Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 

3 November 2011

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 273)

A Stronghold of Ireland

 “The silver lake between the high stony mountains seems always in motion, as befits the source of the River Lee…Gougane Barra is associated with the sound of soft, lapping water, the only sound, which, instead of breaking, rather accentuates the silence round where Finbarr’s cell stood…the island itself is one grand bouquet of light green foliage rustled by the wind, with few fir trees here and along the shore. Reeds sway near the water’s edge, in utter silence and simple loveliness, as befits a hallowed spot where the memory of a great and saintly man is still real and near” (writer called Spectator, Irish Independent, 25 September, 1940, p.4)

Continuing to explore tourism growth in Gougane Barra, the summer of 1936 coincided with the Irish Tourist Association stepping up their work to get more American parties to travel to Ireland. The Munster Express for 5 June 1936 (p.3) notes: “This year a large number of organised parties from the United States are to visit Ireland. Among the firms who are organising parties are the American travel Exchange, Frank O’Brien Travel Bureau, Maher Travel Bureau, P.J. Grimes Tourist Agency, McGovern, Synnott and Kiely Travel Bureau, and Peter Donoghue Travel Bureau. From advices received it is learned that as many as 15 parties are being organised to travel by the popular liners of the North German Llyol Co., which are regular callers at the ports of Cobh and Galway. In addition several parties are travelling on the Cunard White Star Service.”

During this period of building tourism mass, Gougane Barra was going through its own transformations. In the 1920s and 1930s, it went through another phase of clean-up of overgrowth and got a new hotel. Again the William Lawrence collection as well as the press at the time echo these changes. For example, a journalist with the Southern Star on 19 September 1925, remarking on the protection of Irish pilgrimage sites in the 1920s, notes (p.6): “Unfortunately in Ireland, however, much we may venerate our shrines, we seldom expend much trouble in their upkeep. A broken wall, rank grass, weeds seem not to matter, and even the necessary repairs to buildings are neglected so that all combine to add to a general appearance of decay. Our places of pilgrimage, therefore, compare ill with those of continental countries, where every care is taken to preserve and embellish them. Gougane Barra, though far more complete than other Irish shrines, cannot be said to have escaped from the usual neglect of our holy places…large forest trees are growing through the walls of St. Finbarr’s Hermitage; should these be uprooted by a storm, part of the ancient structure would be destroyed. The Stations of the Cross are badly damaged; many of the figures are broken and also are their handsome frames; around the cross are other missing elements. As for the little Hiberno-Romanesque chapel that gives to Gougane Barra so much of its character, it badly needs the hand of the craftsman”.

A report in the Southern Star on 24 April 1937 (p.6) reveals the increasing trade requirements of Cronin’s Hotel due to increasing tourism numbers. Cornelius Cronin, the hotel proprietor, appeared before Macroom Court applying for a new licence to trade in intoxicating liquors in the hotel premises erected by him at Gougane Barra. Judge T. Donnell, presiding, considered Gougane Barra to be a “stronghold of everything Gaelic”. The hotel was designed by Cornelius and built by direct labour under his supervision.  It was noted that the traffic in the locality was increasing. There was fishing and shooting to be had there to attract visitors. Cornelius in evidence stated that he was a son of the late James Cronin. By a family arrangement in 1935, Cornelius got a portion of the holding owned by his late father. On that portion the applicant built the hotel of fourteen rooms at a cost of £2,000. On the old holding there was a hotel already and it had been there for over forty years [c.1897].

The new hotel premises were built two hundred yards away.  The applicant’s brother Denis Cronin occupied the old hotel. It had come into his possession two months previous to the case. The accommodation there was not sufficient to meet the requirements of the increasing traffic and hence the reason why a new hotel was built. The brothers found they were unable to cater for all the visitors who sought accommodation. Cornelius outlined that they had regular visitors from Dublin and Cork, and visitors had begun to travel from England. Even with the two hotels they found that at times they had not enough accommodation to meet requirements. There was a course of instruction held there the previous year under the Vocational Education Scheme, which was attended by 60 teachers. Some of them stayed in the old hotel and some in the new, and some stayed in Ballingeary. The fishing and shooting rights were jointly owned by himself and his brother under an agreement. The season for visitors was about four month’s duration. For the remainder of the year, Cornelius argued there “would be very little doing in respect of licensed trade”. The application was granted.

To be continued…

Captions:

615a. Cronin’s Hotel, c.1920 (pictures: National Library, Dublin)

615b. Pilgrims and overgrowth amongst the pilgrimage cells, c.1920

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 27 October 2011

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 272)

Tracking Tourism

During my time with my historical exhibition on the pilgrimage island in Gougane Barra, I watched many cars coming and going into the space. Indeed, there was always at least one car parked in front of the gates to the island and always at least one person on the island exploring it. For those I met not from Ireland, many spoke about how they heard of the place. The responses ranged from word of mouth to seeing a picture of St. Finbarr’s Oratory.

Last week the column spoke about the work of Fr. Patrick Hurley, the parish priest of Uibh Laoghaire, who in the first decade of the 1900s, pursued work on opening the region up to more tourists. Indeed it strikes me how difficult a journey it must have been to get to a place such as Gougane Barra before the age of cars. Certainly in the age when tourism became an element in Gougane Barra’s story the Lawrence photographs from the National Library show the slow journey through the landscape on a coach drawn by horses. On these the tourist was not protected from the elements and was also exposed to twisting trackways and untarred roads.

Gougane Barra’s tourism potential was subsequently fuelled by the growth of horse drawn coaches, motor cars, and rail to Macroom. With the growth in automobile traffic, subsequent accounts of the Gougane Sunday ceremonies in particular record large numbers of cars. The Southern Star records on 3 October 1925 (p.2): The fringe of the lake, on which a fine embankment has been built on the near side since last year, was lined with hundreds of motor cars, lorries and charabanes, many hailing from long distances…in the old days the toilsome journey was accomplished by taking the train from Cork to Macroom and thence to Gougane on outside cars, wagonetts etc…on Sunday last the train was a neglible factor in the arrangements and probably not one dozen of the passengers were destined for Gougane. Most of the visitors came in motor cars, and it may be remarked that the celerity with which these conveyances accomplish their journeys has had the effect of tremendously increasing the patrons of the public on the occasion of the celebration of St. Finbarr’s Feast.”

An article in the Southern Star on 3 September 1938 (p.8) gives an insight into the journey of traffic at that time: “It is probably one of the few roads in Ireland where turns are banked on the right-hand side. Accordingly drivers must slow when rounding corners. It is rumoured in responsible quarters that an additional grant from government funds has been allocated for continuation of the work as far as Gougane Barra, such a grant to include cutting of turns, etc. If this proves correct, there will then remain only about six miles of untarred road connecting Cork with Glengarriff on this route.”

The opening of areas such as Gougane Barra for more tourism was also driven by the Irish Free State’s Irish Tourist Association. This was established in 1925 to market the young Irish Free State as a tourist destination internationally. This body had some of their work on display at the 1932 Irish Industrial and Agricultural Fair on the Carrigrohane Straight Road in Cork (see previous columns). An article under Irish Tourist Notes in the Munster Express on 5 June 1936 highlights Irish scenic films being made for the tourist market in Great Britain, then in Ireland and subsequently in British Dominions and Colonies and the USA. In late May 1936, it is recorded that a camera unit of the Gaumont British Film Corporation under the direction of the Irish Tourist Association travelled through certain districts in Ireland for the purposes of making a reel of scenic and general interest. Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was the British arm of the French film company Gaumont. The company became independent of its French parent in 1922, when Isidore Ostrer acquired control of Gaumont-British. The company’s Lime Grove Studios produced films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 version of The 39 Steps, and his 1938 film The Lady Vanishes. In the United States, Gaumont-British had its own distribution operation for its films until December 1938, when it folded that operation and outsourced distribution to 20th Century-Fox.

 The Gaumont unit in Ireland was accompanied and directed by Mr. David Barry, Assistant Secretary of the Irish Tourist Association. Features of outstanding interest were shot in different parts of the country. The unit took several shots of Holy Cross Abbey, Co. Tipperary, the Blackwater valley between Fermoy and Youghal, Blarney Castle, Inchigeela, Gougane Barra, Glengarriff, Killarney, Limerick, Clare, Galway, Connemara, Achill and also Sligo and Donegal.

Articles in the Irish Independent reveal another method of tourist expansion in the region. Gougane Barra became part of the tour itinerary of tourists heading to Glengarriff. For example the Irish Independent ran a story on the 14 July 1936 recalling the previous day’s visit of 460 people who were on board the French liner, Lafayette, which arrived in Glenagarriff. The tourists left to explore the region for a day trip on Great Southern Railway buses bound for Gougane Barra, Killarney, Healy’s Pass and Bantry.

To be continued…

Captions:

614a. Photograph of tourists on a horse drawn coach at Cronin’s Hotel, Gougane Barra, early 1900s

614b. Glengarriff Harbour, Co. Cork, early 1900s (pictures: National Photographic Archive, Dublin)

Next Tuesday, 25th October, at 8pm, Kieran McCarthy will give a lecture to Blackpool Historical Society at 8pm in Blackpool Community Centre behind Blackpool church; the title of the talk is “Creating an Irish Free State City: Cork in the 1920s and 1930s”; if you ever wondered how places like Turners Cross and Gurranabraher came into being and want to see Cork in the early twentieth century, this talk will attempt to cover some of those aspects.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 20 October 2011

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 271)

Routeways in Culture

Continuing on from last week’s column, Fr. Patrick Hurley’s obituary following his death on 25 June 1908 in the Cork Examiner acknowledges him as a staunch advocate of the Irish language movement. He held the Presidency of the first Munster Irish Training College in Ballingeary since its inception in 1903. The college opened for two sessions, July and August in 1904. Mr. Dermot Foley was in charge, assisted by Rev. O’Daly and Mr. Tadgh Scannell.

Lessons were given in the method of teaching Irish phonetics and metrics of Irish poetry. Special classes in text books for national teachers were given as well as conversational lessons, and lectures in Irish history. The language of the school was as much as possible in Irish. Over seventy students attended each session as well as several priests from all parts of Ireland, professors in colleges, national teachers and Gaelic League organisers. The Archbishop of Cashel as well as the Bishop of Cork and the other Bishops of Munster, became patrons of the college. They helped it through donations. Fr. Hurley’s long term plan was that perhaps the college would eventually be housed on the ancient site near Gougane Barra. This did not materialise but the project did start off in the dining area of Cronin’s Hotel.

According to a Southern Star, Ballingeary Notes column on 1 November 1930 Tadhg Scannell hailed from Coolea and until his arrival in Ballingeary, not one pupil it is noted in any national school in the village, or in the parish had been presented for examination in Irish at the Annual Results Examination in the National Schools. Through Tadgh’s interventions he won the national O’Brien Cup for having secured the highest number of passes in all Ireland, three years in succession. He also helped the Christian Brothers to prepare their compiled school text books of the Irish language and he often placed his knowledge of the subject at the disposal of advanced literary students.

Fr. Hurley also promoted an industrial revival amongst local people. His obituary in the Cork Examiner of 1908 further notes that he highlighted scientific agricultural methods, which he passed on to the farmers of the district. He also brought lecturers into the area to share their ideas of cultivation in difficult landscapes for growing crops and dairy farming.

In addition Fr. Hurley pushed for a lace-making industry in the district. He opened up the Gaeltacht countryside by inducing the Tourist Development Company to run coaches to Glengariff and Killarney, via Macroom and Gougane Barra. He successfully lobbied local MPs for the improvement of the roads to bring in more tourism into the region. From that he approached Cork railway companies to create grand tour programmes in West Cork, which created tours to Bantry, Glengarriff with Gougane Barra bring part of a wider itinerary.

An article in the Southern Star on 15 June 1907 (p.5) echoes Fr Hurley’s work and outlines: “The establishment of a motor service along the tourist route from Macroom to Killarney, via Inchigeela, Gougane Barra, Keimaneigh, Glengarriff etc constitutes a decided step towards the development of tourist traffic in the south…the coaches have been doing very on this route for the past number of years, but the motor car possessed advantages that are altogether lacking on the old system. The scenery loses some of its attractiveness, when viewed from the motor-car, and the speed at which the uninteresting parts of the route are covered will offer an opportunity for a pause where the passengers show a desire to contemplate the scenic beauties that present themselves at intervals. In cold and inclement weather too, the motor car will have far greater attraction for the tourist than the open coach that occupies the whole day on the road. In fine weather also new and unbeaten tracks may be opened up by the motor.”

At this time also, the Cork and Macroom Direct Railway Company (1861-1953) also advertised its tourist route to Glengarriff and Killarney via a number of sites (several of which have been written about in Our City, Our Town over the Lee series). An advertisement in the Freeman’s Journal in July 1914 notes that: “Tourists by this route have an opportunity of going through the most scenery in Ireland. Proceeding from Cork to Macroom by Train, the following interesting Ruins, etc., can be seen from the railway carriage, Ballincollig or Barrett’s Castle, Kilcrea Abbey, Crookstown Castle or Castlemore, Mashanaglass Castle, the meeting of the waters at Coolcower Bridge, Lee and Sullane, the meeting of the waters at Macroom Bridge- the Sullane and Laney. On arrival at Macroom by Train, tourists proceed by well-appointed Motor Coaches to Killarney via Glengarriff. The road runs for Four Miles along the fringe of the Celebrated Lakes of Inchigeela, and thence to the far-famed Holy Lake of Lone Gougane Barra, at the source of the Lee, on an island of which is situated the hermitage of St. Finbarre, with the ruins of the Chapel and Cloister. Thence through the magnificent Pass of Keimaneigh (the Khyber of Ireland), admitted to be the finest in the Kingdom. Shortly after leaving the Pass the first grand view is obtained of Bantry Bay.”

To be continued…

Captions:

613a. Coach at Gougane Barra, c.1910 (William Lawrence Photographic Collection)

613b. Photo call on the closing days of Cork and Macroom Direct Railway, 1953 (picture: ESB Archives, Dublin)

Kieran’s Article, Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 6 October 2011

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 269)

A Sanctuary of Knowledge

Sitting on a ruin chatting to those who come to view the new exhibition, people come with many ideas and questions about Gougane Barra, about its evolution plus its spirit of place. Certainly to the people I chatted to, all had various perspectives on the site and its meanings to them, all of which would create interesting columns in themselves. Gougane Barra as a place has many layers of memories, indeed so has the River Lee valley.

Perhaps for me, one of the people who epitomises for me the spirit of the memories in the valley is Fr Patrick Hurley, who was sent by the Bishop of the Diocese of Cork and Ross into Gougane Barra in 1888. Perhaps it is his interests in history and archaeology that grab me. To have interests enough to promote the creation of the new oratory in 1901 is noteworthy (see last week), but perhaps it is his ambition and energy to actually do something for the people in his parish, which is also impressive. Certainly those threads such as developing the merits and energies of a place appear in other places, which have been written about in this column within the valley. Born in 1841 in Enniskeane, near Bandon, Co. Cork, Fr Hurley certainly would have had experienced the ravages of the Famine in rural Ireland. He received his early education in the then Diocesan Seminary in Cork and completed his course in the Irish College in Paris. He was ordained in 1865 at the age of 24.

After ordination, Fr Hurley was appointed to Schull, Co. Cork for a short time but was transferred in 1867 to Kilbrittain, Co. Cork and in 1869 he was appointed to Blackrock, Co. Cork. After spending six years in Blackrock, Fr Hurley was transferred to SS Mary and Anne’s North Cathedral, Cork City and was elected as chaplain to Bishop William Delaney. Fr Hurley experienced the slums of Cork’s northside and sought to improve the lack of education facilities in the area and set about establishing a school at the Confraternity Hall attached to the North Cathedral, Cork City.

In 1872 the Bishop of Cork Dr Delaney, wished to raise the profile of the pilgrimage island in Gougane Barra. He paid a visit to the Carthusian monks in the Chartreuse Mountains, to the north of the city of Grenoble in France. His visit aimed to get some of the monks to settle in Gougane Barra. Four of the Carthusian monks came the next year to see Gougane Barra but abandoned the idea. However, their advent had one result – the leasing of the island on 29 January 1873 at a nominal rent of one shilling from Mr Townsend, Uncle of a Captain Townsend, the proprietor, to the Dr Delany and Parish Priest of Inchigeela, Fr Jeremiah Holland.

Two years after the death of Bishop Delany, Fr Hurley was involved in securing Gougane Barra for the Diocese of Cork in 1888 (Hurley, 1905). Subsequently he was sent to Gougane Barra by the new Bishop O’Callaghan, Dr O’Callaghan to administer in that area of West Cork. This appointment was made in May 1888 on the death of Fr Holland.

Fr Patrick Hurley’s obituary in The Cork Examiner, on 26 June 1908, and in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland for 1909 reveals a learned man. During his late forties, Fr. Hurley developed an interest in the history of the Diocese of Cork and Ross. He published a number of articles in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record (1887) concerning Cork Bishops and their lives, namely Dr Robert Barry, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, 1647-1662 and Dr Patrick Comerford, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, 1629-1652.

Fr Hurley’s continued interest in antiquities is reflected in the fact he became a member of the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland in 1890 and in time became honorary local secretary for County Cork. The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland was and still is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are “to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquities, language, literature and history of Ireland”.

Fr. Hurley was also a committee member and a contributor of articles to the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society (three articles in 1892 and one in 1896), which was founded in 1891 for the collection, preservation and diffusion of all available information regarding the City and County of Cork.  One of his contributions in the 1892 journal explores the history of St Finbarre and folk-life in the nineteenth century re-visiting the work of antiquarian visitors to the site. Fr Hurley’s comments that the trees had become decayed and the walls of the pilgrimage enclosure, where tradition had it that St Finbarr had his cell were in a very dilapidated state. Fr. Hurley had the walls repaired, new Stations of the Cross in terracotta erected, and also the cross restored where it formerly stood.

Kieran’s new historical exhibition called Voices of the Lee Valley is on display next Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the pilgrimage island, Gougane Barra; all are welcome (last weekend).

To be continued…

Captions:

611a. Central pilgrimage cells, Gougane Barra, Co. Cork, c.1890 (source: National Library, Dublin)

611b. R Barry’s plan of Gougane Barra pilgrimage island, 1813 (source: Fr P. Hurley, 1892)