What Dwelling Place of Dragons Covers

In 1830, religious leaders of Newry did something remarkable to end the problematic religious intolerance. Catholic, Church of Ireland and Presbyterian clergy and lay leaders met to establish religious peace in Newry. This is the point where the first book in this series, Dwelling Place of Dragons, began to reveal Newry’s important story. Beginning with the peace conference, it covered the Tithe Wars resulting from laws that required Catholics and Presbyterians to provide financial support for the official government church, the Church of Ireland, the creation of the poorhouse system, and the first steps toward Irish independence with the founding of the Repeal Association and the Young Irelanders in the 1840s. While the Irish famine was most devastating across southern and western Ireland, it had great impact in Ulster as well. Dwelling Place of Dragons ended in 1849 when religious hostilities erupted again with the battle between local Catholics and Orangemen on parade through the tiny Catholic village of Dolly’s Brae.