BEARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S OUTINGS DURING 2008
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BEARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S OUTINGS DURING 2008 |
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Beara Historical Society outing to Allihies For the first outing of 2008, the members of Beara Historical Society went to the Allihies area on Sunday 27th April 2008. The first stop was in Reentrusk where members Theo Dalke and his wife Barbara recently found a Bronze Age copper mine, similar to the mines on Mount Gabriel, while out walking in the rugged landscape near Cod Head. Theo explained how the ancient miners found traces of copper ore in a quartz vein at the base of a large rock outcrop. They collected wood and lit a fire against the face of the rock and when it was very hot they threw cold water on it. This caused a thin layer of the surface to shatter. They broke the surface with rounded stone hammers or mauls and removed the copper ore and dumped the waste material. They smelted the ore, mixed it with tin and poured it into moulds to make bronze axes and other artefacts. Over time the waste material formed a large mound in front of the mine. Broken stone hammers, bits of charcoal and black soil can be seen on the exposed parts of the mound. Theo suggests that the stone hammers came from the stony strand in the seashore in Eshavaud to the west. This was the first time most of the people present were in this remote area. They were enthralled by the rugged unspoilt scenery and believed that similar prehistoric mines are awaiting discovery in the general Allihies area.
The next stop was at the roadside above the cliffs of Dooneen where ‘Copper’ John Puxley began copper mining in 1812. In the following years copper mines were opened in several other locations around the village of Allihies. In the early years the copper ore was exported in copper schooners from Ballydonegan and sold to the smelters in Swansea. Later the copper ore was carted to the sheltered harbour at Dunboy for export. On the return voyage the schooners brought coal for the steam engines which pumped water out of the mines as well as hauling the blasted ore bearing rock to the surface for processing. As the mining expanded the number of men, women and children employed grew from 300 to a peak of 1,200. During the Great Famine in the 1840s, Puxley bought potatoes in Devon, transported them in the returning schooners and sold them at cost to his workers. By 1880 the amount of copper ore was declining and the mines closed down in 1884. This was followed by large scale emigration to Michigan and later to the newly opened copper mines in Butte, Montana. There was a brief stop at the burial place of the legendary Children of Lir on the roadside near Allihies. White quartz stones mark the graves. The final stop was at the recently opened Allihies Copper Mining Museum. This building was originally a Methodist Church built for Cornish copper miners who were brought over to help open the mines. About ten years ago The Allihies Mining Museum Committee was set up to restore the then roofless building. Theo Dalke was one of those deeply involved in the development. With the help of working models and artefacts collected from the mines, he explained the various mining processes underground and over ground in the 1800s. All those present agreed that this was one of the best laid out and easiest to follow museums they had been to visit and complemented the Museum Committee on their years of hard work. Then after a cup of tea or coffee and sandwiches and cakes in the Museum café, the members headed home after an informative and enjoyable outing. The museum is now open to the public.
Beara Historical Society Outing to Adrigole Local historian Sean Nicholson was the guide for a large gathering of members who visited Adrigole on Sunday 29 June 2008. The first stop was at Kilcaskan where St Cascan set up the first Christian church in Adrigole. An old graveyard surrounds the ivy-covered ruins of the church. Beside the church is an ogham stone. After being exposed to the elements for almost two thousand years, the inscriptions along on side of the stone are now very faint. Across the road is a large boulder with a bullaun-type hollow on its upper surface. It is known locally as a holy well and has been visited by generations of local people. It is the custom to inscribe a cross with a stone or a coin on the rock surface beside the well and on the bottom of the well. Sean pointed out a series of rocks leading to the nearby river to the south and said this was a processional way used by druids in pre-Christian times as part of the rituals at the bullaun stone.
The next stop was at Canshanavoe, where Sean and local farmer Donie O’SuIlivan pointed out a ‘Comhla’ or fairy door leading to the ‘other world’. It is reddish in colour and is at the foot of a steep cliff. Donie then led the group up the hillside to a Bronze Age copper mine, which has been dated to 1600BC. He noticed the shallow drivings under a large rock years ago, but was not sure what they were for. (A local Pisoeg told to children at bedtime long ago was of a witch that lived behind the red door and who would sprit naughty children away to the underworld)
The ancient miners in Adrigole found traces of copper ore in the base of a large rock outcrop. They collected wood and lit a fire against the face of the rock and when it was very hot they threw cold water on it. This caused a thin layer of the surface to shatter. They broke the surface with rounded stone hammers or mauls and removed the copper ore and dumped the waste material. They smelted the ore, mixed it with tin and poured it into moulds to make bronze axes and other artefacts. Over time the waste material formed a very large mound in front of the mine. Broken stone hammers, bits of charcoal and black soil can be seen on the exposed parts of the mound. Donie suggested the rounded stone hammers were brought up from the seashore near Adrigole Harbour. Chairman of the Historical Society, Connie Murphy thanked Sean and Donie for a most interesting and informative afternoon.
The next outing of Beara Historical Society is to the Kilcatherine, North o' Hill and Ardgroom areas on Sunday next 25th May. Meet up at the Square, Castletownbere to leave at 2 pm. Travelling through Eyeries, Ballycrovane, Kilcatherine etc. Members from Eyeries area can join in at Eyeries Village or Ballycrovane.
National Heritage Week 24th - 31st August A Town Walk A very good number of people met at the Square, Castletownbere at 2 pm on Sunday 24th August and moved east of the town to near St. Joseph’s Hospital which was the site where the Castletownbere Coast Guard Station once stood.
Here the guide for the day, Gerdie Harrington, told the group of an attack made on the station by the local Unit of the IRA in 1920. He told how two of the IRA men wearing British Army uniforms came to the gate where they handed over a large envelope to the guard and as he took it they overpowered him and the rest of the attacking force rushed the main part of the building. But from then on things went wrong for them, because of gunfire all the Coastguards in the station were alerted and the British Army stationed at Furious Pier three miles east of the town were alerted. Three of the attacking party were wounded the worst was Johnny McCarthy who had a bullet close to his heart. He was carried across the road to the nuns’ quarters of the Workhouse where one of the nuns placed a nuns cloak on him and placed him in a nun’s bed with a hood over his face and a prayer book in his hand. When the British arrived to search for him they mistook him for a nun and left. Johnny carried that bullet throughout his life and later went to the US and on returning fought with O’Duffy’s Irish Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.
The next stop made by the group was the site of the Old Workhouse which they were told was at one time the town’s main centre as it was here the Castletown Rural District Council and the Castletown Board of Guardians, met for their fortnightly meetings in what was known as the Town Hall. They were told the history of the Workhouse and how it opened just after the Great Famine of 1847. It also had a hospital, school and farm, and was used by the Free State Army following the Truce. The only remaining part of the workhouse is the seven foot high wall surrounding the property which now contains St. Martin’s and St. Joseph’s Villas. The group stopped at the Creamery and were told how it began in 1936 and at one time employed some twenty people, winning several awards for its butter.
Moving on then to the Old Brandy Hall National School, where they learned of some of its famous pupils such as Tim and Ned Harrington, MPs, Judge Adams, and many others. How it got the Brandy Hall name from the nearby building on the sea front which was the old presbytery and before that was where smugglers brought in brandy and other goods. The group’s next stop was at the wreck of an old sailing vessel named “Trafalgar” which lay in the foreshore just across the road from the site of the Bridewell which was a kind of a holding for prisoners found guilty in the local court pending going to Cork Jail. The building was demolished some years ago and a block of apartments built on the site. The group were told the story of the “Trafalgar” how she was at one time known as a “Coffin Ship” because of her voyages to the US during the Famine years.
The group next moved to the town and starting at Murphy’s Corner to the Beara Bay they learned what the town was like some fifty or so years ago with its bustling main street, once full of family owned shops and stores. The town lost over fifty family businesses in those years. They learned of the number of shoemakers, tailors, dressmakers, harness makers and public houses which have disappeared, the number of bakeries, shoe shops, fish curing stations.
At St. Peter’s Church of Ireland they learned that it was built in 1845 and had a large congregation in the area. It has been closed for several years.
The final stop was at the Beara Bay Hotel, which was built as a Coast Guard Station and of its history as the Berehaven Hotel. The building is to be demolished in the near future and a shopping precinct and apartments built on the site. The face of Castletownbere is fast changing. Chairman Connie Murphy thanked Gerdie for acting as guide and for his massive information and he thanked the people for joining the Historic Society outing that day.
Cloontreem Valley On Thursday evening 28th August a large group of Beara Historical Society members, under the guidance of the Society’s chairman Connie Murphy, travelled into Cloontreem valley, 3km north-east of Castletownbere. Long stretches of stone walls protrude intermittently above the surface of the remaining bog all along the sloping eastern side of the valley. In the course of turf cutting over many years, several sections of pre-bog stone walls have been exposed here. These were the fields of the prehistoric farmers of this valley. Several circular hut sites where they lived and fulachtaí fia where they boiled water and cooked meat are found throughout this eastern side of the valley. At the head of the valley stands an impressive Early Bronze Age wedge tomb (c. 4,000 years old), with a commanding view over Castletownbere and Berehaven Harbour. Just below the wedge tomb are the well preserved lower stone courses of a large circular house as well as the remains of two smaller huts, probably the dwelling places of the ancient chieftains of Cloontreem.
Princess Beara In the early centuries AD, Conn Céad Cathach (Con of the hundred battles) fought a fierce battle against Owen Mór, King of Ireland at Cloch Barraige. Owen was badly injured in the battle. Those of his followers who survived took him to Inis Greaghraighe (now known as Bere Island) as a safe place for him to recover. There, the fairy Eadaoin took him to her grianán (bower) where she nursed him back to full health. Nowadays, this place is known as Greenane. Owen and his followers then sailed southwards until they reached Spain. There he met and married Beara, daughter of the King of Castille. Later Owen, Beara and a large army sailed from Spain and landed in Greenane. Owen took his wife to the highest hill on the island and looking across the harbour he named the island and the whole peninsula Beara in honour of his wife. Rossmacowen, Kilmacowen and Buaile Owen most likely are named after Owen Mór and his son. According to local tradition Owen’s wife, Princess Beara, died and was buried in Ballard Commons in the remote and peaceful valley between Maulin and Knocknagree Mountains.
John and Peter O’Sullivan Green, Filane, who were shown the site by their late father, Michael, pointed out the location of the burial some time ago. As part of Heritage Week events, and with the help of John Green, his nephew Finbarr, and their friend Joe Kelly, the memorial plaque provided by Beara Historical Society was fixed to the large rock-face beside the burial place of Princess Beara and was unveiled on Sunday 31st August. Connie Murphy, chairman of the Society welcomed the large gathering and outlined the story of Princess Beara. John Green then unveiled the memorial plaque and spoke of the respect his family had for this burial going back over several generations. His son David then recited a poem passed on to him by his Grand-aunt Annie. Ashley Whoulihan and Fachtna O’Donovan played traditional music and Norelene O’Dwyer sang Maidin i mBéara. Finally, all joined in singing Amhrán na bFiann.
Poem passed down in the O’Sullivan Green family Queen Bealach Bodhrai was buried near Knorknagree All her jewels were buried there She married a chief that died with grief In the Parish of Kilmackowen Beara Historical Society Outing. |
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©Beara Historical Society 2010 |
