In this episode Tim and David ask if the Protestant Reformation was the worst thing ever to happen to Ireland? It's been 500 years since the Reformation began. It came to Ireland when Henry VIII was
declared the Head of the Church of Ireland.

Tim believes that it failed in Ireland due to the resistance of the Catholic population and that the Reformation led to the 1641 rebellion, Cromwell, 1690, Penal Laws, the Home Rule crisis, the creation of the NI state and even the Troubles - need he say more?

David's biggest issue is how nationalism impacted on the situation. Which came first, the influence of religion on the nation or nationalism embracing a religious community? David also highlights what the reformation did achieve - a freer thought process, individual responsibility and a lack of a political monopoly by one church.

They both visit the St Mary's Abbey Chapterhouse, a hidden gem in Dublin's city centre where Silken Thomas Fitzgerald renounced his allegiance to Henry VIII, David visits Movilla Abbey in Newtownards to discuss the reformation in a European context and Tim heads to St Columb's Cathedral in Londonderry which was the first cathedral in the British Isles to have been built after the Reformation. Show less