Historians are celebrating the donation to Ireland of a vast “lost archive” of hugely significant material linked to one of the great 13th century Gaelic families of Ireland.

If your surname is McCarthy, O’Riordan, Twomey or Kelleher and your forebears came from the Lee Valley then they were probably a bloodthirsty bunch involved in ethnic cleansing in the 14th century.

The history of these islands and their peoples can be read through their castles, ruined or restored, finds Mary Leland