The Gentleman’s Magazine and historical Chronicle
from January to June, 1810 Vol LXXX p76
Irish and Scotch News
Jan 6
Last week, as a travelling tinker and his wife were passing through Kinvara, they stopped at a public house to take some refreshments; which having done, they were in the act of taking their departure, when the tinker accidentally happened to tread on a favourite dog belonging to the landlady, which so irritated her that she vowed her husband should take revenge. He accordingly did by striking his guest repeatedly and knocking him down. His unfortunate wife was endeavouring to help him up and she received a kick in the belly from a fellow by the name of Ferral, a boatman, which almost instantly deprived her of life. She had a suckling infant at her breast at the time.
Month: April 2014
Duras/Doorus – 1837
Photo: A McCarron
Wikimedia Commons
Samuel Lewis – 1837
DURAS, a parish, in the barony of KILTARTAN, county of GALWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 16 miles (E. S. E.) from Galway: the population is returned with Kinvarra. This parish, which is situated on the bay of Galway, takes its name from a small fertile island close to the shore, which was granted by Cromwell to Major John Walcot, whose grandson sold it to Mr. French, from whom it descended in the female line to the Baron de Basterot, its present proprietor. A great portion is rocky and incapable of cultivation; but some of the land is very rich and produces excellent wheat. Limestone is abundant, and much is quarried for agricultural and other purposes. The late Mr. French raised embankments in several places to prevent the encroachment of the sea, and built a long bridge to connect the island with the main land; great improvements have also been made by bis successor.
The principal seats are Duras Park, that of P. M. Lynch, Esq.; and Duras House, of the Baron de Basterot. Great numbers of oysters and other fish are taken off the coast, and about a mile and a half to the west of Duras Point a pier has been constructed, which, though dry at low water, is accessible to vessels of 60 or 80 tons’ burden at the return of the tide; the expense of its erection was partly defrayed by a grant from Government. From the west end of the pier a ledge of foul ground extends to Deer Island. Here is a large flour-mill, worked by the tide. The parish is in the diocese of Kilmacduagh; the rectory is partly appropriate to the see, and partly to the benefice of Ardrahan; the vicarage forms part of the union of Kilcolgan; the tithes are included in the composition for Kinvarra, which see.
In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Kinvarra; the chapel was erected by the late P. M. Lynch, Esq., and was enlarged and a spire added to it by his son, the present proprietor of Duras Park, by whom it has been also endowed with £10 per annum. On the island of Duras are the remains of an ancient friary, with a burial-ground; and there are the remains of a druidical altar, near which some ancient silver coins have been found.
Kinvara arrests – 1910
Photo: Cresswell Archives
CONNAUGHT(abridged)
The town of Kinvara presented an animated appearance Tuesday June 14 in connection with the arrest of six prisoners, Michael Donohoe, Patrick Healy, John Hynes, Thomas Gorman, Bartley Quinn and John Smith for cattle-driving off the lands of Ballyvauleen, Kinvara. The prisoners were arrested here previous Sunday, driving cattle through the town, and were released on Sunday evening and re-arrested about 6 a.m.
Tobarmacduagh, Kinvara – 1832
From The Dublin Penny Journal, Volume 1, Number 25, December 15, 1832.
The place called Tubber-macduach, or Tobar Mhic-Duach, “the well of Duach’s son,” is situated about a quarter of a mile from Kinvarra, in the County of Galway, on the Loughrea side. Here is a small spring of water, neatly walled in, and shaded by a few hawthorns, in blighted contrast with the verdure of which there appears in the background the remains of a blasted and withered ash, whose aspect indicates that it has long stood companion to the holy fountain. The upper wall, apparently of recent erection, is in form a square of about seven feet to the side, having a small stile for the more easy admission of pilgrims. Beneath the square wall is another of a circular form, fencing in the whole, as represented in the annexed cut.
On the left hand side as you enter by the stile, you find in the interior of the upper wall a small niche, intended for holding a cup, and also serving as a receptacle for the offerings of devotees. Unfortunately for the guardians of the place, however, such tributes now consist of nothing more than a few worthless rags, brass pins, and the like. Mr. Sheehan, who when I visited this spot, resided hard by, caused a handsome stone cross to be erected in front of the well, between it and the high road, and the exertions of the parish priest, (Rev. Mr. Quinn,) were not wanting on the pious occasion.
This well seems to have been formerly the resort of St. Colman, who flourished about the beginning of the seventh century. He was a member of the illustrious house of Hua-Fiacra-Aidne, in Connaught, and was a near relative to Guare,[1] King of that Province, who began his reign about the year 604, and held the sceptre thirty-eight years. The saint was, from his father’s name, Duach, surnamed Mac-Duach, by which appellation he is more generally known than by that of Colman.
The earliest accounts of Colman’s life say that he lived as a hermit in the forests of Burrin, County Clare, attended only by one young clerk, his disciple. Their food was water-cresses and wild herbs–their drink the pure spring–and deer-skins served them for clothes. Having constructed a habitation and oratory encircled with trees, they remained in Burrin forest seven years, without conversing with any other person.
Colman’s reputation becoming very great, he was taken notice of by his relative, Guare, who was a prince[2] of great piety and liberality. He offered Colman as much land as he choosed for the establishment of a religious community, but the Saint, it is said, refused to accept of more than a small spot, on which he afterwards erected a monastery, and where he became bishop. This place was not far from his former habitation, and has, from his name, been called Kilmacduach. The foundation of that church took place in the early part of the reign of Guare, and probably before the year 620. After a life well spent, St. Colman died on the 3rd of February, but the precise year of his demise is unknown. His memory is held in high veneration in the diocese of Kilmacduagh.
From what has been already mentioned, the reader will perceive that the hermitage of Colman, alias Mac-Duach, must have been somewhere in the neighbourhood of the fountain just described, which springs in the barony of Kiltartan, part of the ancient Hy-Fiachra-Aidhne. This well is also near the barony of Burrin,[3] in the forests of which St. Colman is said to have secluded himself. It must likewise be remembered, that he and his attendant are reported to have lived upon water and water herbs, both which Tubbermacduach was capable of furnishing them with. I shall only remark farther, that the parish of Kinvarra, or Kinmarra, in which the spring rises, is a prebend in the diocese[4] of Kilmacduach, which See was, as I have already mentioned, founded by St. Colman.
Most probably this well, (like many others of the same description,) was used by the Saint, whose name it bears, for the purpose of baptizing converts to Christianity. Thus Archbishop Usher (Primord. p. 862-3.) says that St. Patrick baptized his converts in Dublin, including Alphin, the king’s son, in a well near Patrick’s Church, which in after ages became an object of devotion for the faithful, and so continued until it was enclosed within the foundation of a house, in the 17th century.[5]
NOTES:-
[1] Guare’s father was Colman, son of Cobhtach, who was cousin-german of Duach, the father of Saint Colman.– Vide Colg. A.A.S.S. p. 248.
[2] 2. Lanigan’s Eccl. Hist, Tr. 342.
[3] Burren barony was formerly denominated Hy-Lochlean, and was part of Corcumruaidhe district. The ancient proprietors of it were the O’Loghlins, of the race of Ir, by Fergus-Riogh and Maude, Queen of Connaught.–See Seward Top. Hib. title Burren, and Macgeogh. Hist. d’Irl. fo. 215.
[4] Harris’s Ware’s Bishops at Kilmacduach.
[5] See 1. Mac Geoghagan Hist. d’Irl. 258. to the like effect.
Cahercon – 1921
Wikimedia Commons
Another Shocking Atrocity. FROM THE CORRESPONDENT OF THE LONDON ‘DAILY NEWS.’ GALWAY, Thursday.
A sensational story of the burning of the house of a widow and the stripping and ill-treatment of seven young men who were inside at the time comes from Caheroncen, (Cahercon)Kinvarra.
Mrs. Bridget Quinn was visited in the evening by 14 men, supposed to be members of one of the divisions of Crown forces. They were dressed in civilian clothes and wore false moustaches. They arrived in a motor lorry, and declared that they were looking for the murderers of policemen.
To seven men who were playing cards in the house they shouted ‘hands up,’ and, covering them with rifles and revolvers, took them outside, where they were kept under guard while the house was searched. Then the men were compelled to strip and lie flat on the ground.
They declare that all that was in their clothes was taken, and the clothes burned.The house of Mrs. Quinn was burned to tho ground, and, having implored the raiders, she was permitted to free a team of horses in a stable.
The naked men were told to sing ‘God Save the King.’ They stated that they did not know the words, and the National Anthem was then sung for them, and they were compelled to repeat it, and then told to clear off, shots being discharged after them.
A doctor who attended fhem subsequently told me their bodies bore marks, and, although they had not been seriously hurt, they were in a very nervous condition. No member of the Crown forces has ever been attacked in the district.
The Burren and Beyond 