Part 5 of Voyages en anglois et en françois d'A. de la Motraye en diverses provinces

Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Voyages en anglois et en françois d'A. de la Motraye en diverses provinces (Author: Aubry de la Mottraye)

Entry 5

After a Stay of 5 Weeks in Blarnay where Mr. Jeffreys procur'd me a great Deal of Pleasure I set out for Dublin in Company with 3 Students who were going back to the University. I saw Nothing more remarkable betwen Cork and that Metropolis of Irland than Killkenny with a Country very fertile in Grains, pastures and such Richs of Nature & Art as the above mention'd but with all this the greatest poverty imaginable among the Countrypeople (mostly R. Catholicks); they are almost naked lodge in Hutes made of Earth worse than the Habitations of the Laplanders, and lie on straw, they are (I heard) as great Slaves to the Irish Lords as the Russian Païsants to their Boïars, they live on Potatos and Butter-melk, I did hardly met with one even a Woman but walk'd barefoot either in Winter or Summer; I was assur'd by my Fellow-travellers, (and I had heard already at Cork and Blarney) that there are few or none who eat Bread twice a Year, those who have two Cows and a Field of Potatos of their own reckon themselves happy, however they are strong, healty and handsome Peoples, they breed as Rabbits, nothing more common than to see 5 or 6 Children and more in one Hute, however their Lords and Masters say that they are the most leazy Peoples in the World, one must not conclude from what I have said of the Beauty and Fertility of the Country, that they are general, there are in this as in others many Heaths & barren Lands, where almost nothing grows but Brambles and sweet Brooms: there are several Marshs as dangerous as those of Ingria mention'd in the 2d. & 3d. Chapt. which they call Bogs,

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especially North West I heard so, I have not seen them, the Wood and forrest, are almost as scarce now in Irland as they were formerly plentifull before the Conquest of this Kingdom by Henry II. They have been cut down to sell or (as they say for Reason) to reduce the Rebels and Tories (as are call'd here High-way-men) who retir'd therein, I have nam'd only Killkenny as the most remarkable of the Towns from Cork to Dublin, I might add, which has preserv'd most of it's ancient Luster or Magnificence, the others v. g. as Rathnioc, Formoy, Clonmel, Kels, Gowran, Catherlagh, Blessingtown &c.; are not or little considerable but for their Situation and the Priviledge of sending Deputies to Parliament; Rathnioc⁶ is 13 or 14 Miles above Cork, seated in the midle of a vast & fertile Plain where I saw more Green & Trees together than any where else on the Road, with arable Fields, Meadows, Pastures, Villages, Seats &c.; Colonel Barry a Member for this Borough has a noble Country House which is not much distant from it, Formoy stands 5 Miles higher on the River call'd Black Water; it's Waters are not blacker than those of the Black Sea, but very clear and fishy, the Parish Church al. Collegiate and serv'd by regular Canons of Saint Austin is a good Gothick Building, we cross'd here that River on a good Stone Bridge: Clonmel 15 Miles beyong it is upon the R. Share⁷ and much larger, it has two Churches the best whereof was that of Shung-Abbey,⁸ there is a 3d. one which did also belong to a Religious House but 'tis an ordinary Building & out of Use, the Town-House which was rebuilding for most part with Marble is small but very neat. Kills is about 13 Miles above it, there is a good Church also formerly that of a Monastery which is all worth seeing, but there is here about from this Place to

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Gowran and 7 or 8 Miles further as rich Variety of fertile Fields, of Meadows, Pastures, Country-Seats, Farm-Houses, &c.; as can be seen, my Fellow-travellers told me that all that with Gowran & Killkenny belong'd to the Duke of Ormond before his Retreat and had he remain'd in Possession thereof and this Estate was well administrated or honnestly manag'd might bring him a Yearly income of 60000 L. Sterl. Mylord Arran his Brother has redeem'd it for a small matter from the Crown who confiscated it upon his Grace's Retreat & lets the Pallaces & Country-Seats fall into Ruin: I observed a little before we came to Gowran in the middle of a small green Plain an artificial Mount such as those which I have mention'd in my 2d. Vol.; they are almost as common in Irland as in Sweden and Dannemark, &c. they are adscrib'd here to the Danes, such Monuments are not wanting in England especially in Cornwal, Devon & Wiltshire, I only mention this because it is one of the most regular and finest I have seen in Irland. Gowran is about 7 Miles beyond Kills, this Town appears to have been large, fair & strong by the considerable Remains of it's Walls, Gates and Forts or Castles, as they call them and say there were formerly 7 of them. Killkenny is still a pretty large City, one of the most magnificently built on account on the Marble Quarries not far from it, the Streets are mostly pav'd therewith, it's Churches are all old Gothick Buildings, the Cathedral is the fairest and seated on a raising Ground; there stands near it a high Tower like No. 6 in the Print IX, but without Point or cover; there are several such ones in this Kingdom; they are reckon'd of a great antiquity & the Work of the Danes; I saw none in England tho' the Danes did also invade it, they don't agree on the Use of these Towers,

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some thinke they were Watch-Towers, others, Steeples for Bells because they stand generally near some old Churches; I was told that some are above 100 foot high, but with only 10 or 12 in Diameter, the Wall is not above 3 foot thick; there are no steps or stairs to ascend to the Top, nor even to the Entrance, which is a small square opening no less than 10 or 12 foot above Ground. That of Clundalkin (4 Miles from Dublin which I have seen is very like this, 84 foot high and about 200 Paces from the Church; That of Swords (6 Miles from that City) has a point like No. 6 and is 72 foot high. There are almost over against the Cathedral of Killkenny (about 100 Paces from it,) considerable Remains of an old Monastery which has been converted into Barracks and it's Church into a Stable; the Tower thereof is still pretty entire. This City is said to be one of those which had the greatest Number of Monasteries, and according to the Records there is no Kingdom who had so many of them as Irland in proportion to it's Extent, the most numerous of the Religions Orders was that of regular Canons of Saint Austin, they alone had more Houses than all those of other Orders together & the Chapters of the Cathedrales & Collegiate Churches were generally made up of these Canons as were those of Corke, Killkenny, Catherlagh, Dublin &c.; this Order had besides this noble Prerogative of having 2 Abbots & 8 Priors that were Spiritual Peers of the Kingdom and sat in Parliament; The Cross-Market in Kilkenny so called from a Cross still standing in the midle is properly a broad spacious Street form'd by good regular Houses and the Town-House which is small but a Stately Building, the Cross is very high on a round Pedestal of 6 steps, the Arms thereof are broken but there remaine on the Top Good imboss'd

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figures well preserv'd, the Chief Ornament of that Town is the Duke of Ormond's Pallace, t'was a strong built Castle of his Ancesters which he caused to be demolish'd & magnificently rebuilt after the modern fashion some Time before his Retreat, but not quite finish'd especially within, there is no Appereance it ever will be so; it is so much neglected that it rains therein thro' the Roofs which have not been supply'd since with Slates when wanted (tho' a thing so common all over the Country;) it is only inhabited, I think, by a Gardner with his Family who does hardly take care but of his Lodging, and not much better of the Gardens, nay these Gardens are so far neglected that he keeps only the Usefull in most of them, I mean Fruit-trees, Pulses and the like, he lets wild Grass for Cattle grow in the rest; the Situation of that Pallace it advantegous and pleasant on a Hill at the foot whereof runs the Neura washing it's park from North South West on one side and the Town on the other, the Waters of this River are so fair and clear for running upon Sand & Gravel that they are one of the 3 things wherein 'tis commonly said Kilkenny excells, viz. Water without Mud, Air without Fogs, and Fire without Smoak, the Air indeed is reckon'd the purest and the best in the Kingdom,⁹ the Coal which

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is taken out of some Neighbouring Pits has those peculiar qualifications that it does never smoak, burns without trouble and even extinguish by being blown.