Drimoleague - West Cork, Ireland

Like any parish, Drimoleague can claim to be ‘unique’, in that it will have known people and events that are specific to it alone. In character, though, there will be others like it in this wildest corner of Ireland.

In days before rapid communication was possible, laws could be ignored or flouted in an area that was the country’s furthermost outpost from Dublin. Travellers such as the poet Tennyson commented on the lack of development and the British garrison in Cork City preferred not to venture west of its base. Here it was, then, that nationalist fervour was at its highest and West Cork produced more than its fair share of patriots whose names will live on in the nation’s history.

The visitor will undoubtedly appreciate the beautiful countryside that appears round every bend in the road but getting under the skin of the area and feeling its pulse does not come as easily. One only has to look at the dwellings for an initial impression.

‘Traditional’ farms and houses tell us a great deal. Firstly, there are no really ancient buildings, including churches, and one must assume that people were only too glad to demolish the hovels and shacks in which so many had lived as recently as a century and a half ago. There were no fond memories to encourage their preservation and, in any case, the materials would have been needed for what was to replace them. In times of earth floors, the damp climate that so suited the growing of flax for the famous Irish linen was just as damaging for human health and, although ground space was not too much of a problem, the option to build a second storey above the central living space, with its one and only fire, would have been most attractive.

Here it pays to study such a building. The prospect of providing his wife and family with better housing would have burnt itself into the heart of many a man but much of the labour to achieve it would have been his own - after a hard day’s work on the land. Stone for building would have been plentiful but, without machinery, every last piece would have had to be manhandled a number of times. Walls were thick and used plenty of it.

Upstairs would have been purely functional for the purpose of sleeping, not a recreational/study space as it often is today. Windows would have been necessary as a means to let in natural light and were built in at the earliest opportunity, i.e. at floor level, as is indicated from outside by the closeness of ground and first floor openings. Roofs would have been added as soon as practically possible to limit the amount of walling material needed.

In similar vein, the leisure activities of fishing and gardening have little following compared with the UK and mainland Europe. No doubt the memories of having to do so to survive will take time to fade.

‘Drimoleague’, as such, is an Anglicised version of ‘Drom da Liag’, the original village that sat on the upper southern slopes of the ridge to the north. Apart from a few houses grouped round the cross(roads) below the church, known as ‘Shruvane’, the village of today didn’t really exist until the railway came to Bandon in 1851. This stimulated regular coach services linking Drimoleague with the railhead and, as commercial traffic increased there was a need for all the support facilities to service it, including a police presence. Thus modern ‘Drimoleague’, actually in the townland of Baurnahulla, was born.

The DRIMOLEAGUE ‘HERITAGE WALKWAY’

The Drimoleague Heritage Walkway was launched on October 10^th 2008 by Minister Eamonn O Cúiv, almost exactly one year after the idea was suggested by a local group of farmers and taken on board by Drimoleague Community Development Association. Commenting on this achievement, Mr O Cúiv said “You can be proud of the work you have done, but even more important is the fact that it was the community together that did it”. He went on… “I believe the communities that will grow in the next five years are those where the innovators can see the benefit of giving and sharing what they have for the benefit of the whole community”.

Despite heavy rain on the day, a large number of people accompanied Mr O Cúiv to the Top of the Rock to unveil a plaque to commemorate the launch. St Finbarr in the 6^th century, and later O’Donovan Rossa in 1864 had both left their mark on the people of this place at the annual Aonach (Fair) which took place here in centuries gone by.

Later, in a packed Parish Hall, tribute was paid to the fifteen farmers/landowners who had voluntarily provided access to their lands for the Walks Scheme. Farmers had not only given their permission, but had also got down to the hard work of laying the walk in place with enthusiasm and energy. Thanks was also paid to members of the Sheep's Head Way committee who endorsed the venture from the beginning, encouraging and supporting DCDA and giving them the unique opportunity to become an eastern addition to the popular Sheep's Head Way - a great boost for Drimoleague.

Here is a list of places many Drimoleague people have never seen…they await your discovery along the Drimoleague Heritage Walkway:

§Lough Agower and Coomanore Lake
§The homestead of George “The Sky” O Mahony
§The big rock at Glanaclohy
§The cascades at Deelish
§The alpaca walk at Seehanes/Deelish
§The “ox-bow” river bend at Deelish
§The rapids below Ahnafunsion bridge
§The swimming holes on the River Ilen
§The old Weir above Meenies Bridge.

This is a community venture. We are proud of Drimoleague and our Heritage. Together we can present it to the world in this attractive and invigorating way. Buíochas le Dia. (Thanks be to God.)

“tus maith is leath na hoibre”… Minister O Cúiv, 10^thOctober 2008 (A good start is half the work)

(Visitors will find the Walkway signed from the Old Railway Yard Car Park, opposite The Drimoleague Inn.)

HISTORY

For the history student, his or her quest will repeatedly be fraught with frustration and exasperation but it is as well to remember that no other nation in the world can claim to have emerged with its language and identity intact after 750 years of subjugation to another power. The purity of that survival, though, has been sorely tarnished as a result of the mother tongue and its accompanying Catholic faith being suppressed for centuries. In any culture where the common man has little or no education, it is the church, via the literacy of its clergy, that has kept records but, when Irish people could only worship at secret Mass rocks in the countryside and were officially banned from even speaking Irish, it is not surprising that Irish history is often only as reliable as folklore will allow. Spelling of Irish words, too, is very much subject to individual interpretation from the spoken language plus the odd ancient document or carved inscription.

Muintir na Tire (People of the Countryside) is an organisation for the furtherance of community life in rural areas but its local branch had closed some time before the ‘Heritage Walkway’ was mooted. Fortunately, however, a sizeable archive of handwritten ‘historic notes’ had been saved and these formed the basis of ‘Reminiscences from Drimoleague’, a 120-page book produced to provide background to the Walkway.

The literary style of the writer of ‘Historic Notes’ is preserved and covers skirmishes between rival branches of the O’Donovans over an unwanted pregnancy, poachers’ tales, the taking up of railway track to prevent a priest being taken to Cork for trial, the hanging of Tadhg na Samhna, Famine stories, an 1828 Faction Fight that left twenty people dead or wounded and much more. It quotes a police sergeant from 1864 who said that “…..the Drimoleague people were the finest people in Ireland, generous, open hearted and charitable. But give each man a ‘shillelagh’ and fill him up with whiskey or ‘poteen’ and you had demons incarnate on your hands that would storm the gates of hell when their ‘dander’ was up”.

In addition to ‘Historic Notes’ readers are treated to a mix of topics. These range from pre-war newspaper articles on local sports fixtures and giant apples to 19^th Century accounts detailing the regular struggle local people had with ‘planter’ landlords. All too often the landlords would exact violent retribution on villagers who sought to improve their lot but the occasional story of revenge is told with appropriate relish. We also find tales of WWll spies, sons lost in America, Hedge Schools and a strange connection with the tune of Danny Boy to name but a few. In addition, the Association was privileged to be granted permission to reprint a full list of all Drimoleague and Drinagh townland details from the definitive Bruno O’Donoghue book that now fetches over €300 per copy if one can be found. With reproductions of both a 1914 Postal Directory and Griffith’s 1853 Valuation, this is a book to keep.

An extract from the "townlands" section showing acreages, Irish names, Meanings and points of interest

In recalling a notable 1939 bowling challenge, the book tells us that the road was ‘heavy’ as a result of recent rains - clearly comparing a ‘then’ and ‘now’ only 70 years apart.

An Gorta Mor (The Great Hunger or Famine of the mid-nineteenth century) is covered at greater length by such scholars as Eugene Daly in his ‘Skibbereen and District, Fact and Folklore’ but ‘Reminiscences’ has its own harrowing tales of the day. Close your eyes and visualise the tragic circumstances that prompted a fellow villager to pen an extract which says ‘A man brings two dead children in a bag to the graveyard. He gives them some kind of burial and dies on the way home from hunger and exhaustion.’ Could anything be more poignant? Read too the story of Tom Gearins who survived for over 60 years after being dragged from a burial pit at the age of three with both legs broken.

An earlier publication, ‘400 Years of Drimoleague’ by Richard Harrison, has long been out of print but the local Drimoleague Community Development Association (DCDA), which also published the above ‘Reminiscences’, takes every opportunity to acquire copies for passing on to those interested.

For details of either book’s availability please contact the DCDA at nick@ipixnet.com.