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All About History Books

The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

County Dublin is in Province of Leinster.

Blackrock, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

Maretimo House, Blackrock, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

Before 28th August 1799 Nicholas Lawless 1st Baron Cloncurry (age 63) commissioned the building of Maretimo House and Lyons House.

Brennanstown, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

Brennanstown aka Glen Druid Cromlech, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles [Map]

Brennanstown aka Glen Druid Cromlech is also in Prehistoric Ireland.

Handbook of Irish Antiquities by Wakeman Chapter 1. Brennanstown (Glen Druid) Cromlech [Map]. ​In a picturesque valley, close to Cabinteely, County Dublin, stands a very perfect cromlech. This monument may be reached in a short walk from the Carrickmines railway station. The site is a little over one mile and a-half from the sea-coast. The covering stone is of an irregular form, but the under portion, which forms the top of the chamber, is quite flat and horizontal. The following are its dimensions:​ ​length and breadth, 15½ feet; thickness, 3 to 5 feet. It is not easy to calculate the weight of this mass, on account of the irregularity of form which the block presents; but it is estimated at 36 tons. It rests, as Mr. Borlase points out, on two antæ, as well as on the larger stones, and so forms an ante-chamber 5 feet wide at the entrance. A number of detached stones lying72 about this very perfect example would indicate that it was originally accompanied by a circle of standing stones.

Castleknown, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

Knockmaroon, Castleknown, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

Dublin [Map]

Killiney, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

Shanganagh aka Killiney aka Ballybrack Cromlech, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles [Map]

Shanganagh aka Killiney aka Ballybrack Cromlech is also in Prehistoric Ireland.

Handbook of Irish Antiquities by Wakeman Chapter 1. Shanganagh Cromlech [Map]. ​At Shanganagh, half a mile to the east of the hamlet of Loughlinstown, may be seen a fine specimen of what may be styled, as regards size, a cromlech of the second class. It is supported upon four stones, and presents no appearance of having been enveloped in a mound of any description. Like nearly every one of its kindred remains in the County Dublin, it is formed of granite blocks. The covering stone measures 9 feet in length by 7 feet at its greatest breadth; it is 3½ feet in its extreme thickness; and its highest portion is at present slightly over 9 feet above the ground; the weight is about 12 tons. The chamber would seem to extend east and west. The cromlech may be easily visited from Killiney railway station.

Kilternan, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles

The Giant's Grave aka Kilternan Cromlech, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles [Map]

The Giant's Grave aka Kilternan Cromlech is also in Prehistoric Ireland.

Handbook of Irish Antiquities by Wakeman Chapter 1. Kilternan Cromlech [Map] is near Kilternan House, 7 miles from Dublin, and half a mile west of Golden Ball. It is another fine example of its class, when we consider the weight of its table, estimated at 40 tons, and the difficulty, as we must suppose, of raising, in a rude age, such a mass upon supporters. The covering stone, like all others, of this monument is of the granite of the district. Its measurements are: extreme length, 22 feet; width, 13½ feet; greatest thickness, 6 feet 6 inches. The supporters vary in height from 2 to 4 feet, but it is impossible to know how far they may be sunk below the present ground level. Some considerable disturbance in their arrangement appears to have occurred. Several would seem to have subsided, but the roofing69 block is still held above ground by the others; the height of the enclosure may be stated as about five feet from floor to roof. The plan of the chamber is very irregular, but it may be described as extending east and west. This cromlech is known as 'the giant's grave'; but there is no local tradition connected with it, folklore in this district having generations ago ceased to exist.

Mount Venus Burial Mound, County Dublin, Province of Leinster, Ireland, British Isles [Map]

Mount Venus Burial Mound is also in Prehistoric Ireland.

Handbook of Irish Antiquities by Wakeman Chapter 1. Mount Venus Cromlech [Map]. ​This monument, situated at Woodtown, about two and a half miles from Rathfarnham, a suburb of Dublin, is no longer perfect. Its table, which may have slipped from its original position, is at present supported by a single stone about 7½ feet in height, and of considerable massiveness. The greatest measurement of the covering stone is 23 feet; it is 12 feet in breadth, and 5 feet in thickness. It is supported at the north-west corner by an upright stone, forming with it an angle of 45°. Several of the former supporting stones would seem to have been removed, and others have evidently been broken. The rock is70 granite, of a very hard, close, and durable description. It seems to have weathered but little, as all the remaining stones present angles of considerable sharpness. Du Noyer was of opinion that this cromlech was of what he styled the 'earth-fast' class, and that the roof had always in part rested upon the ground. In this supposition O'Neill, no mean authority on such matters, did not by any means coincide. The weight of the covering stone is estimated at 42 tons. So great a pressure might well cause some of the weaker supporters to give way, in which case the pile would very probably assume its present appearance. It is not in the least likely that this tomb had at any time been covered by a tumulus or cairn. Mr. Borlase considers it 'one of the most magnificent megalithic monuments in the world.'

Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland 1868 Pages 40-46. The last illustration is that of the so-called ruined cromleac at Mount Venus, county Dublin [Mount Venus Burial Mound [Map]], (see Plate facing this page, fig. 4). Beyond a question this remain is a genuine "primary," or "earth-fast" cromleac, and is as fine an example of its type as we possess in Ireland. The two enormous blocks forming it are of granite, the larger inclined stone being about 18’ + 8’ + 4’; the upright stone against which it rests being about eight feet above the ground, and over three feet square. I regret I have not the exact measurements of those blocks; but these given are not very far astray.

In point of construction, this cromleac very closely resembles that at Rathkenny, as will be apparent by reference to the illustrations.