O’Connor, Patrick J. People Make Places: The Story of the Irish Palatines.

Newcastle West, Co. Limerick: Oireacht na Mumhan Books, 1989. First edition. .pp. x, 229. Illustrated with maps and photographic plates, with notes, references and index. Publisher’s maroon cloth, gilt title to spine, in the original illustrated dust jacket.

A detailed and scholarly history of the Irish Palatine community, the group of German-speaking Protestant settlers who arrived in Ireland in the early eighteenth century, primarily settling in County Limerick and surrounding regions. Drawing upon archival records, genealogical evidence and local history, Patrick J. O’Connor traces the origins of the settlers in the Rhineland Palatinate, their migration to Ireland in 1709, and their subsequent cultural, religious and social development within Irish society.

The work examines the establishment of Palatine settlements, particularly in Rathkeale and neighbouring districts, exploring their distinctive identity, landholding patterns, religious traditions and eventual assimilation. O’Connor also considers the wider diaspora of Palatine families who later emigrated to North America, thereby placing the Irish experience within a broader Atlantic context.

Illustrated with maps, photographs and documentary material, the book remains one of the most accessible and authoritative modern studies of the Irish Palatine community and is of considerable interest to historians of Irish settlement, migration studies, and genealogists tracing Palatine ancestry.

Condition: A very good copy in the original dust jacket. Some light staining visible to the front pastedown from the jacket flap, otherwise clean internally with the binding firm. The dust jacket bright and well preserved.

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