SNIPPETS: The famous Ardagh Chalice, four brooches and a bronze cup were discovered in 1868 in an ancient ring fort at Ardagh, a small village seven miles west of Rathkeale, Co. Limerick. The chalice, dating from the 8th or 9th century, is a perfectly proportioned two-handled cup seven inches high, wrought of gold, silver and bronze, with rich settings of enamel, amber, glass and crystal. This outstanding example of Irish ecclesiastical metal-work is preserved in the National Museum, Dublin. Cahermoyle House is 1-1/2 miles north of Ardagh, a novitiate of the Oblate Fathers. The present building, dating from 1871, incorporates much of the previous house, which was the residence of Wm. Smith O'BRIEN (1803-64), "Young Ireland" leader. His daughter, Charlotte Grace O'BRIEN, (1845-1900), a noted writer and social worker, was born at Cahermoyle. Miss O'BRIEN did much to improve the awful conditions to which Irish emigrants were subjected aboard the emigrants ships and at the ports of departure and arrival. She also took an active part in the Irish language revival. Adare (The Ford of the Oak Tree) is a pretty village - an old-world place of quaint thatched cottages and lichened medieval churches set in wooded surroundings on the west bank of the Maigue, where the main Limerick-Killarney road crosses that river. Little is known of the early history of the ancient town of Adare which stood near a castle on the east bank of the river. The Anglo-Normans occupied it during the reign of HENRY II and in the following (13th) century it became the property of the FITZGERALDs, EARLS of KILDARE. The town was incorporated in the 14th century, when a grant was made for the erection of walls. It was frequently a storm centre in later times, down to the 17th century. Five miles west of Adare, was the birthplace and home of Aubrey DE VERE (1814-1902) poet and author: "Human Life: Sad is our youth, for it is ever going/Crumbling away beneath our very feet/Sad is our life, for onward it is flowing/In current unperceived because so fleet/Sad are our hopes, for they were sweet in sowing/But tares, self-sown, have overtopped the wheat/Sad are our joys, for they were sweet in blowing/And still, O still, their dying breath is sweet/And sweet is youth, although it hath bereft us/ Of that which made our childhood sweeter still/And sweet our life's decline, for it hath left us/A nearer Good to cure and older Ill/And sweet are all things, when we learn to prize them/Not for their sake, but His who grants them or denies them." The demesne is one of the finest in Ireland. The house, erected early in the 18th century but substantially altered in 1833, was accidentally destroyed by fire in 1941, when many valuable art works, antiques and objects of historic interest were also lost. The district around Adare and Rathkeale was long known a the Palatine because early in the 18th century it was settled with a colony of German refugees who had been driven from the Palatinate by the French. Brought to Ireland at public expense, they were given leases on generous terms, and up to late in the 19th century had successfully preserved many of their national customs. Rathkeale, is a market town on the River Deel, in the dairy-farming district of west Limerick. The town and district formed part of the possession of the EARLS of DESMOND, who erected castles here to guard the passage of the river. In 1580 English troops, marching to meet the Spanish force then entrenched at Smerwick Harbour (Co. Kerry), were assembled at Rathkeale, the defence of which was committed to Capt. (later Sir) Walter RALEIGH. The town was disfranchised by CROMWELL in the 17th century for refusing to provision his army during its Munster campaign. In the town are the ruins of St. Mary's Priory, a 13th century Augustinian foundation. The 150-foot tower of the Catholic church, a fine Gothic style building in Thomas Street, is a noted landmark. The ruins of Ballyallinan Castle, an old stronghold of the O'HALLINANs, is four miles south of the town. The most common surnames in Rathkeale in 1851-2 were CASEY, BROWNE, FITZGERALD, KELLY, McDONNELL, DELMEGE, KEATING, WALSH, HAYES and McCARTHY.