We have seen in the ultra portion of the Dublin Papers a statement of depredations committed by some Ribbonmen of the County of Galway, on the house and concerns of a Mr. Power of Mount Equity. We confess that the paragraph astonished us, knowing, as we do, that the County of Galway enjoys at this moment the most perfect tranquility. We shall not take it on ourselves to contradict the statement, until we shall have an opportunity of enquiring into the truth or falsity of it; but this we may be allowed to say, that we very much doubt the entire story. If the Gentleman’s house and concerns were attacked, that is no reason that the midnight ruffians should be termed Ribbonmen – for the Dublin Editor should know that there are others than Ribbonmen who can draw a trigger, or set fire to a hay-stack. Those who live by the insubordination of the “mere Irish,” overcharge their faults and vices, and look through green glasses upon the offences which they commit. We shall enquire about this circumstance; and we are of opinion that matters will be cleared up satisfactorily. This, we can assure the public, that the conversations which we occasionally hold with the County Magistrates are of a most agreeable nature, and induce us to think that the County of Galway might dispense with the services of the Police Gentry, whose “valuable labours” are now confined to the extermination of puppy dogs and untraceable scarecrows – may, sometimes, the grouse and wigeon come within the calibre of the loyal cartouche-box.
The unique visit of Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michito of Japan to Kinvara on Sunday was characterised by expressions of genuine goodwill, and the large crowds greeting them were thrilled by the friendliness of this august couple from the Far East.
Kinvara was en fete with buntings and banners demonstrating the festive spirit which even the discouraging rains could not dampen. The Royal couple were met by the chairman of the Community Council, Mr. Tommy Corless. He accompanied them on their tour, explaining buildings and local heritage and pointing out landmarks. They drove around by the Quays, which had been constructed in the 19th Century with stones from Rath Durlas, seat of King Guaire. They passed Delamaine Lodge, the old smugglers residence and drove along the Green Road to Thornville house, the former home of the Nally family. From there the cavalcade moved onwards to Bothar na Mias, the Road of the Dishes and Mr. Corless recounted the legend associated with this road.
At Kinvara’s Faiche Phadraig Pitch there was a juvenile hurling match in progress and the party drove in there to see it. The Royal Couple met with Toddie Byrne, who was in charge of the game, and the two teams. The Prince asked questions about the posts, the colours of the jerseys and the half-time break. The Princess was concerned lest the boys would get wet.
The Royal Couple went to “The Auld Plaid Shawl” where they sampled an Irish Coffee and met with proprietors, Mr. John Griffin and Mrs Denise Griffin as well as Mrs Florence Corless, Mrs Patricia Moylan, Mr John Joe Conneely, Mr James Conole, Mrs Bridie Corless, Mr Patrick J. Griffin and all three young Griffin children.
From there they went to Seamount Convent and were introduced to Reverend Mother Gertrude. In the reception room were the Japanese Ambassador to Ireland, the Irish Ambassador to Japan, dignitaries of State, Sister Laurence, (Principal of Seamount College) and a delegation from the Kinvara Community, namely Very Rev. Canon Michael O’Connor P.P, President of the Community Council and Mr. Tommy Corless, Chairman, Mrs Mary O’Shaughnessy (Kinvara town), Mrs Anne Kavanagh (Roo), Mrs Mary McInerney (Shanclogh) and Mr. Kieran Moylan.
Presentations were made to the Royal Couple including an Aran Sweater, a white crocheted shawl, doyleys crocheted by Sr. Sacred Heart, a blackthorn stick, a St. Brigid’s cross, copies of ‘Tracht’, the Centenary magazine of Seamount by Sr. de Lourdes Fahy, ‘The Journey of the Queen’ by Dr. Brian O’Rourke of Galway Regional Technical College, and an inscribed hurley.
The pupils of Seamount College formed a guard of honour for the Royal Couple on their way from the reception room to the Seamount College hall where they viewed performances of step-dancing by local members of the Celine Hession Dancers, accompanied by Chris Droney; the Kilkishen (Co. Clare) Mummers; the Ballinderreen set dancers, accompanied by the Oranmore Ceili Band; a sean nós song by Sorcha Grealish of Muchinach, Connemara, and a single dance by Seamus Devane of Connemara.
The Royal Couple were highly complimentary of all they’d seen and thanked the people for their welcome. They departed for a brief visit to Thoor Ballylee and Coole Park and within another hour they had left South Galway again for Dromoland Castle, County Clare.
Connacht Tribune 12th December 1931 p 5 (abridged)
Photo: EO’D
The Danes left their mark in Aidhne with the following incursions;
In 816 A.D. Corcomroe was raided. Glen Columkille and Oughtmama suffered and the northmen went through Aidhne to Oranmore and Loughcorrib. After the plundering of inis Cealtra the marauding vikings used the island as a base from which they plundered the church of Beagh. In 843 the warrior Turgesius, operating from Loughrea sought to establish his authority in Connacht.
The following year the Danes landed at Kinvara and proceeded in their woeful way by Kilmacduagh to Clare.
Papers relating to proceedings for relief of distress, and state of unions and workhouses in Ireland, 1848
Sessional Papers 1847-1848 HMSO
Photo: EO’D
Dippam.ac.uk
(abridged)
P.928
Along the shores of the bay of Kinvarra and bay of Galway, which form a portion of the boundary of the electoral divisions of Kinvarra and Killeenavarra, reside a considerable number of persons, some with and some without land, who have heretofore supported themselves by fishing, and by the sale of sea weed for the purpose of manure. The failure of the potato crop in 1845 and 1846 by its discouragement to the planting of potatoes, completely paralysed the operations of the latter, who are now in a most abject state.
The only portion of the population remaining to be noticed is that which comprises the miscellaneous class of pedlars, hucksters, small dealers in fruit or vegetables, and mendicants, all of whom are affected by the general poverty of the district and are mostly in a destitute state.
As regards the prospects of the Union for the ensuing harvest, we have learned that a considerable quantity of wheat has been put down by the larger farmers, but it is certain there will not be anything approaching to the breadth of corn of the past year. On the other hand, it would appear from the reports of the relieving officers, and from personal observation, that the general success of the potato crop in 1847 has encouraged the larger holders of land to make arrangements for planting in a greater quantity in the spring. Many, however, of the smaller farmers will, we fear, be unable to set any, in consequence of the scarcity and high price of seed, added to their inability to purchase manure, and it is therefore to be apprehended that a much greater quantity of land will remain uncultivated this year than last. In former years most of the labouring population had potatoes in con-acre, but their impoverished conditions now renders them incapable of making any preparations for having a crop in the present season. Even if they were able to procure seed and manure, they have no means of support while engaged in their cultivation.
The amount of agricultural employment at present is very trifling, and we regret to say that after making the most minute inquiries we have no reason to hope that the demand for labour will be much increased for a considerable period.
The Countess de Marcieviecz, whose house in Dublin was raided recently, a printing press found in it being confiscated, published a while back an interesting article on the women of Ninety-eight, which is of more than usual interest in these days when women again are manifesting high courage in the face of danger.
We hear of Henry Joy McCracken being helped more than once by brave women other than his sister, the authoress tells us. Early in ’98 one managed to warn him in time for him to escape from Belfast. Passing along the Hercules road he met James Hope, to whom we are indebted for the story of how he was attacked in Hercules street by some armed yeomen, and would have been killed had not a butcher’s wife, called Hammell, come to his assistance with a large knife. When the yeomen ran away, she led Henry Joy into her house and passed him out in safety by a back way.
Dr. Madden tells of another woman who helped the United Irishmen in the North. He describes her as “a sister to the Sinclairs, and a young woman of great personal attractions.” She constantly met General Lake and owing to his intense vanity and incapacity, was able to extract all the information and the orders given to him by the British Government.
BIDDY MAGEE
Mary McCracken tells of Biddy Magee, a mere child of twelve years, and of a nervous timid temperament. One night she heard a regiment of soldiers passing by the door of the cottage where she lived and she know that they could only be going to pay a surprise visit to a house where some of the United men were hidden. She jumped out of bed, hastily throwing about her a few of her clothes, and rang by a lonely short cut through the fields to the cottage. Her courage was rewarded for she arrived in time to warn and save the rebels, and to slip home safely herself. This child was so nervous that she did not dare to fetch a bucket of water from the well alone in the dusk of the evening. Patriotism gave her courage.
MILES BYRNE’S BRAVE SISTER
Miles Byrne was blessed, like McCracken, with a sister of exceptional character. Though only 18 and of a gay, happy, light-hearted nature, she seems to have been absolutely dependable under the most terribly trying circumstances, and to have been of the greatest assistance to her brother and to many others in evading the English troops, and finally in escaping safely. Self-possession and good sense, courage and spirit were some of the qualities that he credits her with. She had one very narrow escape, which I will give in her brother’s own words;
“If I had not remarked a long scar on her neck, she would not have mentioned anything herself. A yeoman of the name of Wheatley, of the Gorey Corps, the day on which poor Hugh was arrested, threatened to cut her throat with his sabre if she did not tell instantly the place in which I was hiding. The cowardly villain, no doubt, would have put his threat in execution had not some of his comrades interfered to prevent him.”
There are frequent allusions to her all through the memoirs, which I have not space to retail. His step-sister, too, and various other women, are mentioned as helping in his escape; in fact, the whole tone of the book tends to show how, in Wexford, the men were accustomed to rely on the women to keep them posted with information, supply them with food, hide them, and help them escape.
At the end of the rebellion, his sister hid him in a cave, dug out by a neighbour, whom he calls Ned Cane, behind the fireplace on the ground floor. He remained there till she could arrange for his escape. She arranged with another woman, Mrs. Ricards, of Coolafaney, that this lady should drive to Dublin, on the pretence of taking her son to school, and that Miles Byrne should be the man who drove the car for them.
The chiefs of the United Irishmen seem all to have been most fortunate in the women whom they married. I have only met with one woman who was weak enough to implore her husband to save his own life, at the cost of his friends. The husband, Tom Armstrong, who was hung at Lisburn, answered her entreaties and tears by saying, “No, Mary, I will not save my life on such terms. Were I to do so, great numbers of wives would be left widows, and many children deprived of their chief protectors. I will only leave one widow and two children, and the God of the widow and the fatherless will take charge of them.:
Other women
Pamela was a devoted wife to Lord Edward Fitzgerald, though he says somewhere that he never discussed his plans with her, so anxious was he that she should not be put to any annoyance through having his dangerous secrets to keep.
James Hope’s wife was an exceptional woman. Many stories are told of her courage and cleverness. One anecdote is all that I have time for. I have taken it from Madden;
“She was sent to a house in the Liberty, where a quantity of ball cartridges had been lodged, to carry them away, to prevent ruin being brought on the house and its inhabitants. She went to the house, put them into a pillow-case, and emptied the contents into the canal, at that part of it which supplies the basin.”
Putnam McCabe’s wife went by the name of Mrs. Lee and also Mrs Maxwell in order to follow him from France to Ireland, to be near him, and to help him.
James Porter’s wife tried to get him reprieved by every means in her power, and we hear of her and a Miss Jackson accompanying him to the place of execution.
Mrs Neilson, Mrs O’Conner, Mrs Thomas Addis Emmet, and many other women followed the political prisoners to Fort George and remained to cheer and comfort them through their long, weary banishment.
One way in which the woman of ’98 were able to do good service to their country was by carrying, by word of mouth, messages too dangerous to be trusted to paper and ink. Miss Betty Palmer, a confidential agent of Emmet and Russell was the daughter of old John Palmer of Cutpurse Row. Dr. Madden calls her a sort of Irish Mme. Roland, and tells how, when it was dangerous to be seen in the streets, it was she who carried messages between Emmet, Long, Hevey, Fitzgerald and Russell. Margaret Spaight did the same for John Sheares.
The cleverness of Mrs Bond has often been admired. She obtained permission to send provisions to the prisoners, Russell and Neilson. Among the dainties provided by her was a delicious pie. When opened, it was found to contain letters to friends, writing material, newspapers, etc.
Poor Sarah Curran’s sad story hardly comes into the story of ’98 but we hear of Annie Devlin in connection with some of the heroes killed in the Wicklow Mountains. In the summer of ’99 Annie and Mary Dwyer, the wife of her uncle, Michael Dwyer, going with three other young women at midnight to dig up the bodies of Sam McAllister and Tom Costello, and bringing them to Kilranelagh for proper burial.
Irish Examiner 1st April, 1850 p.4 (abridged)
As we spare no pains to collect the fullest and most authentic information connected with the social progress of the country and the development of her industrial resources, we are now enabled to lay before our readers a detailed account of the Gort Silver Mines – collected by personal inquiry and personal observation on the spot.
They are situated within a short ride of the thriving town of Gort, in the direction of Kinvarra, at a place called Caherglissance, upon the property of Mrs. Blair. The whole surface of the country appears to be covered with immense fragments of limestone; upon the removal of which very true soil is sometimes found; but more frequently great quarries of limestone will be discovered under the surface. The limestone is brittle and light coloured, and the soil unproductive and barren. In the distance the Kinvarra mountains rise, and give to the landscape a graceful termination. The mines are situated upon a flat surface of country which abounds with turloughs, formed by the subterranean river of Gort. This river flows out of the lake of Lough Cooter, and after proceeding for about a quarter of a mile, falls into a natural cavern of limestone rock at Rinditin where it disappears for about a mile, its course being clearly traced through several holes like wells, several of them of great depth, at the bottom of which water is clearly heard, by dropping a stone into the holes. The river again makes its appearance at Canahoun, where it flows out of a natural and picturesque arch of rock, and after passing through the town of Gort, turning in its progress several large mills, it alternately sinks and rises till it finally joins the sea at Kinvarra, a distance of seven miles, the water percolating through the sand before high water mark. Two of these turloughs are situated close to the mines, and afford an abundant supply of water.
Burren Turlough Photo: EO’D
These mines were accidentally discovered by a poor man about five years ago, but attracted no attention at the time. It was not until they were taken under the management of Mr. W. Rickford, Collett, late M.P. for Lincoln, that their real value was discovered. This gentleman is also chairman of the Killaloe Slate Company; he is described by Mr. Montgomery Martin as a man “of energy, decision, business habits, liberality and benevolent conduct.”
The mines are situated close to the surface in some places – so close that we may be naturally surprised at the length of time during which all this wealth lay concealed and useless in the bowels of the earth. Four or five openings have been made in different portions of the rock, and two or three shafts have been sunk, more for the sake of enlarging the field for labour and tracing the direction of the veins of ore with a view to more extended operations, than for the sake of collecting the ore at present. On entering one of the galleries, which are reached by flights of steps cut in the rock, the visitor will, after proceeding a few yards through a narrow passage dimly lighted with candles, arrive at a large chamber, the walls of which resemble a solid mass of crystalized lead, or silver. Here he will find several miners at work, opening new galleries, and tracing the direction of the ore. The large lumps of ore are carried out in wheelbarrows, and the portions of limestone or talc attached to them are separated with a heavy hammer, after which the ore is broken on a stone slab, by women with large hammers resembling a common smoothing iron fastened to a short stick. This gravel is sifted in copper sieves, and all the larger portions broken again until the whole is reduced to the consistency of coarse sand. This sand is afterwards placed in a copper sieve, which is immersed in a cistern of water, and by a curious rotatory motion given by the miner to the sieve, the heaviest portions, containing all the valuable metal, fall to the bottom, and the lighter portions are skimmed off with an iron scoop from the top and thrown away. The finer portion is again subjected to several washings, after which it is packed in casks for exportation to England.
Specimens of the ore of this mine have obtained 55 pounds 2s.6d per ton when brought to this state, and the ton of ore sometimes contains two hundred and forty ounces of silver. We saw nearly 600 pounds worth of ore ready or almost ready for exportation. Some of the specimens of the ore were beautiful. Sometimes it resembles bright masses of lead freshly broken, sometimes its hue is orange or dark brown, and sometimes it assumes the most beautiful blue or green imaginable. One specimen, which we took from a great mass of clear white spar twelve or fourteen feet in thickness and height, was beautifully tinted with light green and resembled a piece of coloured crystal. Some other specimens were of the richest deep blue, and sometimes the blue and the green will be found united in the same specimen. The silver is generally found in connection with the lead, but a few pieces of copper ore have been found, generally of a deep brown colour, spangled with bright gold-coloured marks.
A quiet place Photo: EO’D
There are at present 150 men employed at the mines, but as soon as the works are opened a little further a large number of persons will be employed. The difficulty of procuring anything not usually required in the neighbourhood is a serious inconvenience and cause of delay. It was, for instance, found impossible to procure a leaden pipe of particular dimensions in Gort, a few days since, for a portion of the works, in consequence of which much time was lost, until it could be obtained from Limerick a distance of thirty miles; but these difficulties are incidental to all new undertakings, and can be remedied only by time. Mr Collett, with a wise liberality, instead of engaging at the ordinary wages of the country (6d to 8d a day), pays the labourers at the rate of 1s and the boys 8d per day. He is, consequently, very popular, and has every reason to approve of the conduct of the men under his charge. He has engaged some Cornish workmen from England, who show a good example of industry to their Irish fellow labourers, and the best feelings exist between them.
In “Dutton’s Statistical Survey of the County of Galway,” he enumerates many minerals found in the neighbourhood of Gort; amongst others, manganese from Gortecarnane, the estate of Lord Gort, and from Chevy Chase the property of Dudley Persse, Esq; ironstone from the same place on the estate of Lord Gort, and soft ironstone, yellow ochre, heavy red earth with small shining particles, fine potter’s clay; purple coloured concretion of limestone, coalsmute, coalslate or coal, fine red fire earth etc from various places in the neighbourhood.
Under the active superindendence of Mr Collett, we may shortly expect to see several, if not all of these mines in active work, and Gort may yet become the centre of the most extensive mining operations yet known in Ireland.
The Advocate
The west of County Clare, including Kilrush, Kilkee, Carrigaholt and Baltard was instantaneously lighted up on Thursday night with signal fires, which flashed from every eminence and illuminated the horizon as far as the brightest eye could discern an object. The exact cause of this telegraphic manifestation, which was responded to from Cape Clear to Moher Cliffs, in a space of time incredibly short, is all conjecture.
To talk is quite a pleasant thing,
When themes are grand and bright eyes glisten.
In glad approval of our strain,
Yet sometimes we would sit and listen.
In some low valley sweet with bloom,
Where forest trees have rocked for ages;
Through birds, and bees, and running brooks
Learn wisdom fres from Nature’s pages.
There shut our eyes and hear the hum
Of summer life that never ceases;
But, with the advent of the stars
Goes on and on, and yet increases.
And when the winds of winter blow
And gone is sumer’s balm and glory,
We fain would sit at some dear hearth,
And listen to a touching story.
Some tale of human love and toil
A heart made glad – a broken fetter
A couple joined in holy ties
Something in life to make us better.
Something to turn us from ourselves,
And make us long to do for others;
To stem the tide of hate and wrong,
And deal as brothers should with others.
There’s music sweet in this our world.
In country town, and teeming city,
The children’s song, and hymn of peace,
The lay of love, the tale of pity.
Ah, yes, ’tis sweet to sit and learn,
Or bend the ready ear when walking,
To catch the flow from other hearts,
To listen more and do less talking.
THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1840 The Irish in 1644 as described by a Frenchman of that period (from the Irish Penny Journal) translated by Crofton Croker. the French traveller was M. De la Boulfaye Le Gouz
“Ireland, or Hibernia, has always been called the Island of Saints, owing to the number of great men who have been born there. The natives are known to the English under the name of Iriche, to the French under that of Hibernois, which they take from the Latin, or Irois, from the English, or Irlandois from the name of the island, because land signifies ground. They call themselves Ayrenake, in their own language, a tongue which you must learn by practice, because they do not write it; they learn Latin in English characters, with which characters they also write their own language; and so I have seen a monk write, but in such a way as no one but himself could read it.
Saint Patrick was the apostle of this island, who according to the natives blessed the land, and gave his malediction to all venomous things; and it cannot be denied that the earth and the timber of Ireland, being transported, will contain neither serpents, worms, spiders, nor rats, as one sees in the west of England and Scotland, where all particular persons have their trunks and the boards of their floors in Irish wood; and in all Ireland there is not to be found a serpent or toad.
Burren beauties Photo: EO’D
The Irish of the southern and eastern coasts follow the customs of the English; those of the north, the Scotch. The other are not very published, and are called by the English savages. The English colonists were of the English church, and the Scotch were Calvinists, but at present they are all Puritans. The native Irish are very good Catholics, though knowing little of their religion those of the Hebrides and of the North acknowledge only Jesus and St. Columbo (Columbkill), but their faith is great in the church of Rome. Before the English revolution, when an Irish gentleman died, his Britannic majesty became seized of the property and tutelage of the children of the deceased, whom they usually brought up in the English Protestant religion. Lord Insiquin (Inchiquin) was educated in this manner, to whom the Irish have given the name of plague or pest of this country.
The Irish gentlemen eat a great deal of meat and butter, and but little bread. They drink milk and beer, into which they put laurel leaves, and eat bread baked in the English manner. The poor grind barley and peas between two stones, and make it into bread, which they cook upon a small iron table heated on a tripod; they put into it some oats, and this bread, which is the form of cakes they call harann, they eat with great draughts of buttermilk. Their beer is very good and the eau de vie, which they call brandovin [brandy] excellent. The butter, the beef, and the mutton, are better than in England.
The towns are built in the English fashion, but the houses in the country are in this manner: – Two stakes are fixed in the ground, across which is a transverse pole to support two rows of rafters on the two sides, which are covered with straw and leaves. They are without chimneys and make the fire in the middle of the hut, which greatly incommodes those who are not fond of smoke. The castles or houses of the nobility consist of four walls extremely high, thatched with straw; but to tell the truth, they are nothing but square towers without windows, or at least having such small apertures as to give more light than there is in a prison. They have little furniture, and cover their rooms with rushes, of which they make their beds in summer, and of straw in winter. They put the rushes a foot deep on their floors, and on their windows, and many of them ornament the ceilings with branches.
Burren light Photo: EO’D
They are fond of the harp, on which nearly all play, as the English do on the fiddle, the French on the lute, the Italians on the guitar, the Spaniards on its castanets, the Scotch on the bagpipe, the Swiss on the fife, the Germans on the trumpet, the Dutch on the tambourine, and the Turks on the flageolet.
The Irish carry a sequine [skein] or Turkish dagger, which they dart very adroitly at fifteen paces distance; and have this advantage, then if they remain masters of the field of battle, there remains no enemy; and if they are routed, they fly in such a manner that it is impossible to catch them. I have seen an Irishman, with ease accomplish twenty-five leagues a day. They march to battle with the bagpipes instead of fifes; but they have few drums, and they use the musket and cannon as we do. They are better soldiers abroad than at home.
The red-haired are considered the most handsome in Ireland. The women have hanging breasts; and those who are freckled, like a trout, are esteemed the most beautiful. The trade of Ireland consists in salmon and herrings, which they take in great numbers. You have one hundred and twenty herrings for an English penny, equal to a carolus of France, in the fishing time. They import wine and salt from France, and sell there strong frize cloths at good prices.
The Irish are fond of strangers, and it costs little to travel amongst them. When a traveller of good address enters their houses with assurance, he has but to draw a box of sinisine, or snuff, and offer it to them; then these people receive him with admiration, and give him the best they have to eat. They love the Spaniards as their brothers, the French as their friends, the Italians as their allies, the Germans as their relatives, the English and Scotch as their irreconcileable enemies. I was surrounded on my journey from Kilkinik [Kilkenny] to Cachel [Cashel] by a detachment of twenty Irish soldiers; and when they learned I was a Frankard (it is thus they call us) they did not molest me in the least, but made me offers of service seeing that I was neither Sezanach [Saxon] nor English.
The Irish, whom the English call savages, have for their head-dress a little blue bonnet, raised two fingers-breadth in front and behind covering their head and ears. Their doublet has a long body and four skirts; and their breeches are a pantaloon of white frieze, which they call sers. Their shoes, which are pointed, they call brogues, with a single sole. They often told me of a proverb in English, ‘ Airische borgues for English dugues’ [Irish brogues for English dogs] ‘ the shoes of Ireland for the dogs of England’, meaning that their shoes are worth more than the English.
For cloaks they have five or six yards of frieze drawn around the neck, the body, and over the head, and they never quit this mantle, either in sleeping, working or eating. The generality of them have no shirts, and about as many lice as hairs on their heads, which they kill before each other without any ceremony.
The northern Irish have for their only dress a breeches, a covering for the back, without bonnets, shoes, or stockings. The women of the north have a double rug, girded round their middle and fastened to the throat. Those bordering on Scotland have not more clothing.- The girls of Ireland, even those living in towns, have for their head dress only a ribbon, and if married, they have a napkin on the head in the matter of Egyptians. The body of their gowns comes only to their breasts, and when they are engaged in work, they gird their petticoat with their sash about the abdomen. They wear a hat and mantle very large, of a brown colour [ coleur minime] of which the cape is of course woollen frieze., in the fashion of the women of Lower Normandy.”
The Burren and Beyond 