Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Lewis Dillwyn's Visit to Kerry, 1809 (Author: Lewis Weston Dillwyn)
entry 1
Tuesday, July 18th
We had engaged to breakfast at Ballylickey6 which lies near the Road from Bantry to Kenmare, & we accordingly left our inn soon after seven. Bantry is rather a small town situated on a Creek at a short distance from the Bay, & it's only decent inn is what the generality of English Travellers would call most miserable. In the Bay large quantities of corallines are dredged up for the purposes of manure,7 & on our way to Miss Hutchins's8 I for an hour examined some Heapes in which I found several scarce and valuable shells &
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among these are two or three which Mr Leach thinks are new to Britain. After breakfast I examined the remainder of Miss Hutchins's marine algae & she liberally supplied me with specimens of most of the rarer Species. About half past twelve we with regret parted from our new Friends at Ballylickey & set out for Kenmare. At 1 o'clock we arrived at the foot of the Priests Leap from whose highest Summit it is said that a Priest, being pursued by an Enemy, jumped into the Town of Bantry which is four Irish miles from its base & there the credulous Catholics still show the mark which his Heel made when he alighted. It is a tremendous Mountain for a Carriage to pass, & can only be accomplished with great difficulty on which account we found a respectable Farmer with fifteen of the Peasantry waiting by Mr. Hutchins's order in readiness to assist us.9 We here left our Carriage and separating from each other we ascended the mountain in different directions in order that we might thereby examine it more thoroughly. We found Saxifraga umbrosa10 & Saxifraga hirsuta11 in great abundance on all the Rocks as well as many of the more common Mountain plants but we did not meet with any others of the rariores except Isoetes lacustris12 which was gathered by Mr Woods in a small Lake near the top of the Mountain.
The Priest's Leap divides the Counties of Cork & Kerry into the latter of which we entered when we passed it's Summit. About 100 yards from the top of the Mountain we crossed a small Bridge on which three months ago the Revd Mr. Tisdall,13 Protestant Vicar of
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Kenmare was waylaid, robbed, & inhumanly murdered by two Ruffians one of whom named Murphy now lies in Tralee Jail with the clearest Evidence against him. The manner in which he was taken is singular. Mr Tisdall's Body was not found or his dreadful fate known till nine days after the Murder & in the Interim Murphy had escaped to the opposite side of the Kingdom where some Persons seeing such an ill looking Fellow well stocked with Bank Notes suspected they were forged & stopped him at Kilkenny. Before he could clear himself from the charge of Forgery, the murder was detected & printed descriptions of Murphy's Person were circulated by Mr Hutchins, one of which reach[ed] Kilkenny just as the Magistrate was going to discharge him. He is accused of numerous other Crimes of the very blackest die, & is said to have hired himself for two Guineas, & assassinated a Person whom he never saw till pointed out for the bloody purpose.14 His accomplice was also taken but contrived to murder the Constable who had him in Custody, & thereby effected his excape.15
It is the custom of this Country when any person has been murdered to form a heap of stones on the Spot, to which every Passer
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by adds one or it is supposed that he would otherwise be haunted by the Ghost of the Deceased. The heap, or Cairne as it is here called, was in the present instance so small, that I should hardly have noticed it, if I had not been previously informed of its situation.16
The Priest's Leap is said to be more than 2,000 feet above the level of the Sea,17 and the prospect from its Summit is very grand and extensive. To the Southward the smooth & glassy surface of Bantry Bay with its numerous creeks & Inlets formed a fine contrast to the dark line of its surrounding Mountains, & a large tract of Country with the Atlantic Ocean beyond as if spread in a Map beneath us. To the North immediately below us appeared a Tract of dreary Peat without either a House or Tree in view, & beyond it the numerous vast Mountains of Kerry, many of which have no connection with each other, but rise separately from their own Bases, & in this respect the view differs from any other that I have ever seen.
At half past six having all met together and found our Carriage at the foot of the Mountain we proceeded towards Kenmare where however we did not arrive till half past eight tho' its distance from Bantry is said to be only 12 Irish Miles.18 We had sent a Message to the Inn desiring that some Dinner might be prepared against our arrival, but it was not ready till an hour after, & a long hour it seemed for we had not eaten a Mouthfull since Breakfast. I had a violent Cold and felt so much indisposed that tho' I was not at all over fatigued I fell fast asleep immediately after Dinner and was unable even to journalise or preserve my Specimens that Evening.