The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. So said L.P. Hartley in one of the most

famous quotes about history. It might be overused, but it is, by and large, true. For example,

I was born in Castlecomber in North Kilkenny

in the same town as my grandparents and their grandparents.

However, the world they grew up in without internet, phones or even electricity

seems incomprehensible to me today.

However, for me at least, the place name, Castlecomber, provides a connection.

We all lived in the same town. I find place names more generally something of an anchor that

roots us all in the same landscape. No matter how much the world around us changes, place names

remain the same. However, place names

are not as timeless as we might imagine. They too have their history, although generally speaking,

they change much slower. Last October I found myself cycling through County Wickto along the

military road, and the place

names there are steeped in history.

The names and signposts for places like Newcastle stretch back centuries, but they're

not timeless.

They are rooted in, in the grand scheme of things, relatively recent history.

For example, the Newcastle of Newcastle was erected about 800 years ago and before that

it was called something else.

Even the very name Wicklow, meaning Vikings Meadow or Field, can at most be 1,200 years old.

However, the focus of this episode, Glendaalock, is different. It's more unusual.

That name is much, much older. You can find it in the oldest of Irish written records,

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