The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher

We had a long drive today and the weather was amazing, as it was sunny all day and warm.  The landscape changed a lot as we drove south.  The land in the north is so terrible that one cannot even run cattle on it, only sheep.  Once we got quite a lot further south, there are many more trees and small herds of cattle start to appear in the fields as well as some tillage.  The cities are also larger and the highway system is better as well.

We stopped just south of Galway for a coffee at a garden centre which had a great little café.  We sat by the window and a guy was planting into the window boxes.  Then the plant woman came along and told him how to rearrange the plants for far more pleasing effect.  We walked through the garden centre and the quality of bedding plants were just astounding.  I told the owner that I had never seen such fine bedding plants.

Then we came across tables of small arrangements of plants in pots, it had to be the work of the plant woman as they were so well done.  We took a couple of photos as they were so nice.

Senetti

Small Arrangements

We decided to go off our direct route to Co. Kerry by going through Co. Clare to have a look at ‘The Burren.’  This is a very bizarre landscape of bare limestone hills.  As it was such a gorgeous day, we also decided to stop at the Cliffs of Moher.  We had not really planned on seeing the Cliffs of Moher but the people in the walking group in Donegal thought that they should be seen even though we visited Slieve League.

The Burren

Co. Clare is somewhat touristy and the Cliffs of Moher are on the tourist must see list.  There is a large parking lot where they charge a lot just for parking.  We turned around and drove back down the road to a place that had cattle pens and gates where a few other cars were parked.  Then we simply walked up the cliffs.  The tourist section has a lot of steps and areas fenced off with large slabs of rock and there is tourist infrastructure there as well.

We walked most of the way along the cliffs, which took about an hour and a half, and then we walked back down the end of the cliffs to the car, this all worked out great.  There were quite a few people around, even in the off season.  This area is rather touristy and after coming from the north of Ireland, we are not used to tourists.

Cliffs of Moher

Croaghaun Hike, Achill Island

We really wanted to revisit Achill Island, so we headed there this morning to walk up Croaghaun and then to check out other areas of Achill.

It was dry, cool and windy but there was a bit of sun, so this was a great day for a walk up a mountain.  The details of the route were sketchy, so we headed off, up some sheep trails.  I think we took the steepest route possible, but we think it ended up being shorter than the route we were supposed to be following.  There is no hiking trail on this mountain, you just have to make your way up.

Our route dipped into a bowl and then went up very steeply.  Just when we thought we would gain a ridge, there was yet another ridge behind it.  The ground was fairly heavy heather and grass, and there was also a lot of moss with heather and a lot of rock in places.

It felt like the summit would never be gained, but we made it up in an hour and a half.  The views from the summit were absolutely spectacular, as the mountain drops off sharply to the Atlantic.  We had just fantastic light up there for photos, as a lot of high cloud kept on coming in from the east.

However, it was so windy on the summit that we couldn’t go very near to the edge.  After taking a zillion photos, we retreated down the summit to some large rocks and sat out of the wind behind a huge rock that was wedged upright.  We guzzled our tea and then started our steep descent.

We could make really good time on moss and heather as it is not slippery, it is very spongy.  In areas of grass and heather it was slower going as it was slippery.  We decided to take a route down, that we think, was supposed to be our route up.  It was very steep and a bit longer, but it took us less than an hour to descend.

Our Destination:  Croaghaun

View from Summit

Keem Strand from Summit

Views from Summit

Then we drove a short distance to the west end of the island to Keem Strand, a lovely beach in a beautiful bay.  After we left Keem, we stopped at a pub for a coffee and the parking lot was full.  This was puzzling, as it was 1:30 in the afternoon, i.e., after lunch time.

There was an old guy sitting at the bar having a pint, so we sat beside him and I asked him what was going on.  Well, this was a big day for the Catholic kids as it was confirmation day, which only happens every two or three years, and all the kids on this side of Achill are confirmed together.  The other half of the island are also confirmed together in their local church.  The Bishop comes from Galway to perform both ceremonies.

Then the party starts in the pub, where a tonne of relatives and whatnot come bearing gifts and they have a big lunch in the function room.  This guy was very friendly and before we left, he told us to make sure we turned right just after Ted’s Bar and to take the road all the way around the Atlantic coast, and then we would end up coming to the main road, right before the bridge to the mainland.  He told us not to turn off, just follow the road, but that it is very steep, narrow and with sharp drop offs.

Were we ever glad we sat with him, as the drive was out of this world and we just loved it.  The views were stunning and there were a few historical sites along the way.

Views on the Atlantic Drive

Grace O'Malley Fort

Prior to taking the scenic route, we stopped at the Deserted Village, which sits at the foot of Slievmore.  It does not seem to be known why the village was deserted, but it is likely linked to the land being sold by the O’Donnels of Newport to the Achill Mission Estate, which purchased 2/3rds of Achill.  The Achill Mission Estate ran into financial difficulties and the land was ceded and eventually distributed to the people of Slievemore.  The descendants used to return to the village to pasture their cattle in the summer, staying in the abandoned houses, this was termed booleying.  Apparently, this was the last area in Ireland where booleying was carried out, as the practise continued into the 1940s.

While we were walking down the road of the Deserted Village, a sheep dog came running by and his owner was in a car driving behind.  We moved out of the way to let the car by and then we heard the man in the car giving various whistles, to which the dog responded.  After one particular whistle, the dog took off across the bog like a rocket.  Then he responded to another whistle and stopped.

The car had stopped, so when we walked up we told the guy his dog travels like lightening.  A long conversation ensued and we found it difficult to move on as the talking would not stop.  The old guy said he is too old to run after the sheep, so the dog does it.

We loved Achill Island, it is our favourite of all the areas we visited in Co. Mayo.  Achill is gorgeous and the locals are very friendly, if anyone ever finds themselves in Co. Mayo, you must visit Achill.  It was also recommended to us by a café staffer in Donegal, and we can understand why.  We planned on visiting Achill to hike the two highest mountains on the island, which we did, but Achill is so much more.

Tomorrow is a travel day, and it will be our longest, as we are heading down to the south of Co. Kerry, very near to Co. Cork.  We are skipping a huge chunk of the west coast of Ireland, but I wanted to explore the less visited Beara Peninsula, while hoping to hike a bit in Co. Kerry and visit the far west of Co. Cork.

The History of Ireland will continue tomorrow night as we will not have much content, given that tomorrow is a driving day.

Killary Harbour Walk

As there were periods of sun this morning, we headed south to Killary Harbour for a long walk.  Killary Harbour is a fjord which deepens as it goes inland.  Our destination was Rosroe Pier, at the mouth of Killary Harbour at the sea.

This is a very easy walk along a narrow road, most of which is a famine relief road.  This would have been part of the public works scheme, where starving people had to break rocks and perform manual labour, to receive wages so they could purchase food.

Along the route we came upon the ruined famine village of Foher, which had to be abandoned during the famine.  There are lines visible on the hillside that were old potato ridges.  Unfortunately, it was raining when we passed the ruins so we were unable to take photos.

Killary Harbour has a lot of lines in the water that are mussel farms, and there were flat decked boats out there working with the lines.  Killary Harbour is very beautiful as it is flanked on both sides by mountains.  The wonderful Mweelrea is on one side toward the Atlantic.  The views both inland, up the harbour, and toward the sea are gorgeous.

We got a bit of rain on the way to the mouth of the harbour and then it started to pour rain and the gusts of wind were wicked.  We didn’t linger at Rosroe Pier due to the downpour, so we decided to head back right away.  We had been walking for a couple of hours and didn’t get a chance for our tea break.

On the return walk, we met a huge group of young people on a walk with a few adult leaders.  We had to stand aside to let the gaggle walk by, they were all rather polite and we received a lot of thank-yous.

We thought we were in the clear as far as the weather, but we were mistaken, as a large system from the north rose up over Mweelrea and just dumped on us.  Of course, this was the only time we did not pack our rain pants for the walk.  The only bonus was that the rain was pummeling us at our backs and not on our faces.  However, the rain started to pour off of our rain jackets and soaked our butts and it ran through our gaiters and into our boots.

We walked like maniacs on the return and completed the walk in 3.5 hours when it should have taken 4 hours.  By the time we reached the car, we were drowned rats, so we had to sit on our nylon shopping bags so we wouldn’t soak the seats.  We broke out our much anticipated tea and it was cold, blech, so we didn’t drink it.

Killary Harbour Mussel Farming

Famine Relief Road

Mweelrea

Mouth of Killary Harbour

Killary Harbour

We decided just to cope with the soaking pants and boots and continued on our drive south.  We did a really nice loop that eventually took us to Roundstone.  This is a very pretty fishing village in Co. Galway.  We stopped for a cappuccino and we were going to sit on our jackets, but the chairs had vinyl covering, so we were set.

After our break, we continued on our loop and then headed back to Newport.  Our hiking pants dry very quickly, so our legs were dry, but sitting on nylon did not assist with the drying of our wet arses, which was getting rather uncomfortable.  We were happy to get back home so we could shed our wet clothes.  Of course, the rain totally cleared out after we left Roundstone, and we had glorious sunshine for the drive back.

Roundstone Harbour

Port na Feadoige

Atlantic

Country Life in Ireland

The weather was unsettled so we decided to head for the Museum of Country Life near Castlebar.  The museum has gathered a collection of the objects of everyday life, which would have been used by the people of rural Ireland, from the post famine period of the mid 1800s to the 1950s.  They tell the story of the life of rural people through these objects.

The museum is housed on what was the Fitzgerald Estate, which comprised approximately 8,300 acres at its largest.  The estate would have been farmed by many families who would have paid rent to the Fitzgeralds for their tiny parcels of land.

The large Country House is in the Victorian style and was built in 1865.  Unfortunately, the house was off limits to visitors, as they are updating the wallpaper.

Country House

Life was very hard for rural people in Ireland, as they struggled to make a living off the land.  As is the case today as well, the quality of the land determined the quality of life for the family.  Poor quality land barely provided sustenance, while better land provided sustenance, and a bit of extra income.

The majority of tools and household items as well as clothing, were handmade by the family.  Most families relied on farm animals and crops for food.  Their source of heat was peat, which they cut by hand and piled to dry for winter.

The hearth was the heart of the home, the women of the household had to maintain the hearth as it provided heat, light and was used for cooking meals using produce from the farm.

The most intriguing exhibit for us was the exhibit displaying and describing the use of straw.  Straw was plentiful and cheap; therefore, it was used in a myriad of ways.  Straw was coiled into rope or plaited.  Wheat and rye straw were coiled, while oat straw was plaited.  Straw was used to make horse harness, pack saddles, furniture, mattresses, baskets, and the costumes of the ‘Strawboys.’

The Strawboys were young men who would disguise themselves by dressing  in straw costumes and then they would crash weddings.  Although they were uninvited wedding guests, they were expected to arrive.  The Strawboys would show up at the house of the wedding and demand a drink, sometimes they would also demand money.  It was considered very unlucky to refuse to meet the demands of the Strawboys.

Plaited Straw Chair

Hen's Nest

Strawboy Hat

Photo of women tending a lazy bed for potato planting

We stopped in Castlebar to walk around the town, Castlebar is the main shopping town for the area.  We finally found the Brewery Cup, which was a pub, but is now a pleasant little coffee shop.  It was really cold today, so we attempted to warm up with a really good cappuccino, prior to driving home.

The History of Ireland continues...

Irish Wars 1919 -1923

This was not an all out war, it was on a small scale and was mainly fought in Dublin and Munster (Cork and Tipperary).  The Irish Police were reinforced by British soldiers, known as the Black and Tans.  WWI vets also assisted the police force.  Prior to a truce in 1921, approximately 50% of the casualties were civilians.  The terms of the truce stated that Ireland would be permanently partitioned, Northern Ireland would consist of six counties and would have their own parliament and government, but control would remain in the British Parliament.  There was no provision for the protection of the rights of the Catholics.

There was to be a government and parliament in the rest of Ireland, but this was ignored as the terms of the truce did not meet the declaration of independence and all that the nationalists had fought for.  The Sinn Fein continued with their Dail, this secretive government was successful during the war and was quietly slipping away from the control of the English.

In 1922, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was approved by the Dail, but the English would not let go, the treaty provided a ‘dominion status’ without sovereignty, which remained in England.  Ireland did achieve fiscal autonomy, control over internal affairs, evacuation of the British army, the establishment of an Irish army, and a role in international affairs.  Ireland was to be referred to as the Irish Free State.  There was no agreement regarding the Treaty in Ireland; it was supported by: the Catholic hierarchy, the Catholic property class and large farmers, and the Dublin IRA supporters of Michael Collins.  The Treaty was opposed by IRA commanders outside of Dublin, the poorer people living farther away from Dublin and those who lived in areas that were less affected by the previous violence.

Civil war broke out between pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty supporters.  The war began with the destruction of the Public Records Office and historical archive in the Four Courts buildings in Dublin by the anti-Treaty forces.  From the viewpoint of one interested in the historical record, this destruction was most unfortunate, but the intent seemed to be the obliteration of the history of Ireland so that they may start anew.  The anti-Treaty forces were driven out of their poorly defensible positions and war spread into the countryside.  The pro-Treaty force of 40,000, well equipped with British arms, took control of the anti-Treaty areas of Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Clare.

In August, Michael Collins was ambushed in Cork and killed.  Protestant country residences were burned and in the spring of 1923, the IRA stopped fighting.

Slievemore, Achill Island Hike

We had a window of opportunity this morning to walk up a mountain, as the weather was fine.  However, it was to deteriorate in the afternoon, so we took off fairly early to Achill Island.  The first bridge from the mainland to Achill was completed in 1887, this was replaced in 1949 and the new bridge was constructed in 2008.

Achill Island is a very interesting place with gorgeous beaches, deserted famine villages and a megalithic tomb.  As we were intent on reaching the summit of Slievmore, we did not concern ourselves with other activities.  If we have time, we would like to revisit Achill Island.

The walk started at the beautiful Silver Strand beach.  We were not entirely certain of the route up the mountain, as one had to just take off across the heather and walk along a ridge, next to crags which dropped off rather dramatically.

The trail was described as intermittent, and it certainly was.  We ended up weaving our way up the steep heather slope until we intersected a trail that seemed to fade off every now and then.  There were a lot of random sheep trails all over the mountain, but the sheep were grazing on the lower slope.  The going was pretty good, but when we got to the first rock outcrop high up, we watched a big squall coming at us from the Atlantic.  We decided to wait it out on the edge of a cliff out of the wind and rain to see what happened.  The major concern when hiking in Ireland, is the mist that can come upon you in minutes, which can leave the best of navigators disoriented.

We had a steep section ahead of us to gain the summit, but it was only another 600 feet, so we certainly did not want to stop climbing as we had gained around 1600 feet already.  There was sunshine after the squall passed so we sped to the summit.

The views from the summit were breathtaking, the landscape is beautiful and the views of the land and the Atlantic are panoramic.  It gave us the feeling of standing on top of the world, as the birds and a coast guard helicopter were all well below us.  However, another squall was heading straight for us, so we sat behind a pile of rocks that had been stacked up.  This sheltered us from the squall, which pelted us with hail.  Every summit we have stood on in Ireland has been extremely windy.  We sat with the hail at our backs and sipped our warm tea, which tasted fantastic, given the cold conditions.

We waited out the squall and after it passed we headed down.  We were shocked at how steep this mountain was, as we zoomed up in 1.5 hours.  You have to be tough to hike in Ireland, the mountains are not high by our standards, but the Irish boot it straight up with no switch-backs and no real trails.  The elevation gain is not great, as this was 2200 feet, but the gain is completed in a fairly short distance of 3 km.

For the first time ever, it took us as long to get down the mountain as it did to go up.  The descent was wickedly treacherous due to the wet conditions, and negotiating grass and heather is like walking on ice as you tend to slide.  John and I just about crashed and burned about a hundred times on the descent, but we managed to stay upright.  The other issue is that our hiking poles kept on getting stuck, as the ground is saturated and boggy so the poles sink.  Just when we needed a pole for stability it would be stuck, and the few microseconds lost in yanking out the pole, just about caused a spill.

A few more squalls came through while we hiked down, but they were not as severe as the one at the summit.  When we finally reached sea level, the sun was out for a short time.  We had the entire mountain to ourselves today, other than the grazing sheep.

After our gruelling walk, we stopped off in a small village for a cappuccino in the usual café with busy staff, serving up fine looking sandwiches and pots of tea.  Then it started to pour rain, a cold front has come in and the temperature plunged today, it is to be cold and wet tonight and tomorrow.

On the drive home, we came within inches of taking out a rogue sheep which decided to dart directly across the highway right in front of the car.  I thought its arse was going to be imbedded into the grill of our micro car.

Our destination, the far right peak

The steep and slippery heather slope

Incredible views

Keel Lough and the Atlantic

Village on Atlantic coast

Squall after it hailed on us

Silver Strand and Golden Strand beaches

Coastline view

The History of Ireland continues and it gets political...

In the 1870s, there was a depression in agriculture, this caused  a backlash among Irish farmers against Irish landowners.  The farmers refused to pay rents until prices improved and they became politicized and felt that they were the true owners of the land.  They organized a Land League.  A series of government acts over a period of years resulted in the British government buying out the landowners, and distributing the land to tenant farmers.  However, all others were excluded from the deal: townspeople, immigrants and labourers got nothing, this led to continued high levels of emigration.

In 1800, Ulster had been opposed to the union; however, the resurgence in Catholicism, the joining of the Presbyterians and the Protestants and the economic progress in Ulster as a commercial and manufacturing economy, turned the Protestants into pro Unionists who would resist Home Rule by force, if necessary.

They became known as Unionists and they felt that they were a settler people who cared more for Ulster than for anything, and Home Rule would destroy everything they and their ancestors had worked for.  A cultural identity developed in Ulster, they believed they were a people separate from the rest of Ireland.  The Protestants had a small majority in Ulster, but were a large majority in Belfast, where there was a residential split between Protestant and Catholic.  The Catholics were marginalised and under represented in the commercial and the industrial economy.  The Orange Order was vigilant and ready to oppose Home Rule strongly.  Belfast would be the core of the resistance to Home Rule.

Violence was to become ever-present in the affairs of Ireland.  The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) formed in 1913 and became heavily armed with German weapons in 1914.  In response to the UVF, the Irish Volunteers (IV) formed in nationalist Ireland.  30,000 members of the UVF formed the 36th Ulster Division which fought in WWI.  A Home Rule bill passed in the British Parliament in 1914, but it was not to be implemented until after WWI; Ulster would not be a part of the Home Rule bill, the partitioning of Ireland from Northern Ireland had begun.

Easter Rising of 1916

The Easter Rising was organized by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).  They were to secure weapons from the Germans, but the ship was scuttled near Cork to avoid capture by the British.  A nationwide Volunteer mobilization was called for, but one of the leaders countermanded the order on Easter Sunday, the rising would be confined to Dublin.  There was pressure to complete the rising prior to the end of WWI, while the British were fighting in Belgium and France.  The leadership decided to go ahead with the rising on Easter Monday, even though the rising would clearly not succeed.

The rising was carried out by 1500 Volunteers, with the assistance of a few hundred of the Irish Citizen Army.  They planned to seize a number of public buildings in Dublin and to declare an Irish Republic.  The rising was put down by British soldiers on leave from WWI; many of whom, were Irish.  Vicious street fighting ensued for three to four days, after which, the rebels surrendered.  The majority of the people killed were civilians, numbering 254, along with 64 rebels and 132 soldiers.

Public opinion was firmly against the rising, but this was swayed to support for the rising, after 15 rebels (mostly Catholics) were executed after receiving dodgy trials, along with the round up of thousands of suspects.  The Irish Parliamentary Party held the seats in the British Parliament at this time; they should have walked out of the British Parliament over the handling of the rising, but did not.  This damaged the Irish Parliamentary Party to a great degree, the suspects that were jailed, began to organize themselves while in prison, and upon release, they joined the Sinn Fein party.

In 1916, Home Rule was granted to Ireland, but it excluded the six counties in the northeast.  In 1918, the British tried to enforce conscription for WWI in Ireland.  The Irish Parliamentary Party withdrew from the British Parliament in protest and joined Sinn Fein in opposition to conscription.  In the 1918 elections in Ireland, Sinn Fein won the majority of seats, but they would not sit in the British Parliament.  Instead, they met in Dublin, set up a Dail, or parliament, and declared independence.  A group of the Irish Volunteers, soon to be known as the IRA, killed two police constables in Tipperary, this sent a strong message that violence would be used in support of the Irish Parliament declarations.

North Co. Mayo

It was raining rather heavily this morning, but the radar indicated that the north was about to clear.  We were in dire need of a long walk and had wanted to explore the far northern reaches of Co. Mayo.  Therefore, we headed north to the remote northwest corner for a 10 km cliff walk, departing from Carrowteigue or Ceathru Thaidhg.

This is a fairly remote area and after the busy touristy Westport, and points south, that we travelled yesterday, we loved North Mayo.  The walk took us through the town and up the cliffs.  This is a very different coastline than the Antrim coast as these cliffs are eroding, so we couldn’t venture as close to the edge.

The views improved as we walked through bog land to the north.  The land has been covered by Atlantic blanket bog for over 4000 years.  Bacteria cannot survive in these extremely wet conditions; therefore, the dead plant material cannot be broken down.  The buildup of compressed plant material causes peat to form.  The bog is 90% water and the peat can be 10 feet deep.  The peat is cut, dried and used as source of heat.  Peat does not smoke as much as wood, and it has a pleasant scent.  The peat bog continues to grow at a rate of 1/8th inch per year.

The walk took us approximately 2.5 hours and then we looped back to the village.  This was a wonderful walk with terrific views and we had some sun, and then cloud and the ever present wind.

Pile of cut peat

We then continued driving west along the North Mayo coast to Ballycastle, I asked an elder woman walking down the sidewalk where to go for coffee, and she directed us to the only café that was open.  It was a very old fashioned place, but it was very busy.  We ordered milky coffee, it was quite good, although we never did figure out what ‘milky coffee’ really was.  After our break we drove on to Downpatrick Head.

The headland of Downpatrick Head is made up of hundreds of layers of various sediments, including: sandstones, shales and limestones.  They were layered in a shallow sea, 300 million years ago.

The sea erodes the cliffs and sea caves form.  Inevitably, some massive waves will block the mouth of the sea cave, and push inward.  This creates tremendous air pressure to build up and vent through the cracks and fissures, causing the cliff to collapse into the sea, which creates a blowhole.  Eventually, the cave roof will collapse leaving a land-bridge.  When the land-bridge collapses, only a sea stack will remain off the headland.

The blowhole on St. Patrick’s head is called Poll a’ Sean Tine.  We met a local family walking the headland, and they told us it was too bad that the tide was not in.  When the tide is in, the water flies out of the blowhole and it is spectacular.

The sea stack Dun Briste, stands over 164 feet in height and is nearly 300 feet off Downpatrick Head.  There is a ruin of an ancient residence on the surface and there was once a land-bridge connecting it to the mainland.  It was written that the land-bridge was washed away in a hurricane in 1393, and the residents had to be rescued.

Poll a’ Sean Tine - The Blowhole

Dun Briste - The Seastack

A sea cave has formed in the cliff

The history of Ireland continues:  The Famine Part III

Many landlords were heavily in debt prior to the famine and thus faced insolvency due to lost rents, the poor rates, and spending on employment; as a result, land values plunged.  The situation was made worse by the encumbered estates law, which forced the sale of indebted estates for fire-sale prices and speculators were the winners.  The British government had hoped that English capitalists would invest in Irish land, but that did not occur, as it was the Irish who bought up the land.

The change in the size of landholdings after the famine was striking, as a lot of consolidation took place after the poor tenants and labourers were thrown out.  Grazing land was expanded, and land was sold to new settlers from England and Scotland for cattle production.  There was severe resentment toward these new settlers.

Emigration had been ongoing in Ireland prior to the famine, between 1700 and 1776, 100,000 emigrated to the USA, mostly Ulster Presbyterians.  When mass death resulted from starvation in 1847, there was a panic exodus, which resulted in a high number of the poorest emigrating.  Since passage on British ships to Canada was cheaper than passage to the USA, many of the most destitute opted for Canada, 45% of the passengers on those ships were the most poverty stricken.  The vessels came to be known as ‘coffin ships,’ due to high death rates at sea.  Many of the emigrants were already sick due to overcrowding in disease infested ports, while they waited for passage.  Conditions on British ships were horrendous and completely inhumane; conditions on American ships were much better, but still abysmal.  The death rate on passage to Canada in 1847 was approximately 30%.  Conditions improved from 1848 onward, as the death rate on ships to Canada fell to close to 1%.

By the end of the famine in 1851, one million people had died, and a further two million emigrated, mostly to the USA, smaller numbers emigrated to Canada and Britain.  After the famine, emigration remained high, so that by 1871, 3 million had left and by 1921, 8 million people who were born in Ireland, were living elsewhere, mostly in the USA.

The agricultural labourer virtually disappeared from the landscape as a result of the famine and mass emigration.  Ireland became an emigrant society where practically everyone colluded to ship out the surplus population, to the benefit of those remaining.  To secure the family farm, only the eldest son would inherit, so the other sons and daughters, emigrated.  The average emigrant was age 20 - 24, single and reluctant to return to Ireland.  Many sent money or prepaid passage tickets back to Ireland for their families.  The majority of the Irish who emigrated settled in urban areas.

The ongoing debate with regard to the famine was whether or not it was an act of genocide, perpetrated by the British government.  The response of the British government ranged from grossly inefficient to callous, but there is no historical evidence to suggest that there was genocidal intent.  A key point for me in reading about the famine, after I got past my initial emotional storm over the suffering of the people, and my exasperation with the pitiful response on the part of the British, was the question of food exports versus food imports. The charge of genocide is based on the notion that Ireland was producing enough food to feed her people, but that the food was exported to Britain.

However, food exports from Ireland during the famine were well below normal, as the majority of the corn crop was consumed in Ireland.  Grain exports declined as well as the grain had to be kept to feed the cattle and pigs, whereas previously, the pigs consumed potato plants.  In 1847 and 1848, the total imports of Indian corn and meal from North America vastly exceeded the exports from Ireland.  The blight destroyed 60% of the food in Ireland, that gap would not have been filled if all grain produced in Ireland was held.  The import and export statistics puts to rest, the notion that the famine was a genocide.  Most professional historians recognize that one million people should never have died of starvation, as they lived in a political union with one of the world’s wealthiest nations at that time.  The British press, politicians and public, held a cold and cavalier attitude toward the suffering of the Irish, this was completely outrageous, but does not come down as genocidal intent.

Doolough Valley

It was another rainy and windy day.  We headed south to drive the beautiful and sorrowful Doolough Valley.  Even in the mist, the landscape is lovely and would be striking with additional visibility.  However, this is a sad place, as it was the location of a tragic walk of starving and emaciated human beings in 1849.

During the famine, the starving people of the Louisburgh area, who were receiving outdoor relief, were to be inspected by a vice guardian of the Westport union and by a poor law inspector, on March 30, 1849.  Rather than proceeding with the inspection in Louisburgh, the inspectors went on to Delphi Lodge and instructed the poor to follow them to that location for an inspection on the following morning.

The starving obeyed the order and some 600 people walked the 16 miles to Delphi Lodge through the mountain passes.  If they did not attend the early morning inspection, they would have been struck off the list of those to receive outdoor relief.  Starving men, women and children, walked to Delphi Lodge to attend the morning inspection.  However, the inspection did not take place until noon.

The strain this walk would have taken on emaciated and starving bodies is beyond comprehension.  On the morning after the day of inspection, a mother and her two children were found dead on the roadside.  An additional four people were found dead, and it was reported that nine or ten more people never returned home.  An inquest into the deaths of two of the people, found that they died of starvation and exposure.

A memorial commemorates the tragedy of Doolough and an annual famine walk takes place in May.

As we drove through the valley in the mist, I thought of the people and their struggle to walk through this landscape while in a state of starvation.  This would not have been a place of beauty then, it would have been a place of pain, suffering and death.

Doolough Memorial

Doolough Valley

We drove along to the head of Killary Harbour, which is a fiord.  Because of the high volume of rain, the waterfall that empties into Killary Harbour was gushing.

Aasleagh Falls on the Erriff River

After we left Killary Harbour, we drove to Kylemore Abbey.  Despite the weather, there were many people about.  We did not bother gaining admission to the Abbey or the Abbey gardens.  After taking a few photos of Kylemore Abbey with the mist coming down, we drove toward our home base.

Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Lough

We stopped off in Westport to pick up a few supplies and went for a walk around the town.  They are celebrating Westport 250 years, and had bands playing with a few people standing in the rain watching.  This band is called Landslide, and they were really good, an energetic group of young musicians playing rock.

Landslide

The History of Ireland continues:  The Famine Part II

The poor law amendment, enacted in June of 1847, provided for the relief of the non able-bodied destitute, either in or outside of the workhouses, while able-bodied were only to receive relief in the workhouse.  If the workhouse was full, then the able-bodied would receive outside relief if they were involved in the hard labour of stone breaking.  The most draconian measure of the poor law, forbade relief to anyone occupying greater than 1/4 acre of land.

In theory, the poor law would prompt Irish landowners to employ their former tenants and farm labourers in the improvement of their estates, if they did not do so, they would pay anyway through the poor rates.  However, the poor law had the opposite effect.  The landowners were to fund the relief by paying the entire poor rate on every landholding valued at less than 4 GBP and half the rate on land valued at more than 4 GBP.  This tax measure encouraged landlords to clear the land of the poor, smallholders, who paid little to no rent.  This clause resulted in eviction, exile, disease and death.  The people did not want to give up their small holdings or they would forever be paupers without a home, and they would lose any opportunity for landlord assisted emigration.

When tenants were evicted, either the roof, or the entire structure was destroyed, rendering the home uninhabitable.  The evicted were then out onto the roads, where they suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation until they headed to the workhouses as a last resort.  The recorded convictions from 1849 - 1854, numbered approximately 250,000, but that does not include voluntary surrenders, which were numerous.

The poor tried to avoid the workhouses as long as possible, as they were an overcrowded vector for disease and had high mortality rates.  The government resisted providing outdoor relief, even though it was cheaper than funding workhouses, as they thought the cost would explode, as more people would take outdoor relief.  Also, they would be only supplied cooked rations, which required the starving families to walk to receive them, including starving kids, the ill and the aged.  For some families, it was a four-mile round trip on foot.

The people suffered severely from starvation.  Typhus and relapsing fever spread via body lice when the people were too weak to maintain hygiene, and overcrowding caused the rapid spread of these diseases.  They also suffered from dysentery and diarrhea, eating any plant available, including grass, added to gastrointestinal issues.  During the famine, the rates of smallpox, TB and measles also increased.  More people died of the diseases which accompanied starvation, than from starvation itself.

The hardest hit areas of Ireland were the far west and southwest.  The highest average annual excess mortality rate was in Mayo, followed by Sligo, Roscommon and Galway.  These areas also had the lowest income per capita, the highest illiteracy rates and landholdings less than 20 acres.  The lowest death rates were in Dublin, Wexford, Carlow and Derry.  Total excess mortality in Ireland from 1846 to 1851 is estimated at one million people, in some areas, the population declined by more than 25%, which is mind boggling.

We will complete the history of the famine in tomorrow's blog.