Bees, Carmen Quigley - Brehon Law, Holy Wells & Asian Hornets

Carmen joins Luke in his hovel today. A keen internet historian, Quigley had been updating her instagram followers on the recent invasion of Asian hornets to Ireland (yes this episode was recorded a long time ago) and thus the pair dive into an episode on the weird and wonderful world of Ireland's native stinging buzzball- THE BEE.

There are a whole host of strangely intricate and intricately strange laws dedicated to the Bee in ancient Brehon Law. As well this Duchás.ie is absolutely buzzing with weird superstitions, funny fairytales and Bee-obsessed facts and folklore.

A graduate of fine arts, archaeology and classics it doesn't take long to see how these three areas intersect in Carmen's work. Quigley’s illustrations draw from ancient history, as well as Irish and Greek mythology. But her elastic imagination, embodies the spirit of Irish mythology better than any attempt at clinical documentation. The pair discuss how Dublin's hidden holy wells and Irish oddities have inspired her work.