Article 718- 21 November 2013

“Kieran’s New Book – West Cork Through Time”

One cannot but be drawn in – taken on a journey in West Cork. The use of postcards in my new book, co-written with Dan Breen, Assistant Curator in Cork City Museum, are an attempt to illuminate this region’s past. This book is ambitious in its aims as it takes the reader on a journey into one of the most dramatic landscapes of Ireland. 

West Cork is known for many aspects, its scenery, its serenity, its culture and its people. The book explores 100 postcards of the West Cork region from one hundred years (c.1913) and follows in the footsteps of photographers to retake the same scenes in the present day. The old postcards, sourced from the collections of Cork City Museum, represent many memories and representations of the West Cork region. These postcards were sold to visitors and locals a century ago. In their day, they were never neatly packaged in one publication nor could one ever buy them all in one go in a particular place.

The book takes the reader from Bandon to Castletownbere through the changing and the non-changing face of landscapes and seascapes and provides an insight into the uniquenesses of the region. The necklace of towns and villages are all linked together through a striking section of Ireland’s coastline, over 320 kilometres in length, encompassing a raw coastal wilderness with expansive inlets continuously being eroded away by the Atlantic Ocean. With exquisite coastal scenery, add in undulating inland landscapes criss-crossed by mountains, hill, streams and rivers, imposing old world air villages and the visitor finds a discovery at every bend of the road.

Researching West Cork, the visitor discovers that each parish has its own local historian, historical society, village/ town council, tidy towns group, community group and business community who have inspired the creation of heritage trails and information panels, each asserting why its area has a strong sense of place and identity and why it should be visited. Relics from the past also haunt the landscape with prominent landmarks ranging from Bronze Age standing stones to ivy clad ruined houses and castles, churches and big houses, to cultivated farmlands. All add to the spectacle that is West Cork.

The winding roads bring the visitor on an experience through landscapes, many of which are frozen in time for centuries. There are places that charm, catch and challenge the eye especially in the quest to retake photos on hundred years on. Chapter 1 begins with an exploration of what could be described a gateway country into West Cork; the towns of Bandon and Clonakilty were all founded 400 years ago and are central to a ribbon of market towns and villages in their vicinity such as Dunmanway and Drimoleague. All are set against the backdrop of a raw glaciated mountainous landscape and the Bandon river valley and its tributaries.

Chapter 2 explores the settlements and views along the coast from Courtmacsherry to Mizen Head, which is Ireland’s south-westerly point. Here are multiple beaches, large bays, rocky inlets, islands and many twists in the coastal roads that the visitor endures in the attempt to explore this landscape. Chapter 3 details the regional pilgrimage site of Gougane Barra. According to legend, Cork City’s patron saint, Finbarr, is said to have had a monastery on an island in the middle of the area’s lake at the base of the Shehy Mountains. Many pilgrims have visited this peaceful site over many centuries. Some have left their mark more than others, in terms of raising funding and acquiring human resources to enhance the collective memory of Finbarr through the construction of pilgrimage cells and oratory.

Chapter 4 leads the visitor on a journey from Bantry to Bere Island. The drama of the landscape here is amazing as coastal roads loom out into the coast and loom back in through tunnelled out rock. To experience the western tip of this study area, Bere Island, on any morning is an experience and breath-taking as the sun or rain or just a few clouds can change the character of the location. Chapter 5 explores the Cork-Bandon and South Coast Railway, which cut a route into the heart of West Cork one hundred years ago, and provided a means of goods transportation and a slow method or enjoying the countryside, especially in an age where the car and even good quality roads were rare.

In all, this book, through pictures of the old and new, comprises a myriad of stories of different shapes, patterns and colours just like a painter’s palette of colours.  Every picture presented is charged with that emotional sense of nostalgia – the past shaping and inspiring present thoughts, ideas and actions. However, this book only scratches the surface of what this region has to offer. West Cork in itself is a way of life where generations, individuals and communities, have etched out their lives. It is a place of discovery, of inspiration, a place of peace and contemplation, and a place to find oneself in the world. There is even more to offer the tourist today than there was a hundred years ago. What’s the best way to see West Cork – travel through it, sense it and enjoy it!

West Cork Through Time is available in any good Cork book shop and on Amazon. It is published by Amberley Publishing, UK.

Caption:

718a. Front cover of West Cork Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen