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Beauty arises from that species of elegance, which we call smoothness… The more the mahogany shines, the more it is considered as an object of beauty: as if the eye delighted in gliding smoothly over a surface... (Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin...

The final bird of the three species that regularly nest on Rathfarnham Castle is the herring gull or the European herring gull as we should properly call it (there is an American herring gull) the quintessential “seagull” and the backdrop to trips to the seaside....

Christmas Traditions Christmastime and traditions go hand in hand. This is despite us not always knowing where these traditions come from or why we follow them. Have a read and find out about which traditions can trace their origins to pre-Christian times and how a...

What's In a Name? The English word “robin” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ruddock, meaning ruddy and seems to have been the original title of the bird in England. It was replaced from the 15th century onward by the more familiar term redbreast, which survived as the...

 The Jackdaw What's In a Name? Western jackdaw; Eurasian jackdaw; European jackdaw; they all refer to the same bird – the bird that in English we call the jackdaw. Prior to the 16th century, it was even easier for English speakers as it was simply called “daw.” In...

Perhaps surprisingly, at least three species of birds use Rathfarnham Castle as a nesting site; the feral pigeon, the jackdaw and the herring gull. They do so because in other locations they would choose ledges on sea cliffs or mountainsides to build their nests and...

Begin, murderer, Pox, leave thy damnable faces and begin! Come, the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge. Hamlet, William Shakespeare If you have ever been to the Tower of London you may have seen or certainly heard about the six or so ravens that are still kept...

Many of the things we do, such as putting up a tree for Christmas or brides wearing white feel like habits that have always been with us. However, both of these traditions, along with many others, were popularised relatively recently in the nineteenth century. One...

Looking at this painting of Nicholas Loftus, it is easy to think that this is just another painting of a man in a white wig, wearing black clothes. And in one sense you would be right, as there are many similar looking paintings from the time. However, with a little...

‘Go on, go on, go on.’ Did you know that per capita Ireland is the world’s second greatest consumers of tea? (Turkey has the first place spot.) This love affair with tea started in the eighteenth century. If you were a guest at an upper class house like Rathfarnham...