireland was built between Dublin and Kingstown (Dùn Laoghaire)
1836
4 July The Dublin Police Act of 1836 established the Dublin Metropolitan Police on this day. It was set up to regularise the policing of Ireland’s Capital City and was based on a template of Sir Robert Peel’s London Metropolitan Police.
1837
20th June: On the death of William IV, Queen Victoria, aged 18, succeeded to the throne.
1838
22nd April The British steamer Sirius became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to New York. The voyage took 18 days and 10 hours
28th June Queen Victoria is crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey in London at the age of 19.
The poor law introduced.
1839
The Night of the Big Wind January 6/7 (See our fact file for other similar data,)
1840
10th Jan Sir Rowland Hill introduced the Penny Post to Britain. Mail was delivered at a standard charge rather than being paid by the recipient. On its first day, 112,000 letters were posted in London alone.
22nd May Britain ended the practice of sending convicts to the penal colony of Australia.
O'Connell's Repeal Association founded.
1841
The census records a population of 8,175,124. See other census records
1842
The Nation, newspaper founded.
1843
13th January  73 men from Newcastle and Annalong Co Down were drowned when their 16 boats were overwhelmed by a sudden storm in the Irish Sea.
1844
6th June The Factory Act in Britain restricted female workers to a 12-hour day; children between eight and 13 years were limited to six-and-a-half hours.
1845
St Johns lighthouse on Co Down coast built.
1846
Brunel's iron steamship the Great Britain goes ashore at Tyrella Co Down, it is re floated the following spring
1845-49
Beginning of famine. Charles Tteveleyan, permanent Head of Treasury.
Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister, imports Indian Corn.
1846
April. Tteveleyan opens depots for sale of Indian corn,
but closes them later in summer. Repeal of Corn Laws.
July. Lord John Russell replaces Peel as Prime Minister.
Total failure of potato harvest.
October First deaths from starvation.
1847
New Poor Law passed increasing the number of Unions from 130 to 163.
Fever spreading. Tteveleyan winds up Soup Kitchen Act, and retires to write his history of famine.
1848-49
By 1848 through emigration and deaths by famine, Ireland's population decreased by more than 2 million people (8.5 to 6.5).
1848
The first Encumbered Estates act passed.
1849
The Dublin to Cork rail link opened
12th July 30 Catholics killed at Dolly's Brae near Castlewellan Co Down after a Orange parade was fired on.
c1850
A waterwheel 21.43 Meters (70 ft) in diameter was erected at Darkley mill Co Armagh, reputedly the largest in Ireland. See waterpower.
1851
The Dublin to Galway rail rink opened.
The census records a population of 6,552,385.
1852
28th October 25 families (197 people) were deported to America by Lord and Lady Bangor of Castleward County Down, read more.
Vera Foster founds the Irish female Emigration Fund. Scandal ensues after some of the girls it helps are found worKing in New York brothels
1853
29th August Queen Victoria visited the Great Exhibition in Dublin organized by William Dargan, later she payed a visit to his home at Mount Anville where she offered to make him a Knight, Dargan graciously refused.
Income tax is introduced.
1854
26th Jan The White Star Ship Tayleur outward bound from Liverpool towards Australia foundered on Lambay Island in fog 380 of the 652 on board drowned, more inf on line.
Workmen building the Ennis railway discover a hoard of over 500 gold ornaments dating form about 500 BC
18th Nov A parliamentary notice regarding the Abolition of Turnpikes was published in the Carlow Sentinel
1855
The Dublin to Belfast rail link opened. There is 1000 Miles of railway in Ireland
1858
Formation of the Irish Republican brotherhood. (The Fenians)
1861
Beginning of American Civil War.
The census records a population of 5,798,967.
1863 2 July The Irish Brigade of the Army of the Potomac fought at Gettysburg. In one of the most famous incidents of the American Civil War they were blessed and granted general absolution by Father William Corby, the Brigade Chaplain, in front of thousands of their comrades in arms who witnessed this awe inspiring spectacle.
"Irish People" newspaper founded.
1865
There are now 2000 Miles of railway in Ireland.
1866
First transatlantic cable link to Valencia Island Co Kerry.
1867
February: Abortive raid on Chester Castle.
March: Fenian rising in Ireland.
13th Dec Twelve people were killed when Irish terrorists blew up the outer wall of Clerkenwell Prison, London in an attempt to rescue a jailed colleague
1868
The Ardagh Chalice found in a potato field in Limerick.
1869
Gladstone, Prime Minister, dis establishes Protestant Church in Ireland.
1870
25th June. The birth of Robert Erskine Childers, Irish author and nationalist who resigned as a clerk in the House of Commons to promote Irish Home Rule. He was elected as a Sinn Fein member to the Irish assembly and joined the IRA which eventually led to his arrest and execution for being in possession of unauthorized weapons.
Gladstone's first Land Act.
1871
1st January The disestablishment of Church of Ireland takes effect
The census records a population of 5,412,377.
1873
Home rule league founded.
1874
15th Feburary Birth of Sir Ernest Shackleton in Ireland British Antarctic explorer, he accompanied Scott’s original expedition in 1901-4 before leading his own in 1907, he got within a short distance of the South Pole.
26th Dec Boxing Day was officially recognised in Britain as a Bank Holiday. The name originates from the custom of Christmas boxes being given to a lord's serfs and dates back to the middle ages.
1875
Charles Stewart Parnell elected MP for Co Meath.
1879
21 October The Irish National Land League was founded at the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, County Mayo.
1879-82
"Land Wars" In which the Irish national land League protect tenant farmers from eviction and urged non payment of rents and 'boycott' of landLords.
1879
The first edition of Boy’s Own Paper was published. The editor was S.O. Beeton, the husband of Mrs. Beeton, the cookery book writer. Mrs Beeton died prematurely of syphilis contracted from her husband.
1880
Parnell elected chairman of the Irish home rule party.
1881
Gladstone's 2nd Land Act. Parnell imprisoned.
October The top half of a lighthouse located on Calf Rock in Bantry Bay snapped off and was carried away during a storm, no lives were lost.
23rd January The Lowest recorded temperature in Ireland occurred . (See our fact file for other similar data,)
The census records a population of 5,174,836.a drop of 3,000,000 since 1841.
1882
Kilmainham "Treaty". Parnell's released.
Phoenix Park murders of Chief secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and his under secretary T H Burke by a splinter group of the Fenians.
1883
The first electric railway in the British Isles is opened between Portrush & Bushmills Co Antrim.
1884
The GAA Gaelic Athletic Association founded in Thurles Co Tipperary.
1885
9th Feb The 'Devil's Footprints' appeared in snowbound south Devon - 100 miles of cloven hoofprints in a single line.
Gladstone's home rule bill defeated in British Parliament.
1887
Irish National Land league founded by Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart Parnell. Protestant MP's for Meath
This is recorded as the driest year. (See our fact file for other similar data,)
13th Nov 'Bloody Sunday' in London when violence erupted in Trafalgar Square at a Socialist rally attended by Irish agitators.
1889
12th June The worst rail disaster in Irish railway history, 80 people mostly children were killed in Co Armagh, more inf.
1890
3,501,683 Irish people entered America between the years 1820-90
1891
Death of Parnell.
The Congested Districts Boards is set up
April : The census records a population of 4,704,750.
1893
Douglas Hyde and Eoin McNeill found Gaelic League.
W B Yeates writes The Celtic Twilight
1895
12th Jan The National Trust was founded by three Victorian philanthropists - Miss Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley.
5th April The trial of Oscar Wilde began on charges of homosexuality.
1896
28th Jan Walter Arnold of Kent was the first British motorist to receive a speeding fine, for exceeding 2 mph in a built-up area. He was doing 8 mph as he passed the house of the local policeman. The constable gave chase on his bicycle and after a 5 mile chase Mr. Arnold was arrested. He was fined one shilling for his offence.
Gladstone's home rule bill passed in British Parliament.
1899 ?
Arthur Griffith formed Sinn Fein (We ourselves)

1900

1900
120,000 tons of coal mined in Ireland, compared to 20,000,000 tons in Scotland
4th April: Queen Victoria begins a three week visit to Ireland.
  22nd Jan Queen Victoria died, aged 81, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Spanning 63 years, her reign, was the longest in British history.
1901
March : The census records a population of 4,458,775.
1903
11th July: The Royal Cork Yacht Club stage the worlds first power boat race
The Hon Charles Rolls, sets up a world land speed record of 93 mph in Phoenix Park.
14th Aug: Wyndham's act introduced, offering inducements to landLords to sell their properties.
1904
The Abbey Theater founded in Dublin.
1905
28th Nov Foundation of Sinn Fein by Arthur Griffith.
1906
7th June Cunard's liner the Lusitania was launched in Glasgow, she was the largest and fastest in the world.
1907
6th July The Irish crown jewels are stolen from Dublin Castle. >>more
26th Jan A riot broke out in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on the first night of J.M. Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, when the audience took offence at the ‘foul language’. The riots continued for a week, but the show went on, heavily guarded by police.
1909
 
20th Dec: The Volta, Irelands first cinema opens in Dublin
1910
The first powered flight in Ireland took place when Harry Ferguson took off from Newcastle beach in Co Down.
1911
April The census records a population of 4,390,219.
9 July King George V and Queen Mary visited the Catholic Seminary of Maynooth. The British king was on a brief tour of Ireland to mark his accession to the throne.
1912
17th Jan Captain Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole, only to find that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him by one month.
10th April: The Belfast built luxury liner Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage from Berth 44, White Star Line dock, Southampton towards New York.
15th April 2.20 am The White Star liner Titanic sunk.
28th Sept Thousands of Unionists in Northern Ireland signed the Solemn League and Covenant, pledging resistance to Home Rule for Ireland.
The Camogie Association and the Gaelic Athletic Association formed
1913
Formation of Irish Volunteers, Ulster Volunteer Force and The Irish Citizen Army.
1914
7th April The House of Commons passed the Irish Home Rule Bill
4th August Britain declared war on Germany after the Germans had violated the Treaty of London, by the end of the conflict some 900,000 soldiers from across the British Empire were killed and two million injured.
1915
7th May  The Cunard Liner Lusitania bound for Liverpool was sunk of the Irish coast by a German submarinee with the loss of almost 1,200 lives.
1916
24th April.The Easter Rising against British rule erupted in Dublin, view a video of the Easter Rising with actual footage.
1st July World War I: At least 20,000 British soldiers were killed and a further 40,000 were injured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. It was the greatest number of British casualties in a single day's fighting in modern history, many of those killed and injured were Irish.
3rd August Sir Roger Casement, Irish nationalist, is hanged in London for treason following his attempts to induce Germany to support the cause of Irish independence.
13th Nov The Battle of the Somme (World War 1) ended. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including nearly 60,000 on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000. The battle epitomised the futility of trench warfare and the indiscriminate slaughter of so many men.
18th Dec The Battle of Verdun, the longest engagement of World War I, ended after 10 months and massive loss of life. 23 million shells had been fired and 650,000 were killed.
1917
Jan The heaviest recorded snowfall occurred. (See our fact file for other similar data,)
19th June The British royal family renounced the German names and titles of Saxe-Coburg, (responding to anti-German sentiment) and became Windsor.
1918
5th Feb The Representation of the People Act passed by the British Parliament received the Royal Assent, granting the vote to women over 30. Their first opportunity to use it would come at the General Election on 14th December 1918.
World War I ends, 200,000 Irishmen fought 60,000 died on the battlefields of Europe.
1920

25th Oct Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, dies on 74th day of hunger strike

21st November, 11 supposed British agents were murdered in Dublin on the order of Michael Collins
Later that day in retaliation soldiers shoot and wound 70 persons attending a football match.
1921
Ireland became a dominion of the British Commonwealth called the Irish Free State.
N I's first parliament is convened in the Belfast City Hall and opened by King George V
6th Dec.Anglo-Irish Treaty signed by Michael Collins Irish independence was granted for the 26 southern states which became known as the Irish Free State. Six counties which formed Ulster (Northern Ireland) remained as part of the UK.
1922
January 7: The Anglo Irish Treaty ratified by the Dail, (64 votes to 57) followed by war between supporters of the Free State and those opposed to the treaty.
10th Jan Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Fein and one of the architects of the 1921 peace treaty with Britain, was elected president of the newly established Irish Free State
August 22, Michael Collins was killed in an ambush by extremist republicans near Bandon, Co Cork. 
1924
16 July Eamon De Valera was released from captivity, he had been held in Kilmainham Jail Dublin
1925 ?
In the new free state a censor is appointed to examine films before they are released.
1926
1st January Douglas Hyde opens Dublin 2 RN later to become Radio Eireann
1927
10 July The Assassination of Kevin O’Higgins, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Justice and Minister for External Affairs on this day.
15 July The death of Constance Constance Georgine Markievicz, (Countess Markievicz).
1928 ?
The Irish government set up the Censorship Board with powers to ban books and magazines
1936
April : The census records a population of 2,968,420 in the republic.
1937
February : The census records a population of 1,279,745 in Northern Ireland.
1939
Seaplane passenger service to America via Newfoundland begins from Foynes Co Limerick.
23rd June The Government of Eire declared membership of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) to be illegal
1st September World War II breaks out when Germany invades Poland bombing Warsaw at 6am. Ireland remains neutral.
1941
13th January One of Ireland's greatest authors, James Joyce dies. Joyce was born on February 2, 1882
April/May  German air raids kill almost 1,000 people in Belfast, fire engines are sent from County Louth to assist with the resulting fires.
May : Germans bombs kill 34 people in the north strand Dublin, many historical records were lost.
2nd December. Two keepers were injured on the Tusker Rock when a mine drifted ashore
1942
2nd Oct The British cruiser Curacao sank with the loss of 338 lives, after colliding with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal.
1943
Thousands of American troops arrive in NI where battle schools are set up train them for a planned offensive on Europe.The troops are billeted on estates and farms all over Ulster.
1944
12th March Britain banned all travel to and from Ireland and Ulster in an effort to prevent German spies operating in neutral Eire from learning of the Allied invasion preparations taking place in Britain.
1945
World War II ends.
1946
May : The Eire census records a population of 2,955,107. Irish census.
June : Bord na Mona responsible for the extraction of peat is established.
1949
18th April: The Republic of Ireland Act came into force as Eire became a Republic and left the British Commonwealth.
5th June Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s prophetic novel of a world ruled by Big Brother, was published. It seems he may be right, in the UK
1951_62
Official IRA campaign in North.
1951
April : The Eire census records a population of 2,960,593.
April : The NI census records a population of 1,370,921.
1953
31st Jan A car ferry The Princess Victoria sank in the Irish Sea, in one of the worst gales in living memory, claiming the lives of more than 130 passengers and crew.
5th Feb Queen Elizabeth succeeded to the British throne. The Queen and Prince Philip were on tour in Kenya when they heard the news of the death of her father, King George VI.
25th Feburary. At an inquest, crew members admitted that the Princess Victoria, a ferry which sank off Belfast, had sailed with her bow doors partially open, 128 people lost their lives.
1955
Ireland joins the United Nations
1960
5th Jan The last journey of the Mumbles Railway, the oldest in the world. It was set up in 1804 as a goods railway running from Swansea to Mumbles Head, Wales, and began carrying passengers in 1807.
1961
April : The Eire census records a population of 2,818,341.
April : The NI census records a population of 1,425,042.
1965
Brian O'Neill Sean Lemass Talks.
1966
April : The Eire census records a population of 2,884,002.
October : The NI census records a population of 1,484,775
1967
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association founded.
1968
August. First Civil Rights March.
October: Derry Civil Rights March, banned by William Craig, Minister of home Affairs, held but broken up by police.
1969
January 4. People's Democracy Belfast to Derry Marchers, attacked at Burntollet Bridge.
April: O'Neill resigns. Chichester Clark appointed Prime Minister.
24th July English rower Tom McLean arrived off the Irish coast to become the first man to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean - from west to east a distance of 2000 miles. His voyage took 72 days.
August 14: British troops sent to Derry.
October: Protestant riot in Belfast.
1970
22nd June The world’s first all-metal liner, Brunel’s 'Great Britain' returned to Bristol from the Falkland Islands where it had lain abandoned since 1886.
1971
 
First British soldier killed by IRA in Belfast.
February decimal currency introduced in both the north and south.
Chichester Clark resigns, Brian Faulkner Prime Minister. Unionist government of NI introduces internment without trial for suspected terrorists
April : Census records 2,978,248 Eire
April Census records 1,536,065 in NI
13th Oct The British Army blew up border roads in N. Ireland to crack down on IRA gun-running.
1972
22nd Jan The United Kingdom, the Irish Republic, and Denmark joined the Common Market.
30th Jan: Bloody Sunday in Derry. British paratroopers shoot 13 civilians during civil-rights march.
2nd Feb British embassy in Dublin is attacked and burned.
22nd Feb Five women and an army priest were killed in an IRA bomb attack on army premises in Hampshire.
30th March Britain assumed direct rule over Northern Ireland, with William Whitelaw as Secretary of State.
30th May The Official IRA announced a ceasefire, but the Provisional IRA said it would continue fighting until the British left Northern Ireland.
1973
Sunningdale Agreement.
1974
Ulster Workers Strike brings down Faulkner and Assembly.
Direct Rule re-imposed.
20th April The troubles in the north claim their 1,000's victim a petrol station owner from Co Fermanagh.
17th May Loyalist bombs in Dublin killed 24 and in Monaghan 6 die in another bombing.
Irelands biggest robbery to date in Tralee Co Kerry £75,000
15th June: An IRA bomb exploded at the Houses of Parliament, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people.
Highest wind speed recorded in Kilkeel Co Down. (104) knots. (See our fact file for other similar data,)
28th May Brian Faulkner resigned following a general strike which was called by the Ulster Workers Council in opposition to the proposed Council of Ireland agreed at Sunningdale, the Power-sharing Executive fell.
16th Oct Three prison staff were taken to hospital and dozens of prisoners were injured after rioting and fires at the Long Kesh Maze prison, near Lisburn County Antrim.
22nd Oct A bomb exploded in a London restaurant near to where opposition leader Edward Heath was dining. Three members of staff were injured.
21 Nov The IRA exploded two bombs in two Birmingham Pubs, killing 19 people and injuring 180 others.
18th Dec The Government said that it would pay £42,000 compensation to relatives of the 13 men killed in the Bloody Sunday riots in Londonderry (30th January 1972).
1975
5th January Ten Protestants workmen were gunned down near Bessbrook Co Armagh, in what was believed to be a revenge killing after the recent murder of five Catholics.
31st July The Miami Show band massacre three band members and two UVF men killed.
22nd Octobe The 'Guildford Four' were sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of planting IRA bombs in pubs in Guildford and Woolwich.
29th Oct More than 20 people were injured in an IRA bomb attack on a restaurant in Mayfair, London.
27th Nov Ross McWhirter, TV presenter and co-editor of The Guinness Book of Records, was assassinated by two Provisional IRA gunmen after he had offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for several recent high-profile bombings.
12th Dec The six-day Balcombe Street siege ended peacefully in London after four IRA gunmen freed their two hostages and gave themselves up to police.
1976
5th Jan Ten Protestants were murdered in a gun attack in Northern Ireland, in what was believed to be a revenge killing after the murder of five Catholics. More on Wikipedia
21st July The British Ambassador to Ireland, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, was killed by a terrorist car bomb in Dublin.
1979
20th Feburary 11 members of a loyalist gang known as the 'Shankill butchers' were sentenced for 19 sectarian murders in Belfast.
30th March Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave was killed by a car bomb as he left the House of Commons car park.
27th August Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Queen’s cousin.died when the IRA exploded a 50lb, remote-controlled bomb on his boat Shadow V off the coast of County Sligo a local boy was also killed in the explosion.
27th August 18 British soldiers were killed near Narrow Water Castle in County Down by concealed bombs detonated from across the border in County Louth.
5th Nov The trial began in Dublin, of the two men accused of the murder of Lord Mountbatten
1980
27th Oct The start of a hunger strike by Republican prisoners interned in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland.
1st August. Heaviest recorded rainfall occurred (See our fact file for other similar data,)
1981-82 Ten Republicans die on hunger strike in Maze Prison, NI
1982
29th May In the first Papal visit to Britain since 1531, Pope Paul II prayed alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England, at Canterbury Cathedral.
1981
15th Jan The Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former Westminster MP, Bernadette McAliskey, (nee Devlin) and her husband, were shot by gunmen at their home in County Tyrone, both survived.
10th April Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
April : The Eire census records a population of 3,443,405
April : The NI census records a population of 1,481,959
2nd Oct The IRA hunger strike at the Maze prison ended after 10 deaths.
1982
December : Seventeen killed in an INLA bombing of a disco in Derry.
1983
8th Feb The Aga Khan's Derby winner Shergar was kidnapped from a stable in Kildare £2,000,000 ransom was demanded, it was never paid nor was the horse recovered.
17th Dec Three police officers and three members of the public were killed and many others injured after an IRA car bomb attack in London.
1984
14th March Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, was shot and wounded in an attack in central Belfast when his car was riddled with bullets.
12th Oct Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister of England escaped an assassination attempt when an IRA bomb exploded in the Grand Hotel, Brighton which was being used by delegates to the Conservative Party Conference. Four people were killed and 30 people injured, including Norman Tebbitt, the Employment Secretary, and his wife
USA president Ronald Regan pays an official visit to Ireland and Ballyporeen the town in Limerick from where his great grandfather emigrated to America.
1985
23rd June : Air India jet crashes of the Co Kerry coast with a loss of 329 lives.
8th June: Barry McGuigan won the world featherweight title at Loftus Road, London.
1st September The wreck of the liner 'Titanic' was found by Dr Robert Ballard 73 years after it sunk.
15th Nov Britain and the Republic of Ireland signed a deal giving Dublin a role in Northern Ireland for the first time in more than 60 years. Unionists accused Mrs. Thatcher of treachery
1986
23rd June: Brighton bomber Patrick Magee, found guilty of planting the bomb at the Grand Hotel, Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference in 1983, was jailed for a minimum of 35 years.
1987
March The national lottery is launched in the Republic.
September. Enniskillen bombing 11 people killed attending remembrance day service
15th Oct The worst hurricane to hit Britain since records began devastated southern England and caused at least 17 deaths.
27th Oct Gilbert McNamee was sentenced to 25 years in prison for being an IRA bomb maker.
8th Nov An IRA bomb exploded shortly before a Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing 11 people.
British army kill 8 IRA and a civilian in an ambush at Loughgall Co Armagh.
1988
6th March Three IRA terrorists were shot dead by SAS men in Gibraltar.
18th Oct British Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, banned all broadcasts involving terrorist. IRA spokesmen could be seen, but not heard, although their statements could be reported by the media.
1989
20th April Scientists reported that the Earth had narrowly missed being struck by an asteroid weighing 400 million tons
22nd Sept An IRA bomb attack on the Royal Marines School of Music killed 11 people, (10 of them young soldiers) and injured twelve of the bandsmen.
19th Oct The 'Guildford Four' had their convictions quashed after wrongly serving 14 years in prison for the IRA bombings at Guildford and Woolwich.
1990
9th April Four UDR soldiers were killed when the IRA remotely detonated a 1,000 lb culvert bomb outside Downpatrick County Down
1st Dec Britain and France were joined for the first time in thousands of years as the last wall of rock separating two halves of the Channel Tunnel was removed.
1990-97 Mary Robinson served as Ireland's first female president.
1991
Feb 7th IRA fire mortor bombs at 10 Downing Street.
25th Feb After serving 17 years in prison, it was announced that 'the Birmingham Six' would soon be released when it was decided that their convictions were unsafe. All were jailed in 1975 for an IRA attack on two pubs in Birmingham in November 1974 in which 21 people died.
14th March The 'Birmingham Six' were freed from jail after 16 years when their convictions for the murder of 21 people in two pubs were quashed by the Court of Appeal.
April : The NI census records a population of 1,577,836.
April : The Eire census records a population of 3,525,719.
26th June After campaigning to prove their innocence for 15 years, the 'Maguire Seven' were cleared by the Court of Appeal of running an IRA bomb factory in England.
15th Nov In the wake of increased sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, Britain called up 1,400 reserve troops for full-time active duty.
1992
10th Jan An IRA bomb exploded in Whitehall, London, 1000 ft. from Downing Street.
EEU (European Economic Union) formed.
1993
Downing Street Declaration; British Government accepts the right of the people of Ireland to self determination.
A massive bomb ripped through the the City of London, killing one and injuring more than 40.
28th Nov The Northern Ireland peace process and Prime Minister John Major's credibility were dealt a blow when secret government contacts with the IRA were publicly disclosed.
15th Dec The British and Irish prime ministers John Major and Albert Reynolds signed the historic Joint Declaration for Peace which they hoped would end 25 years of bombing and murder in Northern Ireland.
1994
18 June Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (52), Barney Greene (87), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O'Hare (35) and Eamon Byrne (39), all Catholic civilians, were shot dead by the Ulster Volunteer Force during a gun attack, on The Heights Bar, Loughinisland.
31st August After 3,168 deaths over a 25 year period the IRA declare a cease-fire.
13th October Loyalist organizations declare a cease fire.
9th December British officials meet Sinn Fein for talks.
1996
Cease-fire breaks down after Britain's Conservative government refuses to allow Sinn Fein to join all-party talks on NI.
9th Feb The IRA detonated an enormous bomb in London's Docklands, effectively bringing an end to the cease-fire and signalling the start of a new bombing campaign on mainland Britain.
15th June: An IRA bomb, the biggest ever to go off on the British mainland, desimated the centre of Manchester. 200 people were taken to hospital the explosion caused an estimated £100 million worth of damage.
1997
5th April The 150th running of the Grand National at Aintree, Liverpool was cancelled because of an IRA bomb scare.
IRA cease-fire resumes; talks begin in Belfast between government of Irish Republic, Britain and representatives of all NI's political parties.
1998
4th January Loyalist prisoners in Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, vote to withdraw support for the Ulster Peace Process. They claim that too many concessions have been made to Republicans.
6th March Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams warned the public that the IRA was prepared for another 25 years of war.
10th April: The Northern Ireland peace talks ended with an historic agreement called the Good Friday Agreement.
22nd May Northern Ireland voted 'Yes' to a new peace agreement designed to end 30 years of violence between Protestants and Catholics.
15th Aug A bomb blast in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killed 28 people and injured more than 300 others. A 29th victim died a month later. It was the worst attack in 29 years of paramilitary violence in Ulster.
8th Sept The dissident republican group behind Northern Ireland's worst atrocity (the Real IRA) declared its violence at an end.

2000

2000
United State Census reports 30,528,492 persons claiming Irish ancestry, 10.8% the population this figure is 60 times that of Ireland
2001
29th April The Northern Ireland Census records a population of 1,685,267 this represents 2.87% of the total UK population
3rd Aug A bomb exploded in a busy west London street, injuring seven people. Dissident Irish republicans were blamed.
2002
28 April The Eire Census records a population of 3,917,336
2003
15th Feb Protests against the Iraq war occurred in over 600 cities worldwide. Estimates from 8,000,000 - 30,000,000 people took part, making this the largest peace demonstration ever.
2004
December. Largest bank raid in Irish history takes place on The Northern Bank in Belfast republicans are suspected.
2005
16th Feb The Kyoto Protocol that aimed to slow down global warming took effect, but the US and Australia refused to support it.
17th Feburary: Hunting with dogs became illegal in Britain.
The Northern bank recall its currency and issue new.
2006
Oct Several business premises in Belfast are destroyed by descendent Republicans
15th July The Nomadic arrived back in Belfast after 95 years.
Nov The Assets Recovery Bureau in the south, seized property valued at one million euros, in County Louth belonging to a brother of a local IRA commander.
  Nov 24th Michael Stone a loyalist terrorist enters the Stormont building in Belfast with a gun and bomb ?