Tuesday 13th August
Robyn and I (and a 18 month old
Catherine) had driven around Ireland in 1994, so we'd seen most of
the touristy high spots. As a consequence we were a bit over Irish
castles and cathedrals and museums. Happy to wander along if
something looked interesting but our main aim for these few days
touring was for Robyn to do her family history research and for us to
get a good look at the countryside.
Each evening we normally agree on the
next day's activities, so a quick look at the map on the Monday
evening showed us travelling a short distance from Abbeyfeale to
Ennis and surrounds. It also showed us that if we traveled a bit
further over to the coast we would get a chance to have a look at the
Cliffs of Moher, which featured in the film of “The Princess Bride”
back in the 1980s. Neither Robyn nor I could remember if we'd visited
25 years previously, so we felt this little bit of touristy stuff
would be okay.
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| The cliffs |
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| Try landscape mode! |
The place was very crowded with more
and more buses rolling in the whole time we were there. Major
problem: too many people taking selfies with the cliffs in the
background. One bloke asked me to take one for him. I did so, he
checked it and then asked me to zoom in on his face more. I told him
the cliffs would be out of focus but he frankly didn't seem to care.
<rant>I have no idea why people do this sort of thing. It's as
if they can't be sure they were ever at a place unless their face
appears in every photo of every monument or building.</rant>
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| Car and bus parks |
After that mild touch of tourism it was
back into the family history run with a drive back over to Ennis The
Genealogy centre in the town was extremely helpful and we spent a
good two hours there looking over parish records, survey maps and the
like getting some idea of the areas we wanted to have a look at.
Most of Robyn's ancestors lived around
the small towns of Ruan and Templemaley, some 8 or so
kilometres outside Ennis. We were looking for certain surnames and
while we found them in the Ruan cemetery they were all of the wrong
period. Possibly very distant cousins though not in the direct line
of enquiry.
After Ruan we decided to head towards
our accommodation for the night, but as the phone network seemed to
be acting up we had to head back to the bigger town of Ennis to get
our bearings and hopefully some mobile coverage so Google maps could
kick in. On the way back we spotted the sign to Templemaley and
headed off down that road. A kilometre down we passed a cemetery but
kept going as we thought we might find something in the township.
Actually, we couldn't even find the township. I think the sign
pointed to an area rather than an actual hamlet so we turned back to
the cemetery and wandered around.
And then, in one of those happy
coincidences that never cease to surprise, after 5 minutes Robyn
called out that she'd found something. I wandered over and found her
standing in front of the gravestone of her great-great-grandfather
Cornelius Cullinan. He had died in 1913 and the stone had obviously
been placed there sometime later. The inscription said it had been erected by “his loving wife
and children” but the wife wasn't then mentioned as being one of
the others in the plot. So I guess she was “loving” when the
stone went in and then changed her mind later.
After that it was a zig-zagging drive
to the B&B, then a similar drive to the local pub for dinner and
back. A very successful day.
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