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The Magnificent Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral - our connection

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What better way to spend my final afternoon in Cork than to honour the ancestors at ground zero - Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, at a service to celebrate the autumn harvest. Listening to the melodious sound of the 4000 pipe organ, possibly the largest in Ireland and thinking of Dad, the aunties and uncles, Granny and the Grandfather I never knew, sitting in these very same pews, listening to the same organ, over 100 years ago.  Originally the site of a monastery, the use of the site of the Cathedral for worship dates back to the seventh century. Our 3rd great grandparents William and Anne Jane Margaret (nee Delacour) Beamish married in the previous chapel on this site on 21 November 1778. The limestone known as Beaumont Dove limestone used to build the external facade of the existing cathedral was donated by William Beamish from the 120 acre Beamish quarry at Beaumont house (see more at psi.geodata.gov.ie -name of site Beaumont Quarry.) His business partner William Crawford from Bea...
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Who's That Sleeping in My Grandfather's Grave?

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 After an arduous 40 hour journey from Cork to Nelson I am home and energy levels are restored. The lawn is mown, the courtyard weeded and spuds planted to be ready by Christmas. The dolphins have been past to say hello and the cat has forgiven me for abandoning him to the bony knee of the house sitter. I would have liked another 2 weeks in Cork to finish off what I set out to do. By the time I left there was a snowball effect of meeting interesting people one after another. Historians, storytellers, museum curators -all willing to help me with my questions. I will keep posting information that I found on this blog as I get time to write it up. At St. Fin Barres cemetery plans to re-inscribe the headstone on the family grave were brought to an abrupt halt when we were informed by the staff that there are 2 extra people buried in the grave that we didn't know about. We had to find out who they are through the Cork City and County Archives.  They are Isaac Cooke, a bookbinder fr...
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Driving in Ireland

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The car rental company I used was Enterprise and I would highly recommend them- they were very helpful and let me extend the rental period twice and change the drop off location with no penalty. It was a steep learning curve to get back behind the wheel of a manual car after more than ten years driving an automatic. Most of the rentals in Ireland are manual and automatic are considerably more expensive. I chose the little Opel Corsa because she had sat.nav and a USB port and could fit into tight parking spaces.  Having to change gears and remember that the indicators were on the other side to what I was used to kept me alert. The sat.nav got me into trouble on the very first day in Wexford when it directed me down a steep narrow lane in the middle of the city that turned out to be closed off, so I had to back all the way back up the hill with the sensors squawking to warn me that I was too close to the curb. There were a few other experiences of sat.nav taking me places I didn't wa...
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The Beamish tower

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 On a hilltop in the Delacour villa estate on what was once the site of a church and graveyard, is a stone tower built by Charles Beamish around 1857. It is not certain whether it was built as a mausoleum or a folly however it is believed that Charles was buried there before being exhumed and reburied in the St Andrews, Kilmurry graveyard where his son Charley is. I have been unable to find any record of his burial place.  Charles was a chief instigator and driving force behind the building of the Cork to Macaroon railway first proposed in 1852. It is thought that left over materials, some of which were taken from the Beamish's quarry,  may have been used in building the tower.   It would also have been an opportunity to provide work after the famine. Charles was seen as a good landlord who also initiated roadworks (the Beamish Line) and bridge building which created work. The interior of the tower showing remains of floor supports What could this cross built in...
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Delacour villa, Dunisky, Lissarda

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Delacour villa was built by the Delacour family in 1769, the year our third great grandmother Anne Jane Margaret Delacour was born in Mallow, and also the year Captain Cook discovered New Zealand. It was most likely built by her parents Robert Delacour (1720-1797 and Dorcas (nee Norcott) Delacour (1700-1793). It remained in the family for over 130 years, during that time passing to the Beamishes through Ann Jane Margaret's marriage to William Beamish. Ann and William had 13 children and their eight child Charles, our  great great grandfather was born at Delacour villa in 1801. We have records of him actively farming the estate through 1830s to1860s but most likely he took it over earlier. The villa was situated on around 500 hectares of arable land. There is now a large timber processing plant on what used to be farmland. I Delacour villa as it was seen from the Cork to Macroom railway around 1854 2017 The main front entrance 2017 There is a magnificent view over the countryside fr...
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Exploring Delacour and Beamish territory

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The windows at the Kilmurry Independence museum look out over the rural landscape which was once Delacour farmland. I asked one of the volunteers if he could point out where Charles Beamish had had his racetrack. He offered to drive me down to see it up close.  Noel Howard has an in depth knowledge of the history of the areas and showed me several points of interest so I felt very privileged. Perhaps he is been a a descendant of Charles Beamish's first wife, Louisa Howard. The Beamish Line heading towards Delacour villa Where the racecourse was in the 1850s In 1851 Charles a horse-racing fan advertised his racecourse  "A better racecourse there cannot be and the view of every part of it is complete from a conical hill which rises from the winning post a natural amphitheatre large enough to accommodate 20,000 spectators and enable them to see distinctly every movement from every horse." (Source: Michael Galvin, To Make a Railway). A peep of Delacour villa from the road
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Graveyard hunting in West Cork

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It was quite a search to find young Charley Beamish's grave. I almost ended up in one myself clambering through an ancient Kilmurry graveyard where many of the graves had sunken in and were covered with weeds, their 18th and 19th century headstones crumbling and mostly illegible . If I'd fallen through a rotting coffin lid into one of those graves it could have been days or weeks before anyone found me! Although the sole person in Kilmurry walking down the street assured me that was the only old graveyard I finally (thanks to FindaGrave) discovered the delightful little church of St Andrews up a narrow country road and there of course was Charley's grave right out in front in a prime position. (See my blogpost Sept 6 re Charley's death). St Andrews, Church of Ireland, Kilmurry built 1847. This was most likely the Charles and Caroline Beamish's family church Charley's grave   The Inscription reads:  In loving memory of Charles only son of Charles and Caroline Bea...
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