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The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland (Author: Jonathan Binns)
chapter 15
Departure from Westport — Remarkable change in the country — Agricultural school at Hollymount — Tricks practised by farmers — Tuam Catholic Cathedral — The two Archbishops — The Protestant Cathedral — Galway — Crookanabruky — Tornabruky — Character of the inhabitants — Willow cradles — Presentation Nunnery at Galway — Other Nunneries — Principal landed proprietors in the neighbourhood — Dead Man's Lane — Tragical story — Spanish appearance of Galway — Price of provisions — Catholic priests of Galway.
Westport and Robinson's hotel I left with regret, and proceeded by coach to Galway. Having an unavoidable engagement in Dublin, I was prevented travelling along the west coast, and the very interesting wilds of Cunnemara. This district is rich in minerals, and is celebrated for its black, green, and veined marbles.
Our road to Galway lay through Hollymount and Tuam. The country reminded me of the
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wolds of Yorkshire; it is nearly destitute of wood, the fields are of considerable size, and I observed with pleasure several flocks of good sheep. With the exception of about ten miles, limestone prevails along the whole district from Westport to Galway. This part of Ireland possesses the remarkable singularity of many of the farms being in the occupation of the owners, most of whom are resident.
The neighbourhood of Hollymount abounds with gentlemen's houses; and, with its rich land, green knolls, fertile vallies, and abundant water, forms a pleasing contrast to the dreary aspect of the barren tracts between Castlebar and Lough Conn. The river Robe, which supplies Lough Mask, winds round Hollymount. A year or two ago, an Agricultural School was established near Hollymount; the buildings lie close to the road, between that place and Tuam. The condition of this establishment is, I regret to say, anything but prosperous. The ground about the house is tastelessly arranged, and I fear that at least an equal want of judgment is exhibited in the agricultural
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department. The crops appeared weedy, and very little green crop was visible. I saw one patch of cabbages about 20 yards square, and believe there were a few turnips in the distance. In my opinion of the merits of this school I shall be glad to find myself mistaken; but impressed as I am at present, I think the proprietors would do well to apply to Mr. Blacker, of Armagh, for an agriculturist.
According to the account of the Assistant Commissioners, who visited this institution, the farm consists of 94 English acres. Mr. M'Chlery, the agriculturist here, stated, that previously to taking this situation, he was master of a similar establishment at Templemore, for seven years. His agreement for Hollymount was as follows. He was to pay £100 a year rent, and was to receive 40 pupils (30 males and ten females), who were to pay at the rate of £10 a year each, for which he was to provide them board, lodgings, and instruction, and was to have the benefit of their labour. The Assistant Commissioners, who investigated this barony, state, from personal observation,
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that the buildings, especially the house, are of a more costly description than is necessary for the purpose. The crops consist of oats on an old bog; wheat, about 10 acres, a very fine crop; potatoes, mangel wurzel, Swedish and white turnips, planted in drills. This account fully confirms the necessarily imperfect opinion I formed in travelling past. The money that ought to have been applied to promote the ends of the institution, has been thrown away upon an ostentatious but useless building; and in the arrangement and execution of the plans, a sad lack of co-operation, on the part of the influential residents of the neighbourhood, is perceptible. I concur with Mr. Blacker in thinking, that until the Irish gentlemen act more in concert for the public good than they do at present, the best method of effectually teaching a knowledge of agriculture, is for the owners of property to provide themselves with experienced bailiffs, who may set a practical example of the improved theories they maintain. Agricultural Schools, on a small scale, and under judicious management, might succeed; but failures such as
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that at Hollymount are grievously discouraging, and injurious to the cause they were intended to serve.
One of my fellow coach-passengers entertained us by relating instances of the tricks resorted to by the farmers, in order to deceive the corn-factors. A bottomless churn is put into a sack, and filled with grain of an inferior quality; it is then surrounded and covered with good grain, and drawn out. This, however, is a practice not confined to Ireland; it is sometimes detected in the markets of this country; and many of my readers will doubtless have had occasion to know that the strawberries which the fruiterers in London exhibit on the tops of the pottles, are very unsafe indexes of the quality of those that lie concealed within. My companion also informed us that the farmers, when in want of a little wool to mend their stockings, are in the habit of cutting off from the side of a sheep as much as will serve their purpose, not choosing to trust their wives with the whole fleeces. A patch of calico is sewed over the bare place, as a substitute for the wool.
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Tuam has a population of nearly 7,000, and is remarkable for its new Catholic Chapel, or, more properly, its Catholic Cathedral. The funds raised for the erection of this edifice, which is in the richest and most florid style of Gothic architecture, were voluntary contributions, and the labour in building it was supplied gratuitously. Unfortunately I had no time to take a survey of the interior, many parts of which are spoken of as singularly beautiful. "The altar," says one who inspected it, "is entirely of Italian marble, of various descriptions; it was made at Rome, and sent as a present from the Pope, carefully packed in boxes. The workmanship of the whole is exquisite." The steeple has not yet been added. Tuam is the residence of Power le Poer Trench, Protestant Archbishop of the place, and also Bishop of Ardagh; and of Dr. McHale, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam. The rancorous feeling that subsists between these two dignitaries of conflicting churches, seems to demand from us a charitable interpretation of the bitternesses that prevail among those who enjoy fewer advantages,
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and whose obligations are of inferior responsibility.
The Protestant Cathedral here is an old building, of Gothic architecture, and small. It contains nothing particularly attractive. Tuam has been the see of an archbishop ever since the beginning of the sixth century.
The morning after my arrival at Galway (23 miles from Tuam) before daylight had dawned I took a car to Salthill and the village of Tornabruky. The hill of Crookanabruky, which I ascended, commands an excellent view of the extensive and very magnificent bay of Galway, the isles of Arran, and other small islands. In the bay there are upwards of 2,000 fishing boats; the fishermen have chosen the western side of Galway, near the bay, for their residence. They are said to be a singular people, and seldom marry out of their own caste. Cod, haddock, ling, red and grey gurnet, mackarel and lobsters, are found here in great abundance; also some turbot. A fine cod sells at from 8d. to 1s. 6d.; and a turbot from three to 6s. The salmon fishery closes
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on the 12th of August; that fish is frequently in great plenty, the price, according to the season, varying from 6d. to 2s. 6d. per lb.
Tornabruky is composed of small thatched cabins on the side of the steep hill of Crookanabruky, and is a curious village. The street is exceedingly abrupt, and serves the double purpose of a road and the bed of a boisterous torrent. The inclosures on the mountain side contain each only a few perches, or at most a rood of ground, and are fenced by the industry of the inhabitants at their own expense. The walls are five or six feet high; yet notwithstanding their great extent, considerable numbers of the stones which previously encumbered the ground are unappropriated, and are piled in tall heaps in the little parrocks. At a short distance the village and the surrounding inclosures resemble a honeycomb; nor is there a tree, hedge, or shrub, visible in the neighbourhood. The people pay at the rate of one-fifth of their rent for cess, and do not know to what purpose it is applied. A man, for instance, paying a rent of £5, would
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have to pay £1 for cess: this is a state of things that calls loudly for reform. I saw no turnips, rape, or tares, amongst them; indeed their knowledge of agriculture appeared to be of a low and limited order; but from their inquisitiveness and eager desire to obtain information, they would, I doubt not, cheerfully submit themselves to a systematic course of instruction. In manners, these people are somewhat original and eccentric, but very obliging. The women wear red petticoats and vests, and a short blue cloak that covers part of the head — a dress that is peculiar to the female peasantry of Galway. Few of them wear stockings. The prevailing colours, red and blue, are dull and dirty looking, very different to the bright showy colours so greatly admired and so much in vogue in most parts of Ireland. A large proportion of the drudgery falls upon the country-women, who (probably in consequence) are generally short, square, and inelegant.
On descending from Crookanabruky, we found our horse by the fireside amongst the children,
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eating something in the shape of corn, which, however, proved to be nearly all husk, with but little kernel. Indifferent as it was, this constituted the best fodder they could supply. Here I saw an intelligent and very interesting deaf and dumb boy, who invited me, by looks and gestures that could not be misinterpreted, to sit down and observe an infant that lay smiling in its willow cradle. This cradle was neatly made, and had actually cost, when new, no more than seven-pence — two of them having been bought at Galway (so the farmer informed me) for the sum of fourteen-pence. In England, each would have been sold for six or seven shillings. The low prices obtained for almost everything produced directly by manual labour, are sufficient to discourage industry; but if a railway communication should be established between Galway and Dublin (and it is talked of), an opportunity for the export of their manufactures will be afforded, and a stimulus accordingly applied to their ingenuity and exertions.
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From these novel and interesting scenes I hastened to take advantage of the kind offer of a lady in Galway, to accompany me to the Presentation Nunnery. On knocking at the door we were immediately admitted, and politely conducted by one of the Sisters to the several rooms in which the pupils were prosecuting their studies. This admirable establishment consists of twenty nuns and a superintendant, bound together by the benevolent desire of promoting the comfort and the happiness of their fellow-beings, and successfully devoting their best energies to the accomplishment of the projected end. The nuns take four vows — viz., poverty, charity, obedience, and instruction of poor female children. The children are admitted at the age of eight, to the number of from four to six hundred, and irrespectively of religious distinctions — and continue under the vigilant and virtuous care of the sisterhood, until fit to enter upon the active engagements of life. They are educated (gratuitously of course), with reference to the situations of governesses, nursery-maids, ladies'-maids, and
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confidential servants, and are sought by families in every part of Ireland. One hundred and eighty of the pupils have a breakfast given to them every day, and two hundred are clothed yearly. The funds arise from the subscriptions of the benevolent, and the sale of the needle-work of the girls, to which is added a grant of £30 from the Board of Education. Some of the pupils are engaged in making lace and tambour-work, the proceeds of which they receive; and it not only provides them with clothing, but greatly assists their parents in the payment of their rents. The children were busily engaged as we passed through the apartments, and appeared clean and healthy. The majority were from eight to twelve years old.
We were presented to the Mother, a venerable lady of eighty years of age. She very kindly accompanied us to some of the apartments, and also to the retired garden of the nunnery; and directed our attention to the burial ground — a small plot, four yards square, and containing only one solitary grave — as a sort of negative argument in
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favour of the salubrity of the situation, and the regularity of the mode of living pursued in the establishment. This interesting lady appeared religiously devoted to the self-appointed duties she had incurred — was no less eager in soliciting, than frank and prompt in supplying, information — and expressed her anxiety to adopt any improvements that could be suggested in the practical management of the institution. The dress of the nuns was neat and unassuming. During the two or three years of probation, a white veil, thrown over the head, and somewhat resembling a muslin handkerchief, is worn; at the end of this period, the novice either assumes the black veil, and pledges herself to perpetual residence within the walls of the nunnery, or abandons it for the busy world from which she separated herself on first joining the secluded community. From the waist of each of the sisters a large black cross and beads were suspended, and this was the only distinctive symbol of their connexion with the Roman Catholic religion. On entering the institution, the sum of £600 is required to be paid; but if the individual
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paying it, does not remain beyond the period of probation, thirty or £40 are detained, in consideration of the term of her residence, and the balance of the original sum is returned to her. I must not conclude my notice of the Presentation Nunnery without remarking, that there are no private rules affecting the children, except such as refer to the domestic concerns of the establishment; and that no attempt is ever made to instil the principles of Catholicism into the minds of the Protestant pupils.
My visit to this nunnery was a profitable one. It taught me to condemn myself for having entertained harsh and uncharitable opinions of the monastic life; it afforded me a practical proof that seclusion does not necessarily imply inactivity, but that an entire withdrawal from what is called the world, is compatible with a diligent and extensive exercise of the spirit of philanthropy.
Galway contains three nunneries besides that which I have been describing. They are, however, totally dissimilar to it — no children being admitted, and no instruction of any kind being
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given. A priest, of the name of Peter Daly, lately founded another institution, of the Order of the Sisters of Charity. This Order, which is peculiar to the Roman Catholic Church, and has been truly said to be "at once its highest boast and its greatest ornament," was established by Vincent St. Paul in the year 1629, assisted by a benevolent lady named Le Gres. The duties of the Sisters are to visit and attend upon the sick poor, both in the public hospitals and at their private houses — to administer food and medicine — to supply clothing — and to promote, to the best of their ability, the comforts of the destitute in every possible way — without distinction of sect or creed, and gratuitously. Galway has also a school, which contains from four to six hundred boys, 150 of whom are fed with "stirabout" and milk every morning, and 200 of whom are clothed. The funds arise from subscription. It is in connexion with the National Board of Education, and was founded in the last century by a parish priest who was Catholic Warden of Galway, named Austin Kerwan. I entered the school, but the
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children had not generally assembled; those already there looked pale, and wanted both the cheerfulness and the cleanliness exhibited by the girls in the Presentation Nunnery.
The population of Galway is about 38,000. In the town there were 8000 destitute paupers, and within two miles round, no fewer than 20,000, and this number was stated to be daily increasing. No beggars are allowed to be in the streets; they are relieved by the Mendicity Institution, at an average cost of 8d. per week each. There is also a Dispensary and a Fever Hospital, all supported by private charity. The labourers receive, in the town, 10d. per day without diet, and in the country from 6d. to 8d. without diet, but are employed only half their time. With this load of pauperism crippling its energies, no wonder that Galway should not keep pace with some other towns in wealth and prosperity.
The principal landed proprietors in the county are, Thomas Martin, Esq., (the member for the county), the Marquis of Clanricarde, Lord Dunlow, Lord Clancarty, Sir Thomas Burke, Mr. Dealy of
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Dunsandle, Mr. St. George of Tyrone, and Mr. St. George of Headford Castle; Mr. Bellew of Mount Bellew, Mr. Martin of Ballynahuigh Castle, with many others of the Blakes, Browns, Rodkins and Lynches, all Galway names. Property is better divided in Galway than in any other county in Ireland.
In Dead Man's Lane, Lombard-street, a tablet representing a death's head and cross-bones in alto-relievo, is considered, and certainly is, an object of interest. It is about two feet wide, by two feet eight inches in height; and the motto, which is now partially effaced, has been — "Remember deathe, vanite of vanite, and all is but vanite." With this tablet a tragical story is connected. James Lynch Fitz-Stephen, Mayor of Galway in 1493, had brought from Spain a native of that country, named Gomez, with whom his only son, Walter, soon contracted an intimate acquaintance. Walter, who was affianced to a young lady of family and fortune in the neighbourhood, began to suspect that the attentions of Gomez were regarded by his betrothed with a degree of
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interest which was scarcely compatible with the relation they bore to each other; these suspicions shortly afterwards receiving the most unequivocal confirmation, he sought to revenge himself by taking the life of his successful friend and rival. Gomez fled to the sea-shore — Lynch overtook him at the water's edge, plunged a poignard in his bosom, and cast his body into the sea. The wretched murderer fled for refuge to an adjoining wood, in which he spent the night, a prey to feelings of the deepest anguish and remorse. Unable to bear the assaults of conscience, he resolved to surrender himself to the law, and on proceeding towards the town for that purpose, encountered his father, accompanied by several officers of justice. He proclaimed himself the assassin: the father, with a heroism that would have done honour to the best ages of Greece and Rome, smothered, as it were, the feelings of a parent, and condemned his son to the ignominious punishment of a murderer. At the execution a rescue was attempted by the relations and friends of the convict; and the father, finding all his efforts fruitless to accomplish
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the ends of justice at the accustomed place, resolved himself to perform the sacrifice he had vowed to pay on its altar. He accordingly took his son to a window in his own house, which overlooked the street where the multitude were assembled; secured the end of the rope which was fastened round the neck of the criminal to an iron staple; and after giving him a last and most affectionate embrace, launched him into eternity. The intrepid magistrate expected instant death at the hands of an enraged populace; but the magnanimity of his conduct overawed the people, and they retired quietly and peaceably to their respective dwellings. This event is the subject of a tragedy by the Rev. Edward Groves.17
I ascended the old walls of the town, remnants of which are preserved. They are ten or twelve feet thick, and thirty feet high. At the extremity of the garden of the Kilroy Hotel, a gentleman has
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displayed his good taste by building upon the base of one of the old dilapidated towers, a modern tower of corresponding architecture. From this garden (in which is an ancient stone image, found in the earth, supposed to have been an object of adoration) Terreland Castle, the seat of the Clanricarde family, Sir Valentine Blake's Castle, Dongan House, late Mr. Martin's, and Castle Oran, are seen.
The old streets of the town are narrow, and the curiously carved and singularly shaped doorways exhibit great antiquity. "At every second step," says Inglis, "I saw something to recall Spain to my recollection. I found the wide entries and broad stairs of Cadiz and Malaga; the arched gateways, with the outer and inner railing, and the court within. I found the sculptured gateways and grotesque architecture which carried the imagination to the Moorish cities of Granada and Valencia."
Provisions at Galway were cheap; potatoes 1d. to 1 1/2d. per stone; oats 6d. per stone of 14lbs.,
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weighing 36lbs. per bushel; wheat (red) 6s.; (white) 7s. per cwt., 58lbs. per bushel; barley 10s. the barrel of 16 stones. Fish is very plentiful. The best Newcastle coals on the quay were from 14s. to 16s. per ton; Scotch, from 12s. to 13s. A dock and canal, intended to communicate with Lough Corrib, are preparing, and will doubtless be found greatly to augment the resources of the district.
The Catholic Priests of Galway were represented to me as a well-informed and gentlemanly set of men; it was added, however, that whilst they do not object to the bible being in the hands of the well-educated Catholics, they would withhold it from the more ignorant of the laity of their communion. This does not, to a Protestant at least, say much in support of the first of the preceding epithets; and if anything could justify an uncharitable feeling towards them, it would be their cruel policy in withholding from those who stand so much in need of solace, the most prolific source of comfort. The scriptures are often the
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only fountain of hope possessed by the poor; from the pages of holy writ they learn patience under the sufferings and deprivations of this life, and are taught to look with confidence to a better world beyond the grave.
Volume 1
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