Monthly Archives: May 2015

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 28 May 2015, Curtain Up for Sweet Charity

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794a. Ensemble call with Shannon Hurley (Charity) and Patrick Kirwan (Oscar) & Sweet Charity ensemble; Picture: Miki Barlok

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent,  28 May 2015

Sweet Charity at the Firkin Crane

 

    Diving into directing Sweet Charity, the musical at the Firkin Crane (4-7 June) has brought enormous and exciting challenges. It goes without saying that a rich vein of musicality runs underneath our city. Cork’s DNA embraces the promotion and development of music as an artistic discipline to be developed and one that brings a community together to engage with it and appreciate it. The city in musical theatre terms is particularly blessed by several stage schools, small and large, who promote amongst our young people creativity, skill development, education, performance, community building and audience development, and the charity of sharing their craft, amongst other important traits.

    Building an amateur musical society in our city is inspired by many elements – the work of schools such as CADA and Montforts (and others) under great school directors such as Catherine Mahon Buckley and Trevor Ryan, those who teach and thread the boards in the warren of rooms of the Firkin Crane, the work of the Cork School of Music, Cork Opera House and the Everyman Palace and musicians and directors such as the late Bryan Flynn, John O’Connor, Joe C Walsh and John O’Brien, to name a few, whose work I admire. All have engaged with drama, various musical genres, musical theatre and all forms of opera in bringing to the Cork masses high levels of entertainment which the city can be proud of and all add to the canon of Cork being an ongoing European Capital of Culture. Such personalities and more have done so much for music and drama education over many years in our city. It is amazing what has been created on the dark canvasses of Cork stages. For my part, over the years I have been inspired by the latter individuals and schools.

    Amateur musical societies are multiple in nature up and down the country. All bring their local communities together under a volunteer and charity umbrella – collaborating and bringing people together to create an outlet for people and to put drama, music and all ultimately form a key cultural vein within towns and villages. Fermoy, just a few miles to the north of our fair city, can boast 90 years of musical theatre shows and is the oldest society in the country. Macroom has also fared well through the past number of years. Meanwhile Cork has had many starts and stops over the last few decades.

   The creation of an amateur musical society brings together many strands but in particular focuses on the aspect of community building and the promotion of musical theatre amongst adults and the idea of inclusivity and self- development for all who wish to engage with it. Establishing a society, producing and funding a musical, and building an audience has brought its own adventures. The road to-date has brought challenges and inspiration plus the innate power in these.

   The idea of bringing ideas and people together and charity of heart also pervades our first musical. I chose Sweet Charity for a multitude of reasons, not least for some of Cy Coleman’s well known numbers such as Big Spender and Rhythm of Life but also for its story. I am a firm believer that everyone has a story to tell. Sweet Charity in the opening sequence presents ‘the story of a girl who wanted to be loved’ – such a sentiment can be applied to all of us and not just Charity. Indeed fitting in, finding oneself, wanting to belong to something pervades all our lives, which makes Charity’s adventures universal in their themes. She wears her heart on sleeve but for all that Charity is a tough cookie and as the song at the end of act one declares, she is the “bravest individual” that the male lead character of Oscar has ever seen. We as an audience get to spend time with this brave individual as she negotiates the advice of her friends, goes off on tangents and contemplates the questions and actions of the quirky characters who she encounters in the various scenes along the way. Dorothy’s Cross’s book and script allows us to access Charity’s thought processes and questions on life. Bob Fosse’s choreography allows us to see the rigid and fun sides of characters as he moves the narrative onwards through the various scenes. His “machine”, amongst other ideas, allows us to contemplate the 1960s industrial age and the universal machinations and the rigidity of many people’s lives.

    Building this piece of work brought together many collaborators. I am particularly indebted to Paul McCarthy and Ann Rea of the Firkin Crane; it is the Firkin Crane with whom this production is a part fundraiser for. David O’Sullivan, our musical director has brought the sweeping jazz and sassy score alive whilst Aileen Coffey has framed Bob Fosse’s choreography whilst bringing her own mark in reframing the power of dance and storytelling. I am also indebted to a very hard working cast and Yvonne Coughlan (production manager) for her professionalism and insights. I have a long thanks list on the programme for Sweet Charity. Come along to the Firkin Crane, Shandon, support Cork City Musical Society, 4-7 June, 8pm, tickets (e.20) from the office at 0214507487 or www.firkincrane.ie.

 

Captions:

794a. Ensemble call with Shannon Hurley (Charity) and Patrick Kirwan (Oscar) & Sweet Charity ensemble (pictures: Miki Barlok)

794b. Charity played by Shannon Hurley and Helene played by Angela Newman, part of the Sweet Charity cast

 

794b. Charity played by Shannon Hurley and Helene played by Angela Newman, part of the Sweet Charity cast; Picture: Miki Barlok

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager/ CE and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 23 May 2015

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager/ CE and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 23 May 2015

 

Question to the CE/ Manager:

 To ask the CE/ Manager for information on the following:

1. Number of dogs taken into CSPCA for 2013 and 2014?
2. Number of dogs reclaimed during this same period?
3. Number of dogs surrendered by members of public?
4. Number of dogs put to sleep?
5. Number of dogs that died of natural causes?
6. Number of dog Licences issued by CSPCA?
7. Number of dogs seized by Dog warden?
8. Number of dogs given to other Dog charities?
9. Number of dogs rehomed during this period?

  1. What was the total cost to the public of retaining the dog service for 2013 & 2014, including Wardens van maintenance, wages, amount per dog per night etc.?
  2. Details of any other sums of money given to the CSPCA by City Council?

(Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

Motion:

That any flag poles erected on City Council property during the ensuing year to mark the 1916 Rising be for the business of the Council or government commemorating the rising and not for the appropriation of the site by any one political party or group (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 21 May 2015

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

793a. Franciscan Well Brewery Entrance, North Mall

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article

Cork Independent, 21 May 2015

 Cork Harbour Memories (Part 24)

 Ruins of the North Abbey

    Perhaps, the most known remaining feature of the North Abbey is its water well. The well is situated at the foot of a rock face, on the grounds of the Franciscan Well Brewery and is located within a stone-built well house. At one time, the entrance had a wooden panel with the date of 1688 in iron numbers on it. The well is said to be holy in nature but is not dedicated to any particular saint and at one time is reputed to have been used by Corkonians as a cure for sore eyes, consumption and other ailments.

    Next to the well on its west side, there is a second stone walled room, which is partially cut out of the domineering sandstone rock face. The purpose of this room is unknown but the rockface forms the end wall after a number of metres into this space. Legend has it that beyond this end wall is an underground passage leading up into the environs the Gurranabraher. However, the same legend does not relate any stories of its usage. 

   Two other architectural stone pieces from the North Abbey exist. The first was presented to a Rev. Brother Leonard, a Christian Brother and was built into the garden wall of his monastery at Peacock Lane at Sunday’s Well. Its subsequent history though is shrouded in mystery and its remains are lost. A sketch was drawn of it in 1894 by John Dalton, a city historian, and he describes the piece as a broken fragment of a larger piece. The G of the word Gloria is broken off, the letters I.M. represent the initials of Jesus and Mary. The date on the stone was 1590.

    The second stone is a cut stone head of one of the abbeys window. In architectural terms, it was a double ogee-headed piece. The letters S. B. M. C. stand out on the piece. It was argued in the 1890s by John Dalton who drew a sketch of it that these latter letters stand for ‘Santa Beata Mater Christi’ or ‘Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ’. This stone can still be seen today and is preserved in the distillery wall of Wise’s Distillery (established 1779) at the foot of Wise’s Hill where the hill itself meets the North Mall.

   This stone piece at the foot of Wise’s Hill is said to mark the spot of another holy well named Tobar na Bhrianach translated the well of learning or eloquence. This well, now long gone may have also belonged to the abbey at one stage as it is mentioned in a Franciscan deed in 1588 as in possession of the abbey. It is reputed that people used to come from around the country in the early 1700s to this well, which was adjacent to Wise’s Distillery. Urban folklore has it that this became troublesome as on one or two occasions, the excise authorities caught some persons bringing out buckets of whiskey instead of water out of the adjacent distillery. The owners, the Wise family, were forced to stop the practice of visiting the well and the well was closed and an architectural stone of the Franciscan Abbey was placed on the site to mark where the well was located. Indeed, another well known as ‘Sunday’s Well’ was only a mile to the north west of the walled town. It is said that this well was located in a small circular building, capped with stone and surrounded by trees. The well disappeared under road widening in 1946 and a plaque outlining its location now marks the spot. The surrounding area is named after the monument – Sunday’s Well.

    Apart from the well and associated room of the North Abbey, which can be seen, several of the garden walls behind the buildings, which front the North Mall possess several architectural features of a medieval abbey. In several gardens, stone corbels can be seen jutting out from the wall. These would have been used to support timber roof beams. The same design can be seen in the more complete Franciscan Abbey at Kilcrea in the Lee Valley, Co. Cork.

    Due to political circumstances in Britain, it was only in the mid to late 1600s that a Franciscan chapel and house were built on the site of the abbey. These buildings still existed in the early half of the 1700s but did disappear over time under eighteenth and nineteenth century housing on the North Mall. In 1688, King James II arrived in Cork, and stayed in the house of the North Abbey. He was attended to by two Franciscan Friars and attended by many others in their habits.

    In the years 1730 to 1750, evidence shows that the Franciscan order had moved from the North Mall to three main areas in the city. The first site was adjacent to Shandon, the second in Cotner’s Lane situated in the city centre, between North Main Street and the Coal Market and the third location was near the present area of Oliver Plunkett Street where it meets the Grand Parade. By 1750, the Franciscans had moved from this location and set up a central friary in Broad Lane, which today is part of the present site of St. Francis Church on Liberty Street.

 To be continued…

 

Captions:

793a. Franciscan Well Brewery Entrance, North Mall (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

793b. Well House, Franciscan Well Brewery, North Mall (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

793c. S. B. M. C. could stand for ‘Santa Beata Mater Christi’ or ‘Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ’. This stone can still be seen today preserved in the former distillery wall of Wise’s Distillery (source: Cork City Library).

 

793b. Well House, Franciscan Well Brewery, North Mall

 Copy of 793c. 793c. S. B. M. C. could stand for ‘Santa Beata Mater Christi’ or ‘Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ’.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 14 May 2015

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

792a. Plan of Shandon Abbey, from Map of Cork, late sixteenth century

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent,  14 May 2015

 Cork Harbour Memories (Part 23)

 Franciscans at the North Abbey

   Depictions of the walled town of Cork in George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, c.1600 emphasises a Franciscan Abbey on what is now the North Mall. By 1600, it is to have at least a church with a belfry but with an unknown number of bells. The belfry separated the altar area from the congregation area. The friary was set against a rock face dedicated to Our Lady and early records show that the church was markedly divided in two by high columns and had an excellent choir or altar area in the church. Depictions of the abbey do not show a wall around the whole complex.

    In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a number of religious houses were established in the suburbs of the walled town of Cork and further out into the region. On the northern hillside, large tracts of land were owned by the Franciscans who also established an associated abbey on what is now the North Mall. The abbey was founded in 1229 by the Irish chieftain, Dermot McCarthy, King of Desmond who was loyal to the English monarch at the time, Henry II. It was one of the first Franciscan structures to set up in Ireland. An abbey at Youghal had been set up in 1224 whilst one in Timoleague was established in 1240. It became commonly known as the North Abbey or Shandon Abbey and flourished for nearly three centuries in particular in terms of the constant population size of its occupants and the financial support of the surrounding lay community in Munster. From early available Franciscan records, it is clear that provincial chapters or National gatherings of the Franciscan monks also took place at the abbey. The years included 1244, 1288, 1291, 1521 and 1533. Indeed, the first Franciscan provincial chapter in Ireland was held at the North Abbey in 1244. Other accounts come from Sir James Ware, an Elizabethan antiquarian who highlights the history of the North Abbey in his writings in 1658; De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus Eius.

     In April 1540, a royal survey under the instruction of the English monarch, Henry VIII detailed that the site of the abbey comprised one hall, one kitchen, one cloister, six large dormitory chambers which could hold a number of monks (number unknown), six cellars, a water mill, a fishing place for salmon, a salmon weir, and several plots of land in the townland of “Teampal na mBrathar” or “Church of the Monks”. Also belonging to the abbey, a dole house or a dwellling existed, which tended to the impoverished people of the Cork area. This stood just to the east of the main complex and in a present day context was located in the vicinity of North Abbey Square on the North Mall. Placename evidence also suggests that the friars possessed a chapel in the northern hills overlooking the walled town known as “Cilleen na Gurranaigh” or “The Little Church of the Groves”. In time, this placename changed to “Gurradh na mBrathair” or “Friars’ Grove”, which is highlighted in the present day northern suburb of Cork City known as Gurranabrahar.

    In 1540, the lands of the abbey were confiscated under King Henry VIII. The royal survey which apart from detailing the buildings and possessions of the contemporary abbey also highlighted that the church and belfry were to be demolished and that the rest of the buildings were to be used for non-religious functions. The abbey was taken for King Henry VIII and be let out to a David Sheghan, who had been a merchant of Cork for 21 years. By 1562, the land belonged to a John Brown and Edmond Gould who were forced to hand it back to the Catholic Church under Queen Mary. However, Queen Mary’s sister, Elizabeth I suppressed monasteries again during her reign and the lands were passed to a wealthy merchant named Andrew Skiddy.  It is unknown if Skiddy took up residence in the Abbey complex but by 1626, much of the buildings had been demolished except the walls of the church.

     John Windele, an eminent Cork antiquarian related in his History of Cork in 1844, that on digging foundations for the current red brick houses in 1804, a number of stone coffins belonging to the Franciscan abbey were discovered. Amongst these was a stone coffin, sculptured with the figure of a sceptre with an incomplete inscription on the lid. The partial inscription was in Norman French and comprised of the following “Sa Alme hait merci”, which translated into English means “his generosity dislikes thanks”. The location of these stone coffins today is unknown.

   Robert Day, an eminent antiquarian, related that on digging the foundations of present day Herbert’s Square on the North Mall in 1896, a stone was discovered with the date 1567 etched on it. In addition, a small plate of metal was found on which was etched a representation of the Nativity and a long inscribed description in Dutch. In addition, a font and a silver chalice were discovered. Both the font and chalice were sent to Whitechurch Chapel just north of the City.

 To be continued…

 

Captions:

792a. Plan of Shandon Abbey, from Map of Cork, late sixteenth century as depicted in Sir George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, or History of The Wars in Ireland (1633), vol. 2, opp page 137.

792b. Shandon Abbey from A description of the Cittie of Cork/ Plan of Cork, circa 1602 by George Carew (source: Hardiman Atlas, Library of Trinity College Dublin)

792c. North Mall, present day (source: Kieran McCarthy)

 

792b. Shandon Abbey from A description of the Cittie of Cork Plan of Cork, circa 1602

792c. North Mall, present day

Cllr McCarthy’s Community Talent Competition 2015

Arts, Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized, Ward Events

  Cork’s young people are invited to participate in the seventh year of Cllr Kieran’s McCarthy’s ‘Community Talent Competition’. The auditions will take place on Sunday 10 May 2015 between 10am-5pm in the Lifetime Lab, Lee Road. There are no entry fees and all talents are valid for consideration. The final will be held two weeks later on Saturday 23 May. There are two categories, one for primary school children and one for secondary school students. Winners will be awarded a perpetual trophy and prize money of €150 (two by €150). The project is being organised and funded by Cllr Kieran McCarthy in association with Red Sandstone Varied Productions (RSVP). 

   Cllr McCarthy noted: “The talent competition is a community initiative. It encourages all young people to develop their talents and creative skills, to push forward with their lives and to embrace their community positively”. Further details can be got from the talent show producer (RSVP), Yvonne Coughlan, 086 8764685 or email rsvpireland@gmail.com.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 7 May 2015

Uncategorized

791a. Plan of Shandon Castle, from Map of Cork, c.1600

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent,  7 May 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 22)

Tales of Old Shandon

 

   By April 1600, Shandon Castle had become confiscated and it became the official residence of George Carew, the Lord President of Munster. It became the centre of English power in the south of Ireland. Sir John Perrott, Sir Warham St Leger, Sir Walter Raleigh, Edmund Spenser and other Elizabethan notabilities held court and council within its halls.

    In the first couple of months Carew described the defences of Cork as remarkably weak and not been able to withstand foreign attack from the Spanish navy in particular. In his opinion a strong garrison there was no use against an army that was masters in the field of war. Carew devoted much time to creating dissensions amongst the Munster chiefs who seemed likely to aid the invaders. In June 1601, James Fitzthomas, Earl of Desmond, was brought from Kilbehenny to Shandon Castle, and at the same time, Florence McCarthy More was treacherously arrested and detained there. Both were dispatched to the Tower of London for beheading. At this time there was a suggestion that Shandon Castle be demolished to keep it out of enemy hands. The discussion ended with no commitment to destroying the castle and that it would serve no military purpose, for every hills and ditch around the city commanded it just as well as Shandon did.

   An article by John T Collins in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in 1943 describes the fortunes of Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork. Boyle left Shandon Castle on the Monday morning following the English win at the Battle of Kinsale to convey the news to Queen Elizabeth. In the aftermath of the battle many Irish gentlemen were tried at Shandon for treason. Amongst them was Dominic Collins, the Jesuit friar, captured at the Siege of Dunboy. Carew ordered Dominic and two others to be kept prisoners after the siege while the rest were hanged in the market-place, fifty-eight on that day, and the remaining twelve four days later. The three surviving prisoners were brought to Cork for interrogation. As the other two had little to reveal, they were soon executed. But Carew interrogated Collins, hoping he could persuade him to become a Protestant and thus gain a propaganda victory. He alternately tortured Dominic and made him promises of elevation to high ecclesiastical office.

   Some of Dominic’s own family visited him, urging him to save his life by pretending a conversion which he could afterwards repudiate. But Dominic would have none of it, and made a choice of a martyr’s death. Taken to Youghal on 31 October 1602, he was marched by a troop of soldiers through the streets to the place of execution. Left hanging on the gallows, the rope eventually broke and Dominic’s body fell to the ground. Under cover of darkness, local Catholics took his body away and buried him with respect in a secret place. From that day he was venerated as a martyr in Youghal and his fame quickly spread throughout Ireland and Europe. In the Irish Colleges of Douai and Salamanca the Jesuits showed his portrait and many favours and cures were attributed to his intercession.

   Fast forward in time, and in 1603, the Mayor and Council of Cork refused to proclaim the new king, James I. Lord Roche made the proclamation from Shandon Castle. The citizens put Cork in a state of defence and demolished Elizabeth Fort so that it could be used against them. Lord Mountjoy arrived with an army and made them submit. One of the penalties imposed was that they should rebuild the fort they had broken down.

   In March 1689, James II landed at Kinsale and came to Cork. He is said to have received the Earl of Tyrconnell, his Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and his principal officers of state in Shandon Castle. Cork remained faithful to James II after the Battle of the Boyne, which led to John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough coming to Cork in an effort to reduce it to submission. In September 1690 Churchill drew cannons to Fair Hill and threatened Shandon Castle and its defenders, whose defenders withdrew inside the city walls. The troops occupied the castle and bombarded the city.

    The suburbs, which were burned during the siege, were eventually rebuilt. Those around Shandon Street were in particular heavily damaged. St Anne’s Shandon was built in 1722 to replace the older church of St Mary’s, Shandon, which was destroyed in the siege of Cork in 1690 by English forces. The architecture of the church and tower is an early English style. The peculiar feature of the tall church tower approximately forty metres in height is that the north and east sides are comprised of red sandstone while the south and west sides are composed of grey hewn limestone. The limestone came from the ruins of the Franciscan Abbey, which existed on the North Mall while the sandstone came from Shandon Castle. Rising from the main tower, which is in the shape of a telescope, are three further tiers, which end in a curved dome. In 1770, any remaining ruins of Shandon Castle were cleared to make way for a complex of buildings belonging to the Butter Market.

To be continued…

 

Captions:

791a. Plan of Shandon Castle, from Map of Cork, late sixteenth century as depicted in Sir George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, or History of The Wars in Ireland (1633), vol. 2, opp page 137.

791b. Shandon Castle from A description of the Cittie of Cork/ Plan of Cork, circa 1602 by George Carew (source: Hardiman Atlas, Library of Trinity College Dublin)

791c. St Anne’s Church, Shandon (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

 

791b. Shandon Castle from A description of the Cittie of Cork

791c. St Anne’s Church, Shandon

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 30 April 2015

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

790a. Depiction of Shandon Castle, c.1603

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 30 April 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 21)

Shandon’s Old Castle

 

      George Carew’s map of Cork, c.1600, places an emphasis on a two towered structure called Shandon Castle. Aligning old maps with newer ones of the city through the ages the Castle was on the site of what is now the Firkin Crane. Between 1599 and 1600, Carew, Lord President of Munster, having undertaken his suppression of rebellion, took up his quarters at Shandon Castle, overlooking the walled town of Cork and its adjacent hinterland which he wished to watch over. It was a building of great physical and symbolic strength. Courts for criminal cases were frequently held here by the Lord President and the judge on circuit. Persons who rose up against the Munster Plantation were likewise imprisoned there.

     Urban myth pitches Shandon Castle as standing on the verge of a precipice overhanging the Lee. It has been depicted as a kind of medieval castle keep with a large portcullis gate. Steep stairs called the Giant’s Steps leading to the nearby river Lee were cut through this precipice. An article by Rev James Dwyer in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in 1897 notes that the steps were removed in the 1860s (possibly to create the laneways that now exist in the area, for example Rowland’s Lane and surrounds). The street adjoining the castle was popularly known by the name of Shandon Castle Lane, which is now Dominick Street.

     The castle is originally is said to have been built initially by the Prendergasts. It passed to the De Cogans and the Barrys and served as a manorial feudal centre until Carew’s arrival. Kenneth Nicholls argues in Cork: History and Society (1993) that in the early fifteenth century that Shandon Castle and its vast territory which at one time was controlled by the Cogans, Barrys Rochfords and the Earls of Kildare.

    Woulfe’s Irish Names and Surnames (1923) highlights that the Barry surname occurs in the earliest Anglo-Irish records, and has always been specially associated with the County of Cork. In the year 1179, Robert FitzStephen granted to his nephew, Philip de Barry, the three cantreds of Ui Liatháin, Muscraighe-trí-máighe, and Cinel Aodha, represented in time by the baronies of Barrymore, Orrery, and Kinalea. This grant was confirmed by King John in 1207 to William de Barry, son and heir of Philip.

   In the course of centuries the Barrys became one of the most numerous and powerful families in Munster. They divided into several branches, the heads of which were known respectively as An Barrach Mór (the Great Barry), Barrach Ruadh (Red Barry), Barrach Óg (Young Barry), Barrach Maol (Bald Barry), Barrach Láidir (Strong Barry); and one branch adopted the Irish patronymic surname of Mac Ádaim. The territories of the Barrys were vast. Settlements now situated in the old barony of Barrymore include Bartlemy, Castlelyons, Carrignavar, Carrigtohill, Cóbh, Glounthaune, Bridebridge, Midleton, Rathcormack, and Watergrasshill. Settlements in the old barony of Barrymore today extend from Kanturk through Mallow, Ballyhea and Buttevant. Settlements existing in the old barony of Kinalea extend from Inishannon to Belgooly, Carrigaline, Nohoval, Minane Bridge and Tracton.

    The Barrys originally settled around Buttevant in north Cork, named after the family motto, boutez en avant, meaning ‘strike forward’. With the approval of King John, they built a great castle on the banks of the Awbeg River. A settlement developed around the castle. In recent years, much local work has been pursued in creating historical walking tours of Buttevant’s old medieval spaces. Plaques around the town records that David de Barry I was responsible for the development of Buttevant as a borough for which Henry III granted him rights to hold a market and fair in 1234. In 1229 the Barrys built Ballybeg Abbey for the Augustinians, which has is regarded as the finest columbarium (dove house) in Ireland. In 1251 Buttevant Friary was built by David Óg Barry for the Friars Minor of St Francis. The control by the Barrys over their land manifested itself through the foundation of a number of other boroughs and religious houses. Members of the family were associated with the Franciscan and Dominican foundations in Cork city, the Franciscan friary of Timoleague (c. 1312), and the Carmelite friary of Castlelyons (1307-9).

   Barryscourt Castle remained in ownership of the most powerful branch of them all, known as the Barrymores. However, the Barrymore lines died out and were passed onto a distant cousin by the name of James Fitzgerald of the Barryroes in 1556. The present tower house of Barryscourt Castle is said to be constructed in the fifteenth or sixteenth century and became a principal seat of the Barrys. The Barrys supported the Desmond rebellions of 1569 and 1579, and in 1581 they destroyed or severely damaged their family castles to prevent English forces from capturing them, including Barryscourt, which was threatened by an army led by Sir Walter Raleigh. After the suppression of the second rebellion, the Barrys were pardoned by Queen Elizabeth I and Barryscourt was repaired, with an outer wall or bawn surrounding an inner courtyard being added, including 3 corner towers. Barryscourt ceased to be main residence of the Barry family in 1617.

To be continued…

 Captions:

790a. Depiction of Shandon Castle, c.1603 (source: Cork City Museum)

790b. Barryscourt Castle, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

790c. Buttevant Friary, built in 1251 by David Óg Barry for Friars Minor of St Francis and dedicated to St Thomas A Becket (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

 

790b. Barryscourt Castle

790c. Buttevant Friary, built in 1251