I spent a wonderful evening in the Company of Nioclás Ó Gríofán and his nephew, Nioclás Ó Condon, sometime back in conversation with him about the history of his particular area - Seaview - he spoke about the townland of Rathnameenagh. And I was immediately curious to learn more about such a little area that held so much history. And so, it came to pass that we met up on one sunny afternoon and explored this hidden little treasure and in a subsequent interview with the man in question, as ever his legendary Knowledge of local history was most revealing and rewarding. His use of the local dialogue is colourful and true. I have tried to print it exactly as spoken because of the simple attractiveness of expression which is  sadly no longer in vogue among the younger generation. Hopefully, I have done justice to the spellings of his Irish placenames and in the event that I have not, readers’ comments will be gratefully accepted. I have also taken the liberty of seeking Cannon Power’s placenames for clarification,  keeping in mind that the Good cleric was not always correct.I also consulted  Dinnen's, 1927 Irish/English dictonary . Also, where possible I have sourced some photos / items of interest mentioned by Nioclás to complements the piece.  I have also taken some Poetic licence with my photos!

Eddie; So now then Nioclás where exactly are we now are we now?

We are now in the townland of Rathnameenagh, Eddie it is a big enough townland and up until 1847 it had 643 Acers in it. The Parish of Ring was a parish on its own at the time, half of the parish of Ring was split especially the upper part of it, and half of the townland of Rathnameenagh was in Ardmore, so 259 acres of Rathnameenagh was in the Parish of Ardmore, Above the road which they call the mountain and below the road then there was it 364 acres.

Eddie; The view that we now see before us is quite spectacular

We are re looking down on Muggort’s bay, Gleann Maguirt there is a massive hole out there, and they call it An Poll Mór, Muggort’s bay… You could say it runs from the point of Helvick to Ballycreen River. That’s all Muggort’s bay, that section out there!

Eddie; Cannon Power reveals; An Mheadh within the bay is a depression in the sea bottom well known to fishermen as “An Gleann” – “The Glen.”

Gleann Naugairt it’s called Eddie, It got its name from a plant and as far as I know it’s the only bay in Ireland called after a plant. Its Mugwort or great Figwort

 

Eddie; have you an interesting story connected with the bay?

It was around 1603, there was a Dutch man o war came in there… she was lost with a cargo of cannons!

 It was the first time that locals saw a black man and him diving! He came and stayed at Helvick for a year. He came hither from England and he dived, ‘twas the first time that diving was seen and he only discovered four cannons. 

I suppose that the rest of them must be still down there, that was 1602/03 Owen McGary, I think is doing something on her at the moment, trying to locate her..

It’s interesting the fact that the man came to dive, I don’t know in them days how he was able to dive but they kept him there for 12 months anyway. I think that they used to dive in them days with a kinda bucket on their heads, anyway, the British, - go right or go wrong - wanted  to get him for themselves to England but he wouldn’t go back, so he never went to England.  And he stayed in Helvick while he was doing the job; whatever Dutch Company he was belong to!

Eddie; what was a Dutch man-o-war doing down there

Where the Man – O - war was heading for…I dunno…, that’s all, you know…she was known as the Phantom Ship, the older people used to be always saying, that at certain times of the year, they could see her… maybe when there was a gale coming, or something…she was out there in the middle of the bay!

Historically, and in a lot of ways, Muggort’s bay was a great fishing ground out there for any kind of fish and anything like that, there’s plenty of that out there, you know!

And there’s a lot of Gaibhlíns out there Eddie and I’ll give them to you now. An Gleann is one of them, that’s where the deep water is…that is where the big hole is, straight out there. The fishermen are always afraid of it because it’s bottomless! And, then you have Carraig Breáig, that’s another rock that’s out there, it’s called the stinking rock in English. Then there’s Carraig na Croise, rock of the cross.

Carraig Bhréan – “Stinking Rock.”

Carraig na Croise– “Rock of the Cross.”

Eddie; Nioclás, are these all visible now to the naked eye?

The only one you can see is Carriág Breán, you see there a lot of them under water Eddie and a Gaibhlin means a wet place where they would be coming in between the rocks…that’s what it is then!

Eddie, what exactly is the interpretation of Carriag na Croise… was there a cross on the rocks?

 No! I suppose the fact that it was dangerous Eddie, well you also have Faill na Croise, Cliff of the cross…there… Now Gaibhlin na Churraigh, that’s a wet place, a sea inlet you know and you also have Gaiblin na mbó which is a little sea inlet for the cows. And there is also Tráig na mbó , an inlet also associated with cows.

Faill na Croise – “Cliff of the Cross.”
 Gaibhlín an Churraigh - “Little Sea Inlet of the Wet Place.”

(f) Gaibhlín na mBó - “Little Sea Inlet of the Cows”; also Tráig na mBó. 

There’s three big rock formations there, there’s the Groig…the village, there’s the great the middle and the small.

Gróig - “Village”; the name is applied to three rocks distinguished as Groig Mhór, Groig  Bheag and Groig Láir

(Great, Small and Middle) respectively. 

Now, there’s the Cuil Traga straid that’s the nicest one of them all, way out there Eddie.

This is where you get the spring water, under the cliff, the one I was telling you about... It’s under the cliff which is about 300 feet high. It was man-made years ago when they used to be fishing down there and the tide comes in on it., you wouldn’t know the background of it, you’d think it’s a holy water font…its built like a holy water font! And there’s three steps leading up to it.

You can imagine the cold water that’s in that.

Eddie; So then why was it created, and especially down here in such a secluded spot?

The reason why ‘twas done the fishermen long ago went out in small boats, and they’d come in there and they’d get the spring water to make the tea on the rocks there. They would gather brushnin along the strand, auld kipping’s and things to make the fire and they’d make the tea. They wouldn’t have much in them days anyway; they’d boil the fish down there. They had a great way for boiling new potatoes, they’d have a saucepan with them and they’d boil them in salt water and they’d put the fish on top of the pot while they were boiling and they used to say that there was nothing nicer you ever eat, Eddie!

There’s Trá na Mbirineac, there are two meanings for it!There was also a Lios, but that was never found…there are two meanings for Trá na Mbirineac and Mbirineac is black clay, that covers the road above  the mountain and that which used to grow in the Cúil Trá, 

I think I showed you a bit of it the other day!they used to make chairs and do thatching and things like that with it. That was Mbirineac long ago ‘twas very valuable because they needed it for a certain amount of things…I don’t know what the story is with that but they used to gather that long ago and there’s a river over under the quarry at Seaview and its call Tobar na inse  the inch river and they used to bring it over there and wash it and they would use it after that for thatching and maybe some kind of pots for fishing. That can grow up to six feet Eddie, but only grow on the edge … look, you can see it…it won’t grow on the land… that is actually growing on 

the stones! You can see now that is right soft now you know and the idea when they wash it they took the fluff off the top of it and hung it up to dry. But they used also make súgáns out of it and used it for chairs…there are strong roots in that, it is only growing fresh now  it is very strong down the bottom, it’ll get a lot bigger than that you see.

Cúil Trá - “Strand Nook.” 
Súgáns;hay or straw rope, such as used for binding haycocks, as a belt etc, (Dinneen 1927)

Eddie; Can you tell me about the wreck of the Peri?

Just around that rock there now Eddie, that’s where the Peri was lost on November 2, 1907.

Wreck of the Peri around to the right!

And the Bang is around there, a great place to fish for Pollack…there was  also a Galleon went in there as well. Faill na Muc was where the Peri was lost Pat O  Dwyer was on her. There were only two survivors …Pat O Dwyer, and Young was on her. I think…y’know. I remember Pat O Dwyer, I was at his funeral …he was old IRA …he is buried here in Dungarvan. It was the only funeral that I was at where three volleys was fired over his grave!

 Eddie; James  Young lost his life on board the Peri

http://abbeysideheritagearchive.blogspot.ie/2010/08/able-seamen-youngs-of-abbeyside-wreck.html

(Eddie) This land here, you were telling me about ownership, you said the Cullinane’s from Abbeyside lived there at one time? 

The Cullinane’s lived in Knockpower, just at the boundary of the headland, they had 70 acres of land there, and sure they were evicted in the late 1880s. It wasn’t Henry A that evicted them…it was a different family evicted them… They had two acres above near the road and two acres on top of the cliff. And the top of the Cliff was the place that they always tilled.

Eddie; Who was the actual Landlord here back then Nioclás?

Rathnameenagh had its own landlord, Henry Fitzgerald he was known as Blind Henry A. The whole for Helvick Head to Drommana…Lord Stuart de Decies was the Landlord . He had about 28.000 acres, but he such a thing then as was called sub landlords. When Henry A, used get the money from the rent for  Seaview…when I was a young fellow at home long ago I remember going down to Sullivan’s  who was there then…you paid the rent of the first of November every year, the rent was one pound and three  shillings for four acres of land.  I remember as a young fellow going down there with my father, he used to bring the seaweed up from the strand on the donkey’s back and make ridges there.

Eddie; he used to bring it up that steep incline that was some job? It was certainly a long aul pull!

Just from down there Eddie; twas, twas hard enough to go down to it, I’d say it was this side of it isn’t that a fright, you were near the strand , they were on top of the cliff and there was good paths there , there was four families that used to till down there, there was the Morrissey’s, the Humphries and Mike Roche , so they had the same amount of land, maybe two acres each and tis down there then that they had all their vegetables then , the vegetables then was only cabbage …that’s all I ever saw there then was cabbage and potatoes. There used to be lovely potatoes down there …you needn’t have to wash them because they were sandy, as a matter of fact, one of the men there, Mike Roche … you see the potatoes could be set down there in February Eddie, because the frost would never bother them, they were protected from the North wind and they could set them there early, but Mike Roche used to have two crops of potatoes every year. When he’d dig the first of the potatoes maybe the first of July he’d be finished with them. He’d set other potatoes then, and he’d dig them in October and he’d sell them as seed potatoes.  

Eddie; tell me about Henry A?

Henry A was a Justice of the peace you see.

 Any landlord had a that title you see Rathnameenagh was the townland, that was Seaview House you see, there was no place named Seaview , just that he called it Seaview House, because he had a view of the sea you see. I saw one time, that if you wanted to go into the British Army or the navy or an RIC man in particular, you’d have to get a letter from him! And what he wrote in the letter for one local man when he gave him the recommendation…he said that was a devote Catholic but a staunch Unionist! That’s what he recommended him on! Because a Catholic in them days would not have a hope of getting into the R.I.C , you had to be a kind of a staunch Unionist to get in there! That’s what he done, you see if there was a court then…we’ll say in Dungarvan or anyplace, you see all the Justices of the peace… Gortadiha house, Seaview and Ballymacart or something like that, they’d all be inside in Dungarvan, there’d be three Justices. And one fellow went in, of course you had no hope. You see when you went in front of them because they wouldn’t even listen to you …they kind of said that this fellow is only a bit of a fooleen , they wouldn’t even listen to you, you got no Justice at all!

Dungarvan Court House

It was Henry A Fitzgerald in 1867 that tried the Fenians in Dungarvan, twas he sent them to a court in Waterford, and then they were sent to Sligo for their final trial.  One of the Fenians said to him…of course there was one of the Fenians that was local, he was Whelan from Ballinagoul, the rest of them were from around Ballymacoda &Youghal, they kinda knew the area it seems…they came in, 32 of them as you know…they fought in the American Civil war but when they came in here. The rising of 67 was over and tis by mistake that they came into Helvick. But when Henry A questioned one of them inside in town …’what kind of fellows was in the Fenians y’know…This fellow said, ‘One of them is like yourself sir!’  He was clever enough! They spoke only all in Irish, Pat Mor Ó  Faoláin they came in there to Poll na Phuca there under the College, the Monument is in Helvick as you know! Twas only put in Helvick. The Captain of the boat was Captain Kavanagh, he was from Passage East and where they held a meeting for the Fenians before they came here was in a house by the name of John Bastion and he was the granduncle of the great Waterford hurler Ned Bastion who won an all-Ireland in 48.

GORTADIHA, Gort na Daibhche – “Garden of the Cauldron (or Hogshead)”; so named, no doubt, from tub-like dips or hollows in the surface.

BALLYNAGOUL, Baile na nGall - “Homestead of the Foreigners.” A local tradition, which seems to be English in origin (and therefore unreliable), states that the foreigners were the crew of a Turkish vessel (Algerine Rover) wrecked here.

Its overgrown now where the gardens were, there were two brothers of the Morrissey’s there Eddie, Nicholas Morrissey William Morrissey, I’m going back now to the 1880s and they hadn’t to get no assistance from the Quakers when they came to Ring in the 1847-48s, because I think, some parts along by the coast , the blight didn’t hit it. And this was one of the places. Anyway, they had a system going…those fellows the Morrissey’s and Seáneen de Breathnach he came in from the Schkeens, and married one of the Morrissey’s. They had a system going themselves anyway, they cured all the fish that they caught during the summer and they used to go up…they were kinda caught because when it was time to be making the ridges for the potatoes up in Colligan, they’d take a contract up there and then they’d set the potatoes there and they’d put the clay with them and they’d dig them again at the end of the year when it was all over. But I used often hear my father  Lord rest him saying; whatever happened , they’d be home …they’d do a half day on Saturday, so that they would be home for mass on Sunday! And then they’d walk it up again to Colligan  on Monday morning and stay up there for six days  before they’d come back again.

 Eddie; Where did they sleep when they were in Colligan was it lofts of farmers houses?

 In farmer’s houses, I suppose.

You see they were selling fish as well  They built their own boats actually , they all built their own boats…actually some of them got on very well, some of them now , they went to America Eddie, There was senator Morrissey in Boston . Morrissey Boulevard in Rochester called after … Remember you wrote about them for the Newspaper Eddie, They were all born down there Eddie. That’s where their grandparents came from and that’s how they lived you see. They lived off the sea with the Fish and they lived off the land with the potatoes. And, as well as that then, Reverend James Alcock , who was on the relief committee of Ring.

Memorial erected to the Quakers 

They got such great assistance from the Quakers…they brought the Quaker money to Ring during the famine , well he stayed at Seaview house , there was an extension built on to that. Fitzgerald was a Catholic , and while Alcock was in ring he stayed in Seaview house the extension was there, I remember as a young fellow , the ruins of the old house are still there , Henry A Fitzgerald, he must have been good at music because there was a big piano there which he must have been playing it! But, he was very fond of the Irish language because (Eddie maybe his wife was playing it) no he never married he was on his own, but he done wonderful work for Ring during the famine, especially Ballinagoul, he organised all the nets, and the Indian meal and all that. He was a brilliant writer, hiswritings were something else! He had to give an account for every penny that he spent. He was one of the most interesting men that came to Seaview, he lived there until he died in 1893, he is buried in the Church of Ireland,

Eddie; where was the house?

It later became Sullivan of Seaview, the old house is gone, twas neglected, there was a new house built there. Twas never a big house, twas just a long house …Willie Fraher drew a drawing of it one time.You have Ballinacourty over there, down there now was only a small little house where my father was born, Fr Warner took a photo of it in 1940s , tis hanging up over in the college  and there was an aul garage there for Stuart for the car!

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