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  • Native Breed Series: Kerry Beagle and Cladoir
    2025/08/12

    From the hunting fields of County Limerick to the tidal shores of Connemara, two rare survivors of Ireland’s past take centre stage.

    In the final episode of the Native Breeds series, I explore the history and heritage of the Kerry Beagle — a deep-chested scent hound with roots in Celtic hunting traditions — and the Cladoir Sheep, a small coastal breed once thought extinct but rediscovered grazing on seaweed in the west.

    Their stories stretch from medieval hunting laws to famine-era survival, from 19th-century agricultural reports to 21st-century DNA conservation projects. Both came close to vanishing. Both endured because someone cared enough to keep them alive.

    🎧 Listen in for a journey through hunts, coastlines, folklore, and the people who refused to let these breeds disappear.

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    13 分
  • Native Breed Series: Native Irish Honey Bee
    2025/08/05

    Native Breed Series – The Irish Honeybee

    “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.”

    Ireland’s dark honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera, has been part of this island’s story for 5,000 years: shaping laws, folklore, farming, and faith — before disease, imports, and neglect nearly erased it.

    This week, Liam Blake tells its story: from Neolithic settlers and medieval hive laws, to rural “bee lore” and the modern DNA rescue mission keeping this native pollinator alive.

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    11 分
  • Native Breed Series: The Old Irish Goat
    2025/07/29

    🐐 Native Breed Series – The Old Irish Goat

    “The goat was the poor man’s cow.”

    This week, we’re telling the story of Ireland’s only native goat — a five-thousand-year survivor that gave milk to the poor, parchment to monks, and placenames to our maps, before almost vanishing in the 20th century.

    Join me, Liam Blake, as I trace its journey from Neolithic farms to nineteenth-century goat droves, to a modern DNA rescue mission on a Mayo hillside. This is history that eats gorse for breakfast.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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    12 分
  • Native Breed Series: The Galway Sheep
    2025/07/22

    The Galway Sheep: Ireland’s Last Native Breed Long before the Galway Sheep was entered into rare breed registries, it was a backbone of Connacht’s rural economy. Developed from local stock and English Leicesters under landlord supervision, the breed flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries — before near-extinction after the Famine. In this deeply researched episode of The History and Heritage Podcast, Liam Blake examines: The breed’s 18th-century formation in east Galway and Roscommon Its commercial importance in pre-Famine Ireland Collapse during post-Famine land clearances and economic shifts Its recovery as part of the 20th-century heritage livestock movement A story of class, land, and survival — told through the wool on a sheep’s back. Listen now on Spotify, Podbean, Apple & more Follow on Instagram: @liamblakepodcaster

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    10 分
  • Native Breed Series — The Kerry Bog Pony
    2025/07/15

    When we think of the great animals of Irish history, our minds might turn to the elegant Connemara pony, the noble Irish wolfhound, or perhaps even the mythic Cú Chulainn’s steed, Liath Macha — the famed grey horse of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley, one of the central epics of early Irish literature. But for over two centuries, no animal was more central to the everyday life of Irish people — than the humble, hardworking, and often overlooked Kerry Bog Pony.

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    11 分
  • Native Breed Series: The Irish Cob – Ireland’s Quiet Workhorse
    2025/07/08

    “The history of the horse is the history of human civilisation.” – Prof. James Serpell.

    For over 200 years, the Irish Cob was the quiet, tireless heart of rural Ireland. It pulled carts, carried families to Mass, and survived famine, poverty, and prejudice. This is the story of the horse that built Ireland from the ground up — and the people who kept its memory alive.

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    12 分
  • Native Breed Series: The Enduring Spirit of the Irish Draught Horse
    2025/07/02

    Dive into the rich history of Ireland's true 'horse of the people': The Irish Draught. From essential farm worker to foundation of global eventing champions, discover the resilience and legacy of this remarkable breed. Learn about its journey through famine, war, and mechanisation, and why it's more important than ever to protect its future

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    9 分
  • Native Breeds Series: The Cattle That Made Ireland
    2025/06/24

    They fed a nation, shaped a people, and bore witness to centuries of Irish life. In this extended episode of The History and Heritage Podcast, Liam Blake takes you on a journey through the four native Irish cattle breeds — the Kerry, Droimeann, Dexter, and Irish Moiled. Each one tells its own story: from famine fields to rebel farms, from DNA revival to cultural rediscovery. It’s not just agricultural history — it’s Ireland in four hooves.

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    35 分