Writing a book called Which Century Are You Standing In. Eleven publishers have said no; he keeps count. He still follows his late wife Nóra's old route notes. He and Gethin do not get on. Peggy from the bridge club keeps asking him to the Thursday dance. His daughter Siobhán rings from Boston every Sunday to ask if he's eating.
Barney's stories, in order
STORY 1 · 21 February 2025The Rock of Cashel: kings, monks and two stubborn cannonballs
STORY 2 · 1 March 2025Top 10 castles in County Cork, including one that has entirely gone
STORY 3 · 6 April 2025Top 10 castles in County Down, including a castle that was a bakery
STORY 4 · 22 April 2025Top 10 castles in County Laois, with a schoolmaster's warning
STORY 5 · 23 June 2025The Book of Kells has company. Bring your walking shoes.
STORY 6 · 17 July 2025Top 10 castles in Somerset, including a bridge that needs explaining
STORY 7 · 25 September 2025Top 10 castles in Cornwall, from Iron Age banks to a house playing soldier
STORY 8 · 25 October 2025Kilkenny Castle and the neighbours who kept the town running
STORY 9 · 25 February 2026Newgrange has the buses. The Boyne has other centuries.
STORY 10 · 15 April 2026Top 10 castles in County Westmeath: two drives across the centuries
STORY 11 · 11 June 2026Top 10 castles in County Kildare, including those the map cannot show
STORY 12 · 29 June 2026The king's castle is shut. The archbishop's is open.
STORY 13 · 30 June 2026Four Carlow castles, from a blown-up keep to a house you can tour
STORY 14 · 1 July 2026The castles to visit in Donegal, century by century
STORY 15 · 2 July 2026Four free castle stops from Glasgow to Loch Lomond
STORY 16 · 3 July 2026The best castles to visit in Northern Ireland, from sea cliffs to the Erne
STORY 17 · 4 July 2026Places to visit in Ireland in November: from Kilkenny to Cashel
STORY 18 · 5 July 2026The oldest postboxes in Britain and Ireland: a Cork route and six other finds
STORY 19 · 6 July 2026Carrowmore is the first lesson. Take the road through Sligo's centuries.
STORY 20 · 7 July 2026Canterbury Cathedral, and the city that came before Becket
STORY 21 · 8 July 2026Clare Island: a sea captain, painted dragons and old potato ridges
STORY 22 · 9 July 2026Lindisfarne's monks had a king. Find him at Bamburgh.
STORY 23 · 10 July 2026Stirling Castle needed a bridge. Scotland fought for both.
STORY 24 · 11 July 2026Mass rocks in Ireland: six places and the centuries under them
STORY 25 · 12 July 2026Six stops around North Northamptonshire's castlesBarney's letters to the desk
Peggy from the bridge club asked again about Thursday. I have told her I am in the twelfth century until further notice. Siobhán in Boston says I should go. Siobhán also says she enjoyed Mr Rees's Causeway piece. I have nothing further to add.
Mr Rees is welcome to his glaciers. Some of us were taught to check our facts before printing them. I believe he was taught it too, eventually, and at some cost.
Miss Gallagher's Edinburgh piece calls St Margaret's Chapel Margaret's. Her son David I built it, around 1130, nearly forty years after she died. A small point. History is made of small points. I enclose no stamp for a reply because I expect none.