Famine Soup: Alexis Soyer, Trevelyan and The Great Hunger in Dublin
Padraic X. Scanlan is the author of Rot: A History of the Irish Famine. Framing the crisis in Ireland within the broader picture of Empire, this book brings much to how we understood the events that reshaped Ireland. While the crisis recalls rural Ireland, Dublin was central to the story, as the location of the Castle Administration and a bustling port. In this episode we touch on the peculiar story of Alexis Soyer, chef to London’s Reform Club, who would arrive in the city in 1847. Establishing a soup kitchen in front of the Royal Barracks, Soyer’s intervention was widely condemned in the contemporary press. Rot is available now in all good bookshops.
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Fighting the Flames: Captain James Robert Ingram
In 1860, a blaze in the Kildare Street Club led to the death of three workers and the destruction of an institution. Together with other fires of the era, this provided the imperative for a municipal fire service. While Captain James Robert Ingram’s name is associated with the ‘Whiskey Fire’ of 1875, there were many other significant fires, including the destruction of Dublin’s Theatre Royal. This all occurred in a time when a new scientific approach to firefighting was taking shape, thanks to the pioneering writing of James Braidwood, influenced by the Great Fire of Edinburgh. This episode explores the emergence of modern firefighting, and how Edinburgh and London paved the way for what followed in Dublin. Las Fallon is the author of The Great Liberties Whiskey Fire (2025) available from Chapters Bookshop and online from Kenny’s at: https://www.kennys.ie/shop/the-great-liberties-whiskey-fire-fallon-las-9781916742673-1
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Tipperary So Far Away: Remembering Seán Treacy on Talbot Street
Niamh Hassett and Sean Nugent join me in this special edition of the podcast, exploring a wonderful Tipperary tradition on Dublin’s Talbot Street. When the Premier County reach an All Ireland Final, hundreds gather to remember Seán Treacy on the morning of the game. What began this tradition, and why is it growing in popularity?
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Mohair Suits in the National Ballroom: The Showband Era
This month brings the fiftieth anniversary of the tragic murders of members of The Miami Showband. This band, drawing its members from both sides of the border, was a defining part of the showband scene that withstood the changing musical tastes of the country from one decade into the next. Where did the Showband Scene come from, and what were its lasting impacts on music in Dublin and beyond?
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‘A Perfect Prodigy of Moral Horrors’ - The Donnybrook Fair
The Donnybrook Fair is recalled in ballad and memoir as a notorious and chaotic annual event, but what really went on there? Over centuries, the annual fair drew revellers from near and far to Donnybrook, but a combination of social reformers successfully brought about its demise in the 1850s. In this story, we meet characters as diverse as prize fighter Dan Donnelly, and civic reformer James Haughton. This month marks the twentieth anniversary of the passing of the great Frank Harte, a truly remarkable man and Dubliner, who brought this fair to life in his singing.
Three Castles Burning is a social history podcast, dedicated to the story of the Irish capital. Dublin is a city of many stories, Three Castles Burning tells some of the more forgotten ones.
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