“ Orpen began that systematic study of the sites of Norman motes and castles in Ireland which formed the archaeological groundwork for his historical studies on the same period. The results of his investigations were published in a series of articles contributed to the ‘’Journal’’ of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland, and in papers for the ‘’English Historical Review’’, the Royal Irish Academy, of which he was a member, the ‘’Journal’’ of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, and elsewhere. ”

“ On another side he studied the Irish Gaelic language, and it was out of a class which he formed for reading Dr. Hyde’s collections of Irish folktales that the idea of founding a society for the publication of Irish manuscripts, especially those of the later medieval period took shape. The Irish Texts Society, then formed, has justified its existence since that date by the publications of many volumes of Irish texts, besides three dictionaries of the modern tongue.
It was in 1892 that the first of Orpen’s publications bearing on the Norman period in Ireland appeared. ”

“ Irish Antiquary and Historian
The death of Dr. Goddard Orpen, announced on another page, removes one of the few living original investigators in the field of Irish history. To the public he will be remembered as the man of one book, “Ireland under the Normans,” in four volumes, which appeared in two sections in 1911 and 1920 ”