See above. Riobard. On 24 October 2015 at 21:25, Riobard O' Dwyer <bearariobard@gmail.com> wrote: > In the tough times during the days of the Depression in the States, > some Beara women there had to work in houses for nothing but their > food in order to stay alive. It reminds me of the tough olden days at > home in Beara. It was said that during the Famine, a woman called Red > (haired) Mary drew stones in a basket on her back when the then "New > Road" from Ardgroom to Eyeries was being made. Workers in the > construction of that road got just some meal as payment for their > labour. Times have surely changed. High up in the mountain over the > beautiful Glenbeg Lake in Ardgreoom, and close to the also beautiful > Glenmore Lake in Co. Kerry (which is overlooked by the top of the > well-known and winding Healy Pass on the Cork/Kerry border), there > lived a family of O'Sullivan Keaghs. These O'Sullivans used bring > loads of seaweed on their backs from Ardgroom Harbour for almost two > miles until they reached Glenbeg Lake, and then they had to haul the > seaweed on their backs for a half a mile up the side of the hill to > their little potato garden in a place known as Cluher. I walked up the > side of that hill with Joan's 1st cousin Connie one time to see what > was on top. There we found the remains of two little "houses" in which > there lived two families of O'Sullivan Craths (or McGrath). There were > the remains of a small dried-up stream on the other side of the > "houses"/cabins, and beside that were the remains of two little potato > ridges. Three men and five women and children had lived there before > the Famine. By 1851, the "houses"/cabins were empty, and there was no > more trace of the poor people themselves. Now, whether they died > somewhere in the hills, or maybe got to the States in the "coffin > ships", or maybe drowned and sank to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean > is open to surmise. And then, back to Claonach, Reentrisk, in the > Allihies Parish. A woman there, Ellen, was paralysed by a puck from a > cow. Her son, Con, placed his mother in a big basket and carried her > on his back over a steep hill to the Copper Mines Hospital. Those were > some of the times that were in Beara in the many, many days gone by. > Riobard. -- Riobard (O'Dwyer)