Category Archives: Co. Cork

Seán Hurley: Drinagh, Ireland’s Easter Rising Hero

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Seán Hurley was the only Cork volunteer killed in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916.

Seán Hurley was born in July 1887 to John Daniel Hurley and Catherine Walsh of Drinagh, Co. Cork, Ireland. He was the youngest of seven children.

He attended Drinagh National School and the Clonakilty Boys School. Among his classmates in Clonakilty was Michael Collins.

Seán immigrated to London in 1906. He worked at Harrods department store as an accounts clerk.

He joined the Geraldine GAA club and was considered a good athlete. Among his team mates was Michael Collins.

Hurley joined the London branch of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He also joined the newly formed London Branch of the Irish Volunteers.

Returning to the Dublin in January 1916, Hurley worked at Wilson and Crowe, Bootmakers, Lower Bridge Street, Dublin.

Hurley fought with the F Company, 1st Battalion. His commanding officers were Edward Daly, Piaras Beaslai, Jack Shouldice and Captain Fionán Lynch.

Hurley was garrisoned on Church Street during Easter Week.

Just before the rebels surrendered on 29 April 1916, Hurley was shot in the head and arm.

He was brought to the medical station at St. Mathews Hall, Church Street, which was run by the Capuchin Order. After the surrender he was transferred to Richmond Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

He was buried along with 15 other Easter Rising casualties in St Paul’s section, Republican Plot, Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.

The commemorative sculpture in Drinagh portrays Seán Hurley in his volunteer uniform during the Rising. The sculpture was created by Don Cronin, http://www.doncronin.net/. Cronin also created the life size Bull in bronze in Macroom and Horse and Rider in bronze in Innishannon among many other works.

Partly funded by community donations and the Cork County Council, the statue was dedicated in 2016.

#ireland #irish #IrishHistory #EasterRising #1916 #Dublin #MichaelCollins #Drinagh #IrishRepublicanBrotherhood #Cork #CountyCork #WestCork #GaelicBar #DonCronin

Sources –

1916 Relatives Association
https://1916relatives.com/

1916 martyr Seán Hurley to be honoured in west Cork
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/1916-martyr-Seán-hurley-to-be-honoured-in-west-cork-1.2630039

Drinagh’s Seán Hurley recalled in exhibition
https://www.southernstar.ie/news/drinaghs-Seán-hurley-recalled-in-exhibition-4155734

Michael Collins House 
https://www.facebook.com/michaelcollinshouse/posts/382047960597932/

Seán Hurley 1916 Commemorative statue
https://fundit.ie/project/sen-hurley-1916-commemorative-statue

Videos:
Seán Hurley 1916
https://youtu.be/8cFhZFanJ9w

Drinagh 1966 Seán Hurley Monument
https://youtu.be/3N22nwyZ_jE

Drinagh Seán Hurley Commemoration 1966 and 2016
https://youtu.be/hRV4hhoAdpY

Connolly’s Gaelic Bar
https://www.facebook.com/ConnollysGaelicBar/about
Don Cronin – Sculptor
http://www.doncronin.net/

3D Design shop

http://3ddesignshop.com/

Exploring the “Druid’s Altar” – Drombeg Stone Circle

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Drombeg stone circle (also known as The Druid’s Altar), is one of Ireland’s most-visited megalithic sites. It is a protected Irish National Monument.

Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:49 3-D View of recumbent stone. 02:46 E.M. Fahy’s schematic drawing of Drombeg excavation 04:42 fulacht fiadh

Drombeg is a small axial stone circle located 2.4 km (1.5 mi) east of Glandore, County Cork, Ireland.

The name Drombeg means small ridge.

The site is strategically situated in atop a small valley with an expansive view of the surrounding area. It overlooks a gentle slope that extends down to the Atlantic ocean to the west.

Archeologist E.M. Fahy excavated and restored Drombeg in 1957-58. Drombeg originally had 17 stones and 13 remain today. The circle is about 9 meters, 31 feet, in diameter.

Fahy replaced two stones during the restoration in the late 1950s. He also removed an area of gravel from the center of the circle and made a startling discovery.

Fahy discovered an inverted pot in the center of the circle containing the cremated remains of an adolescent wrapped with thick cloth.

Near the pot were smashed pottery sherds and sweepings from a pyre. Radiocarbon dating of samples taken from Drombeg revealed it was active c. 1100–800 BCE.

Several surveys of the site were made in the early 20th century and a journal article from 1903 indicated there may have once been a standing stone at the center of the circle, according to the website voicesfromthedawn.com https://voicesfromthedawn.com/drombeg….

Drombeg’s alternate name, the Druid’s Altar, may have originated from local stories the recumbent stone was a sacrificial altar and the circle was built by Druids.

Reputed to be a sacrificial altar, the recumbent stone is darker than the other stones in the circle. It is directly opposite two stones, each more than two meters (7 ft) tall, that appear to frame a ceremonial entrance portal.

The recumbent stone has two cup-marks and what has been interpreted as a depiction of either a stone axe or a human foot.

Although the discovery of the cremated remains lends some credence to the idea that the site may have involved some form of human sacrifice.

However, the circle predates and the radiocarbon dates for the human remains predate the Druids. A guidebook written in the 1990s also invented a narrative for the Drombeg which may have also helped reinforce the idea the site was associated with human sacrifice even though the exact nature of how and why the remains were buried in the circle is unknown.

The Drombeg site also includes another Bronze Age feature, a fulacht fiadh and the remains of two associated stone and wood huts. A fulacht fiadh is a kind of pit that was used for boiling water by means of heated stones.

Excavation by Fahy in 1959 uncovered the foundations of two conjoined circular huts. The huts, one of which was used as a hearth for heating rocks, are linked by a 9 m (30 ft) stone causeway to the fulacht fiadh.

Water in a trough was boiled by dropping in red-hot stones from the adjacent hearth. Evidence form the site suggests the fulacht fiadh was in use until 5th century AD.

The fulacht fiadh at Drombeg is often referred to as a communal cooking pit. The term, fulacht fiadh, has been treanslated by some scholar to mean “cooking place” of deer or game. However, no direct evidence of food or cooking food has been found at the site. A number of alternate uses for the boiling pit have also been suggested ranging from a sweat lodge to being used to prepare hides to make leather to boiling wool.

When Fahy excavated the fulacht fiadh he reportedly conducted experiments demonstrating that he could heat the 265 liters (70 gallons) of water in the trough by adding stones baked three hours in a hearth. The water boiled vigorously after 18 minutes and was hot two hours later.

Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rdscallyN

Music: Tomorrow’s Rain – Hushed

How to pronounce fulacht fiadh:    • How To Pronounce …  

Fulacht fiadh experiment:    • Putting the stone…  

Fulacht fiadh cooking experiment    • Wild Atlantic Way…  

Sources: Fahy, E.M. (1959). “A Recumbent-stone Circle at Drombeg, Co. Cork”. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. 2. LXIV: 1–27. Fahy, E.M. “A Hut and Cooking Places at Drombeg, Co. Cork.” Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 65 (January-June, 1960): 9-10. Keogh, Jackie (4 January 2017). “New discoveries about Drombeg Stone Circle”. Southern Star. Retrieved 6 January 2017.

Links: https://voicesfromthedawn.com/drombeg…

http://www.megalithicireland.com/Drom…

https://www.megalithomania.com/

Exploring Mizen Head and Barley Cove Beach

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Mizen Head and Barley Cove Beach

Mizen Head and Barley Cove Beach – Wild Atlantic Way, Southwest Co, Cork, Ireland.

Mizen Head in County Cork along the Wild Atlantic Way, is often called the most southwesterly place in the Republic of Ireland.It’s not.

That honor actually belongs to Brow Head, a location nearby that is 9 more meters further southwest and located 3.8 km east of Mizen Head.

But it is Mizen Head, specifically the Mizen Head Signal Station, that is the major tourist destination. It is as far southwest as most tourists in Ireland will get.

The Mizen Head Signal Station – a former light house and radio beacon station for mariners and commercial shipping – has become a top-stop major tourist destination along the southern portion of the Wild Atlantic Way.

In 1992 the manned signal station and its crew were replaced with an automated beacon.A local tourism cooperative, the Mizen Tourism Co-operative Society, acquired the signal station site and buildings from The Commissioners of Irish Lights, Ireland’s light house authority. The property included a large section of Wild Atlantic Way scenic coastal palisades.

Using local and European Union funding, the tourism group created walkways that feature a spectacular bridge, a viewing platform, developed a visitor’s center and began charging admission for access to the walkways and viewing area.Mizen Head Signal Station quickly caught on as must-see for tourists visiting the County Cork portion of the Wild Atlantic Way.
https://mizenhead.ie/

Opening TimesJune, July and August
Daily 10am – 6pm
September, October, April, May
Daily 10:30am – 5pm

November – March Weekends 11am – 4pm

Entry PricesAdult: €7.50 | Senior/Student: €6Child under 14: €4.50 | Child under 5: Free

Group & Family DealsFamily (2 Adults and up to 4 Children): €25Groups (10 and over): Adults: €6.50 | Senior/Student: €5 | Child 5-14: €3.50
https://mizenhead.ie/about-mizen/

Accessibility

Accessibility for wheelchair users is good in the Mizen Head Signal Station visitor’s center. However, anyone with mobility issues should be very cautious on the walkways, especially when the weather is less than ideal.

The venue itself says to budget at least 1.5 hours for a visit using the walks ways to view the cliffs.Your experience at the Mizen Head will vary with the wildly varying Irish weather.

Thick fog and rain moved in during our Mizen Head visit in September 2022, reducing visibility to zero and making a €7.50 trip down the walkway unattractive.

However, the view from area immediately outside the visitor’s center is quite spectacular, as is the drive to the visitor’s center, even if you do not or cannot access the cliff-side walkway.

Near Mizen Head on the Mizen Peninsula to the south is Barley Cove Beach.

The beach is one of several Special Areas of Conservation in Ireland under the European Union’s Habitats Directive, due to the variety of wildlife and habitats in the sand dunes.
http://www.westcorkweb.ie/barleycove/

The wide beach and the bay it faces are popular in the summer.Barley Cove’s delicate dunes and an adjacent shallow lake were born in relatively recent times. An earthquake and tsunami on 1 November 1755 caused 15-foot waves at Barley Cove displacing the sand that created the dunes, the Cork Journal newspaper reported on 2 November 1755.

The same earthquake and tsunami destroyed Lisbon, Portugal.

Barley Cove Beach is a sheltered, south facing beach popular with swimmers and surfers. Lifeguards are on duty only during the summer months with dates and times displayed on the noticeboard on the beach.Barley Cove Beach, however, is on the Wild Atlantic way. Swimmers take extreme care due to dangerous currents and rip tides – especially during the off season.

Accessibility

Accessibility for wheel chair users is limited here. Boardwalks cross the sand dunes and a floating bridge, in use only in the summer months, connect to more dunes and the beach to the north of the main parking area.There is also beach access on the opposite side of the bay near the Barleycove Beach Hotel.
https://barleycovebeachhotel.com/

What is The Old Butter Road?

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What is The Old Butter Road?

What is a Butter Road?

Butter roads were routes used by Irish dairy farmers to haul their butter to market in the centuries before mechanized transit.

Any road leading to and from an Irish dairy farm could be considered a butter road.

But the first purpose-built butter road opened in 1 May 1748. It was a turnpike toll road constructed by John Murphy of Castleisland, a key market town Co. Kerry, the center of a milk-producing region.

For centuries butter has been an important cash crop in Ireland. Until the late 19th century, Irish dairy farmers churned their own butter, usually salting it and packing into 56-pound barrels called firkins.

But dairy farms and the markets where the butter was sold were far apart. Rural Irish roads were often little more than muddy trackways. Getting those firkins to market using horses and carts was as challenging as it was dangerous.

The British Parliament passed an act calling for construction of the butter road since demand for Irish butter was increasing.

Travelling on the butter road could be treacherous. This was especially true on the return trip from Cork when farmers often had money from the butter they had sold and robbers would lie in wait.

John Murphy, builder of the Castleisland to Cork butter road did not profit from the innovative venture – building a mostly straight road in Ireland was novel at the time.
https://getpocket.com/read/3738662816

While a butter market had been established in Cork by 1730, the Cork Butter Exchange run by a group of butter merchants, didn’t open until 1770.
https://getpocket.com/read/3737981175

As the butter business became more organized with advent of cooperatives and mechanized creameries, transportation improved. Even as butter began being ship by railroads, the butter road was still in use.

Butter days – An Irishman’s Diary on the Cork Butter Exchange and the world’s largest butter market
https://getpocket.com/read/2187629833

But Irish dairy farmers were no longer solely dependent upon it to get their product to market.
https://getpocket.com/read/3737975828

Today, the route is called the Old Butter Road and it is paved modern roadway.

Clodagh Standing Stones

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Clodagh Standing Sones

Glodagh Standing Stones 4K

Clodagh Standing Stones

The Clodagh Standing Stones are located in County Cork, Ireland. The Clodagh Standing Stones are a pair of standing stones forming a stone row.

They are a designated Irish National Monument. The smaller of the two stones is about 1 meter (3.3 ft) tall. The larger is about 1.5 meters tall.The stones may have been erected in the Bronze Age. Like many of the thousands of standing stones in Ireland, the purpose of these stones is unclear. Further information: http://ancientstones.blogspot.com/201…

The Clodagh stones may be astronomically aligned within the local topography.From mega-what.com:http://mega-what.com/sites/Clodagh-no…

These stones may be related to a small five-stone circle and two more standing stones located on private land about 200 meters to the southeast. From mega-what.com: http://mega-what.com/sites/Clodagh/in… There are several other standing stones in the area. Further information from megalithicmonumentsofireland.com: http://www.megalithicmonumentsofirela…http://www.megalithicmonumentsofirela…http://www.megalithicmonumentsofirela…

Location and access for people with mobility issues: Clodagh Standing Stones are located near Pookeen 4.8 km (3.0 mi) northeast of Drimoleague, between Castle Donovan and Dunmanway. 51°41’52.7″N 9°13’27.1″W The stones are near a road junction and open to the public.The site is mostly flat and mostly accessible to people with moderate mobility issues, though caution is advised in walking on the site. Wheelchairs could possibly access the site, but with difficulty due to a berm about a half meter high on the side of the road between the roadway and the site. Parking is limited to pulling to the side of the road far enough to not block any traffic.

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