Tom O'Connor is an Irish local historian.
A native of
Kiltullagh
Kiltullagh () is a village and civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. Located on the R348 regional road, the M6 motorway passes nearby. As of 2011, the townlands of Kiltullagh South and Kiltullagh North, in Kiltullagh civil parish, had a combin ...
near
Athenry
Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...
in
County Galway
County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
, O'Connor has spent almost 50 years researching the history and geopolitics of
Iron Age Ireland
The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from archaeological evidence, which has grown at an increasing rate over recent decades. It begins with the first evidence of permanent human residence in Ireland around 10,500 BC (although the ...
, including early
Connacht
Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
. His books, ''Turoe & Athenry: Ancient Capitals of Celtic Ireland'' and ''Hand of History, Burden of Pseudo-History'', present a Celtic royal complex, unprecedented in Ireland for its size and layout, but similar to
Belgic centres of power, centered on Turoe in County Galway, site of the
Turoe stone. Among the finest examples of
La Tene Celtic stone art in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, the stone was set on Turoe hill (Cnoc Temhro). According to O'Connor, it is part of a hitherto unrecognised royal sanctuary at the core of a Belgic-like oppidum defensive system of linear embankments, connected with the supposed Celtic invasion of Ireland.
His work has received local and national interest – especially since the construction of the
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...
through many of the sites.
O'Connor spent over thirty years as a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
in
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
.
See also
*
Celtic Ireland
Gaelic Ireland () was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late prehistoric era until the 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Normans conquered parts of Irelan ...
References
* ''Archaeological Sites of Interest surrounding the Turoe Stone'' (with Kieran Jordan), ''Journal of the
Galway Archaeological and Historical Society
The Galway Archaeological and Historical Society was founded on 21 March 1900. It promotes historical preservation, as well as the study of the archaeology and history of the west of Ireland.
As of January 2002, the Society had published 53 cons ...
'', Volume 55, 2003. pp. 110–116.
* ''Turoe & Athenry:Ancient Capitals of Celtic Ireland'', 2003,
* ''Hand of History - Burden of Pseudo-History:Touchstone of Truth'', 2006,
External links
*http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/sd1.htm
*http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=6333362
*http://homepage.eircom.net/~archaeology/three/placenames.htm
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Tom
People from County Galway
The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, ...
20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests