Niamh Wycherley

Niamh Wycherley is an Irish medieval historian, known for her work on Brigit and the cult of relics in early medieval Ireland.

Education Wycherley studied at University College Dublin, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in history and politics in 2004. She then went on to complete a master's degree in Medieval Studies in 2007. She completed her PhD under Charles Doherty at UCD in 2012, and she was awarded the NUI Publication Prize in History in 2017 for this monograph.

She was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Irish/Celtic Studies by the National University of Ireland in 2017. She worked at the Moore Institute, NUI Galway, with Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín on analysing the terminology relating to the cult of relics in fifth- to twelfth-century Ireland. She teaches the medieval history of Ireland, from the 5th to 12th centuries. She remains a member of the executive committee.

Wycherley contributed to RTÉ One's 2023 documentary Finding Brigid, presented by Siobhán McSweeney, and was historical consultant on RTÉ's Blindboy: the Land of Slaves and Scholars in 2024.

Wycherley is the principal investigator of a 4-year (2022–2026) Research Ireland Pathway project titled Power and Patronage in medieval Ireland: Clonard from the 6th to 12th centuries.

Publications Books The Cult of Relics in Early Medieval Ireland (Turnhout, 2016).

Chapters 'The enduring power of the cult of relics – an Irish perspective' in Chris Jones, Conor Kostick and Klaus Oschema (eds), Making the Medieval Relevant (Berlin, 2019). 'Pregnancy in Medieval Ireland' in Salvador Ryan (ed.), Birth and the Irish: a miscellany (Dublin, 2021). 'Eoin MacNeill and a "celtic" church in early medieval Ireland' in Conor Mulvagh and Emer Purcell (eds), Eoin MacNeill; the pen and the sword (Cork, 2021). '(Not) dreaming of a white Christmas in "pre-Norman" Ireland' in Salvador Ryan (ed.), Christmas and the Irish: a miscellany (Dublin, 2023).

Journal articles 'Latin and Irish words for “graveyard” in medieval Ireland' in Peritia, 29 (2018), pp 201–20.

Online articles 'Notre-Dame's rescued relics, faith and Paris' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 16 Apr. 2019. 'The cult of the dead in medieval Ireland' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 31 Oct. 2019. 'Opinion: Make no mistake - history shows us that Brigit was a boss' in The Journal, 29 Jan. 2023. 'What was Christmas like in Medieval Ireland?' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 20 Dec. 2023. 'Meet St Patrick's spin doctor' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 14 Mar. 2024. 'CSI St Patrick: just where is the saint's body?' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 12 Mar. 2025. 'Why Sitric Silkenbeard is the greatest Dubliner of all time' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 31 July 2025. 'Will the real St Brigid please stand up?' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 29 Jan. 2026. 'How St Brigid made Kildare the hotspot of 7th century Ireland' in RTÉ Brainstorm, 29 Jan. 2026.

Magazine articles 'The Notre Dame fire and the cult of relics' in History Ireland, 27/4 (July/Aug. 2019).