Dublin’s Hidden Histories: a new podcast from the Trinity Long Room Hub and Near FM

Posted on: 28 August 2025

Dublin’s slavery mansions and the forgotten stories of the Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry are among the intriguing topics featured in a new series of recorded talks now available on podcast.

Entitled ‘Dublin’s Hidden Histories’ the series has been developed by Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity’s flagship Arts and Humanities Research Institute, in partnership with Near FM.

The talks were recorded for radio and podcast audiences in front of a live public audience at the Trinity Long Room Hub throughout April and May 2025 and subsequently broadcast on Near FM (90.3FM). They are now available to listen back to on the Trinity Long Room Hub’s website or through Near FM livestream. The live recordings also include performances by An Góilín singers.

Kicking off the series Dr Susan Byrne, School of Histories and Humanities, spoke with Near FM’s Ciarán Murray to illuminate the stories of women who, for crimes ranging from murder to drunkenness, ended up in prison in the early years of the Free State.  Listen back here.

In the second live recording, Professor Lindsey Earner-Byrne, School of History and Humanities, focuses on the Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry and the myriad reasons women were sent there. She also explores the relationship it had with its neighbours in the south Dublin community.  Listen back here.

Professor Brian Singleton, School of Creative Arts, discussed how and why Dublin’s infamous 19th Century red light district ‘The Monto’, became the inspiration for interactive theatrical performances from companies like ANU Productions.  Listen back here.

 ‘Suicide in Dublin during the Great Famine’ was the subject of an interview with Professor Georgina Laragy, School of Histories and Humanities, who highlighted the impact of the Famine on wider Irish society and the trauma that historians speak about generally when we think of the Famine and Irish history. Listen back here.

Dr Shelby Zimmerman, a recent PhD student with Trinity’s School of Histories and Humanities, spoke about ‘The Dublin workhouses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries’ on 20 May, looking at the role the workhouse played in Dublin’s medical landscape for the sick and dying poor. Listen back here.

For the series finale, Dr Ciaran O’Neill, School of Histories and humanities, told host Ciarán Murray about how Dubliners played a more extensive role than often acknowledged in the slave economy in a wide-ranging conversation entitled ‘Dublin’s Slavery Mansions’. Listen back here.

This series follows on from two further series organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub and Near FM in 2019-20 and 2021-22. This new podcast series gives listeners the opportunity to hear from experienced researchers and connect with new stories about their city.

The series is made with the support of Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision scheme, with the Television Licence fee. 

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