The Claddagh ring is a traditional faith ring that's given in Ireland for engagement or friendship. Originating in the fishing villages of Galway, its 'giving heart' symbolises love and fellowship, and the crown, loyalty.

The enjoining of hands around symbols of fertility is impressed deeply in the Irish psyche. Whether it's the modern heart or ancient cord.

'Meeting On The Turret Stairs' - Frederic William Burton, 1864

#ValentinesDay

Mother and children drawing water from a holy well in northern Ireland, 1888.

Playtime at a country school, Co Monaghan, Ireland. 1900.

School in Connemara, Co Galway, 1892 - These children are being shown Froebel’s “first gift", a ball on a string. Froebel’s gifts were coloured shapes designed to teach children through touch and play

Earl Street, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. 1900.

Interesting how the lady dressed in a shawl and bowler hat resembles the women of the high Andes. (Lawrence Collection, NLI)

A family takes a break by the roadside. Co Donegal, 1892.

The province name of Leinster comes from the word 'Laigin', referring to a tribe of Gauls who settled the region in 600 BC. The latter part of the word (-ster) comes from Old Norse 'staðr' - meaning place, city, or town.

Leinster - [Laigin-staðr]

The Gaelic name for Dublin is ‘Baile Átha Cliath’ which translates as ‘town of the hurdle ford’, a description of the bank of wooden forts built up on the river Liffey by the Vikings. An earlier name for Dublin is Dubh Linn (Irish) or Dyflin (Norse), meaning 'black pool'.

County Wicklow gets its name from the Cauci tribe who originated beyond the Rhine - They called the land 'Wick'. The Vikings added the word ‘-lo’, to this, which means ‘meadow,’ thereby creating the name ‘Bay of the river meadows.’