Summoning the Ancestors

 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...

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...

 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...

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...

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

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...

 I'm not really one for visiting castles but what better to do on a cold, rainy day in Ireland?  So that is how I stumbled upon an underground temple, the headquarters of the Fellowship of Isis, deep in the dungeon of Huntington Castle. The castle was built in1625 on the grounds of an old abbey. The IRA were last to use the dungeons as a place of confinement when they took over the castle in 1921. Ruins of the abbey Ruins of the abbey where Druid rituals are practiced Huntington castle today, still lived in by the Durdin Robertson family  Isis is the ancient Egyptian goddess of love and the Fellowship of Isis honours and celebrates the divine female. The fellowship was set up on the vernal equinox of 1976 by Olivia Durdin-Robinson, a member of an old Irish Ascendancy family who lived in the castle until her death; her brother Lawrence  (Derry) an ex Anglican clergyman; and his wife Pamela. Its purpose was to worship "Isis of 1000 names and mother of all beings." In t...

Great great great Grandma Jane Byrne was born and died in Carnew.  There are quite a few graves of more recent Byrnes and Levingston(e)s in the churchyard of the Church of Ireland All Saints. However the graveyard may not be old enough for Jane and her husband John Levingston's burial. Further research results pending! Carnew Church of Ireland There are many Byrnes around Carnew. Jim Byrnes bar in Carnew's main street  Carnew

Norman Levingstone with his grandfather's grave at St Mary's church in Bunclody  Last night Norman Levingstone (there's a story behind the spelling) showed me the farmhouse where his mother still lives which he believes was built by the very first Levingstons to come to the area from Scotland in the 1700s. That would most probably have been the parents of his ancestor William Levingston and ours John  Levingston (1754-1828). Norman had just arrived back from Donegal and it was dusk so the photos aren't the best. It's down that long narrow lane off the St Colomban way that I ventured down on my first night here.   The Levingston farmhouse about 300 years old Original farm buildings The cows were kept in the lower level, grain storage above    This morning I had a cuppa and a slice of apple pie with 90 year old Jim Rothwell, his wife Betty and Ben Rothwell, a local historian probably not much younger than the other two, in their farmhouse kitchen. Jim has lived in...