With Cork as our home base, we ventured out to several sites in the immediate area. But first, we turned on our iTunes and played the music of the day – The Green Glen of Antrim – to get us in the spirit. With Martin singing along, we headed to Blarney, the location of the Blarney Castle and the infamous Blarney Stone.
Blarney Castle
Blarney Castle
The current structure is the third built on this site. The first was built using wood, in the ninth century. The castle remains we see today were built around 1446 AD.
The Blarney Stone is imbedded in the wall in the castle’s top floor. There are many tales about its history and location – too many to list. The legend states that anyone who kisses the Barney Stone will be given the gift of eloquence…or “empty flattery”… or “beguiling talk.” Even though we don’t want this talent, we decided to climb up and kiss the stone, for fun.
The climb was not easy. As we learned, the design of this spiral staircase ascension was a unique, Irish invention in the design of castles. The entrance to the staircase is thru a low doorway, requiring an intruder to lower and lead with his head. The width of the stairwell could barely accommodate an average-sized person… certainly not two, side-by-side. The handrail on the right side, forced the intruder (who most often is right-handed) to carry his weapon in his left hand. The steps were of varying height, so he had to watch and feel each step. As the intruder emerges from the staircase, he would be bent over, head leading, watching the ground, and his weapon in his ineffective left hand. Pretty easy pickings as each pops out at the top. Well you get the picture…just in case you ever want to design your own castle.
Top Floor Of Barney Castle With Barney Stone At The Far End
The Barney Stone – Not That Impressive
Blowing A Kiss Rather Than Kissing The Stone
We succeeded in making it to the top. We located the stone. But surprisingly, the kiss was not going to be casually achieved. To touch the stone with one’s lips (yuck with all those lips having touched it before), we would have to lay on our backs, then arching over backwards on the parapet’s edge. This is traditionally achieved with the help of an assistant. Although the parapet is now fitted with wrought-iron guide rails and protective crossbars, the ritual can still trigger attacks of acrophobia. For a small contribution, two men would let you lay on a soiled mattress (for comfort) as you arch over the ledge to kiss the stone. One look and we decided to just blow a kiss to the stone. Neither one of us needed any more ‘eloquence.’
The grounds around the castle are beautiful. We enjoyed a walk to a fern garden embracing a waterfall. It would be easy to spend several hours strolling through the various areas.
Given our time constraints, we drove to Cobh (also known as Queenstown). This port city was the Titanic’s last port-of-call on April 11, 1912 before it left to its final destiny with an iceberg on April 15, 1912. A total of 123 passengers embarked the Titanic in Cobh. Only 44 survived.
Titanic Poster Advertising Journey
The Titanic disaster was followed by another event on May 7, 1917. A German U-Boat torpedoed and sunk the RMS Lusitania just off Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. This cost 2000 lives. By sinking a non-military ship without warning, the Germans breached international law. Given that the ship was carrying war munitions, the non-military status was suspect… a fact that was not widely known or published. Since 128 Americans were among the dead, there were strong protests and calls for retaliation. Britain had been encouraging America to get involved in the war for quite some time. The ship’s sinking provided Britain with a propaganda opportunity. The sinking of the Lusitania is frequently mentioned as the trigger that brought America into the war in 1917.
A little further down the coast, we saw an immigration memorial to Anne Moore, 15 years old, and her two younger brothers as the first immigrants to enter the USA at Ellis Island in 1892. This may be a good opportunity to digress and address Irish migration.
Anne Moore Memorial
In learning about Ireland’s history, it seems that rampant poverty and devastating events have been part of the Irish landscape since the beginning. The island has no natural resources. They were attacked and plundered by the Vikings, Celtics, Normans, and British. Divided into several small Irish kingdoms, they battled each other. The oppressive British rule during the 17th and 18th centuries prohibited the Irish from purchasing or leasing land, from voting, from holding political office, from living in or within 5 miles of a corporate town, from obtaining an education, from entering a profession, and from doing many other things necessary for a person to succeed and prosper in society. So the poorer people were cottiers and laborers who did not own their own land.
Applying even more oppression, in 1815 Britain passed Corn Laws to protect internal grain producers and imposed heavy tariffs on importing any grain. Thus increasing Ireland’s dependency on the potato. It was the only food available to the majority of people. The stage was set for the perfect storm in 1841 – the Irish Potato Famine. The potato blight attacked the roots and ravaged potato crops throughout the continent. Since there were few food alternatives in Ireland, the impact was disproportionately larger.
In 1841 the population of Ireland was just shy of nine million. During the course of the next five years, about 40% of the population died of starvation, immigrated mostly to America, or died in transit. Poverty, in addition to the famine, continued to fuel immigration such that by the 1920’s, the population declined to about 4 million. The population of Ireland today is just over 5 million. The country has not recovered to pre-famine levels.
In talking with Martin and others, it is clear that the affinity with America is part of their fabric. They list several contributing factors. As a start, America sent food relief during the Famine. Britain did not! Suggestions made to Britain by the Irish to get relief, were sent to ‘committee.’ As one person put it “they just wanted to get rid of all of us, for us to die.” America became the great refuge and hope for the Irish. Today, there are more than 70 million Irish descendants living outside Ireland.
Kinsale Harbor
Kinsale City
View of Kinsale Area
Next on our itinerary was the city Kinsale. It is a small port and fishing village with about 3,000 people. It is a vey popular tourist area for the Irish. A historical moment of note occurred in 1601. The Irish has secured the help of Spain against the British. On this mission, the Spanish armada was trapped and besieged in the Kinsale harbor. The Irish army marched from the north to come to their aid. Unfortunately, the British won the battle. Consequentially, Britain banned all Irish Catholics from the city. It was more than 100 years before they were allowed back in. There are two forts sitting on opposing sides of the entrance for protection. We visited Charles Fort in a beautiful setting overlooking the harbor.
Charles Fort
A short distance from the Fort, Martin surprised us with his next stop. We stopped in front of a red gate marked “We will never forget.” Entering through the gate we found an orchard of 343 trees planted in honor of 343 firemen that died on 9/11 in the Twin Towers attack. One tree for each fireman. A name tag on each tree. Several had momentos brought by family members – a T-shirt he wore, a part of his uniform, a strap, and so on. It was very moving. As Martin said, that day, all of Ireland stopped, watched, and mourned… .in shock. The land and memorial were contributed by Kathleen Murphy, who was raised here and owned the land, but worked as a nurse in New York for 40 years. She knew several of the firemen including a chaplain who was a personal friend. She returned to Ireland to oversee this memorial, but died shortly before it was completed.
We Will Never Forget Memorial Entrance
Firemen Lost On 9/11 In New York
Orchard oO 343 Trees
One Of The Fallen Firemen
The Loss Is Personal
Prior to this trip, I was never aware of the depth of feelings the Irish people have for America. It was always just about the annual St. Patrick’s day celebration…wearing green for me. People here feel that Americans are their soul mates. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising (declaration of independence from Britain). As part of this celebration, the television stations are running all sorts of stories about those days. As we’re having lunch at a pub, the pub owner came up and talked about the program he saw the night before. One of the highlights was the New York Times making the Rising a front page story for 10 days. He thought this was phenomenal. No one else gave them this type of coverage. America recognized and honored the struggles of the Irish people. It was lifting for the whole nation. He feels that America keeps on giving, helping the people of Ireland. He was very emotional talking about this special bond. I felt quietly proud of what our nation and people did. The impact was enormously positive and lasting.
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