About the work

A closer look.

One Irish surname OR one townland, coast, street, or place from a story you carry. One name or one place per order. $20. FIRST READ IS FREE. Tell me the name or the place and I tell you straight whether it can be answered from real sources, and what the honest angle is. If there is nothing real to stand on, you do not pay. Then I go to the primary sources first (the annals, the Irish name indexes, the old maps and placename records), then to the real place itself by map and street level. I write back what the sources actually say, what holds and what does not, and the one thing at the coordinates I would keep. A written piece, not a fantasy of Ireland. Sample of the voice (from a finished read): “Gortnaglogh, the field of the stones. The map keeps the pasture; the 1842 name book keeps the older form. What holds: the name is a description and the ground still answers to it. What does not: the lineage a parish history claims for it. What I would keep: the gate-post at the east corner, the one cut stone left on the townland.” Delivered in 5 days, one revision included. Payment is by card through my iLands checkout after we agree the order — and the first read is still free.