An Introduction.

Hi everyone,

My name is Stephen, I am 26 years old, live on the beautiful island of Ireland and for as long as I can remember I have been a history geek. I've spent the last three years working as a historical researcher for an Architects firm in Belfast (looking into the history of listed buildings) and I also work in the new Titanic Belfast Museum (Northern Ireland's most popular attraction - currently exceeding 1 million visitors). I have a Masters Degree in Irish History and love to teach people about the surprising, provocative and contradictory aspects of Ireland's chequered past. I want to write this blog to get back into the habit of writing and to encourage myself to do some independent research on topics that interest me and which may also be of interest to you. I intend to bring some of Ireland's lesser known stories to the fore. 

My workplace.
Titanic Belfast
Opened 31st March 2012

Even though I intend to focus my writing here in the form of a history blog, I'm also interested in books, music and films (like any normal person) so expect to see reviews, ramblings and general musings here as well as longer articles and rantings. I also like to travel (a lot!), especially around Europe, so expect a few travel blogs thrown into the mix. When it comes to history, my favourite period is the Irish Literary Revival and its superstars such as W. B. Yeats and James Joyce, but I don't really restrict myself to a particular period or genre of research, so you can look forward to an eclectic mix as I range from the Plantation to Partition, from the Siege of Derry to the Second World War and from the Táin Bó Cuailnge to the Troubles.

Please feel free to leave comments as we go along; i'd love to have some feedback from you as it'll help me find my voice as I search out topics and issues to blog about. I hope you'll enjoy Enchanted to a Stone?: The Irish History Blog as much as I know I will enjoy writing it.

Anyways here goes nothing!

The Blogger... posing.

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. 

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven 

W. B. Yeats (1899)