Days of the Blackthorn

On town streets or in green fields, at fairs, race meetings and saints' patron days, rival gangs of Irishmen used to meet to battle and beat each other with cudgels and sticks. The practice was particularly prevalent in the 1800s, and involved tens, hundreds and even thousands of men and women at a time. Days of the Blackthorn uses eyewitness descriptions, as well as the oral history of local comm...