This bonus show looks at a famous event that haunts Irish history - the Four Courts Explosion. In June 1922 during the opening phase of the Irish Civil War, the Public Records Office was destroyed in a massive explosion that rocked Dublin City Centre. Several centuries of Irish historical records had been stored in the building, most of which were incinerated. In this episode I explain the background to the explosion and what was lost. Then in the second part of the podcast I visit the National Archives on Bishop Street where I meet Zoe Reid who works restoring items rescued from the site in the aftermath of the explosion.

Thanks to Zoe Reid (twitter.com/NAIConservator) for taking the time to talk to me & Joanne Carrol in the National Library for her help in organising this episode.