REVIEW: "Cesca's Diary 1913-1916 Where Art and Nationalism Meet," by Hilary PYLE (The Woodfield Press ISBN 0-9534293-7-7, p/b, 45 euros). "She died aged 27, in the great influenza epidemic on October 30th 1918, having married Diarmuid COFFEY that April. Known as Sadhbh TRINSEACH, though christened as Frances Chenevix TRENCH, she learned Irish in the Gaelic League like her sisters and wore her own design of Irish dress, and joined Cumann na mBan - remaining on the most affectionate terms with her brothers who joined the British Army that same year, 1914. She was a prolific artist in oil and pastel of original and commercially reproduced drawings, as well as designing pageants and painting murals. On Easter Monday 1916 she walked into Dublin from her home in Terenure and the next day - having prepared a basket of medical supplies - she cycled to the GPO, made her way in through the front door to her Gaelic League acquaintance - "Mr. PEARSE." He told her, "Our idea was to win Irish freedom." Her fragmentary diaries, on which this part of the book is based, reveal an extraordinary image of the situation in which Dubliners seemed to be held like flies in amber, as that week wore on. This book is expensive, but unique in its text and many illustrations."

For your enjoyment and for background -- 1. "Window On Aran," by Sean SPELLISSY (The Book Gallery, Cronin's Market, Ennis, Co. Clare) p/b. "Sean SPELLISSY has written extensively about Clare, Limerick and Galway - places he knows and loves. His tenth book is devoted to the Aran Islands, one man's view, as he says. It is all that one might expect - a wonderful overview of island life and memorable personalities and important events. Particularly notable is his account of the festival of Lughnasa celebrated by a two-day pilgrimage by boat to Liscannor and Doolin in Co. Clare. He lists and examines surnames found among island families (including the somewhat bizarre fact than an Earl of Aran, the 9th, sits in the House of Lords!), and deals in detail with island flora. His bibliography of books, journals, newspapers and letters is very useful indeed. The many black and white photographs are full of the spirit, song and story of this magic place." 2. "The Irish Round Tower, Origins and Architecture Explored," by Brian LALOR (The Collin's Press) large format p/b. Per review - "Our round towers, most probably bell towers, but also refuges and possibly treasuries, are a form of building unique in Ireland. Built between the tenth and twelfth centuries, seventy of them remain, some quite well preserved. Mr. LALOR examined, drew, photographed and described them all and their locations for his admired 1999 edition. This is the very welcome paperback." 3. "Our Own Devices, National Symbols and Political Conflicts in Twentieth-Century Ireland," by Ewan MORRIS ((Irish Academic Press) h/b & p/b. Per review, "Dr. Morris works for the Council for International Development in Wellington, NZ. His spare time hobby, God bless him and more power to his elbow, is the historical background and the contemporary role of Irish symbols and devices, things like flags, stamps, coinage, cap badges, seals and ornaments. YEATS memorably referred to them as 'the silent ambassadors of national taste,' This is a scholarly work, full of detail painstakingly mined from extensive archives and properly footnoted. But the book is written with clarity an elegance and it is absolutely fascinating." 4. "Irish Folk, Trad & Blues, A Secret History," Colin HARPER & Trevor HODGETT (The Collins Press) p.b. "Underpaid, overworked, talentless, or brilliant, brutally exploited or fabulously lucky, the slipped or shot from the shadows to the limelight. Many dropped out but an amazing number of Irish people have made wonderful careers across the globe in popular music and have contributed beyond measure to the joy and gladness of millions of lives. Buy this book and stroll down memory lane with tears and smiles - and gratitude ..." 5. "Parly-Poet and Chanter, Pecker DUNNE"s Story" - transcribed and edited by Michael O HAODHA (A&A Farmar/University of Limerick) p/b with CD. "Christened 'Padraig' and known throughout Ireland is the Traveller musician The Pecker Dunne. He plays the banjo (naturally!) but also the fiddle and he is a fine singer. Born in Mayo, he has travelled Ireland, Britain, Australia and America and lives these days in Clare - when he's at home! Listen in particular to 'Sullivan's John." Michael O hAodha's touch is light and, at 73, the Pecker has written a book to be proud of. One of the extraordinary aspects of both these beautifully produced books is the literal use of 'gammon' or 'cant,' the secret Traveller language." 6. "The Rainy Day Guide To Ireland," by Orla KEARNEY (Gill & Macmillan) h/b. Per review, "Geography, history, art, things to do, fairies, leprechauns, and other fun stuff, stickers and a pocket for tickets and photos. Durable, double wire bound inside a full hard back cover. Just the job for a child's wet day on holiday." 7. "Old World Colony, Cork and South Munster 1630-1830," by David DICKSON (Cork University Press) h/b. ...."The economic and social life of south Munster is brilliantly recreated. In some years in the 1770s Cork was importing 413,000 gallons of rum, most of it directly from the West Indies. Butter exports from 1750 to 1822 averaged 100,000 Irish pounds worth per year to Britain, the Baltic, Holland, France and the Caribbean. The economic development of the region was achieved by partnership between the colonists and the indigenous entrepreneurs. Meanwhile the region's cultural vitality, expressed mainly in Irish, was legendary. Only the presence of a critical mass of literary skills and family based learning within the region can explain this literary flowering. There were book lovers, educationalists and philanthropists in plenty and towards the end of the period the Irish language was becoming an object of general cultural interest. 'Could anywhere else have produced a Daniel O'CONNELL?" enquires Professor DICKSON. 8. Landscape Design in Eighteenth-Century Ireland," by Fiona O'KANE (Cork University Press) h/b. "Within the walls of their splendid grounds, the Anglo-Irish landed aristocracy set about creating landscaped horticultural perfection Ms. O'KANE reconstructs the results, now mere shadow on the ground - if that - at Breckdenston at Swords in north Co. Dublin, Castletown and Carton in Kildare, and Frascati at Blackrock, Co. Dublin. She argues a persuasive case that these gardens illustrate social history 'a way of making and living in a particular environment.' The diligent research is stunning and the book is very beautifully illustrated. A feast for the imagination." 9. "A Dictionary Of Hiberno-English," compiled and edited by Terence Patrick DOLAN (Gill & Macmillan) h/b. "This is a revised, improved, extended version (more than a thousand new entries) of Professor DOLAN's 1998 publication. Great fun it is, too...." 10. "MARCONI, The Irish Connection," Michael SEXTON (Four Courts Press) h/b. "Part of the Broadcasting and Irish Society series edited by Richard PINE, this is a fine account by former broadcaster, TD and Senator and now Professor Journalism, John HORGAN, of the presenters, programmes, politicians and pressures as an infant state grappled with the shocking power of developing radio and television ... As Michael SEXTON relates, Gugliemo MARCONI had an Irish mother, (JAMESON) and an Irish wife (O'BRIEN), but it was its location that caused him to establish his three pioneer radio signally stations on the west coast of Ireland in 1907. He went on to design the Free State's first ventures into broadcasting in the 1920s. Transmitters worldwide fell silent for two minutes when he died on 20th July 1937..."

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SNIPPET: Kilkenny is truly a city of medieval charm. Built in the 12th century by William the MARSHALL, Kilkenny Castle became the home of the earls of Ormonde in 1392, remaining so until 1967. Canice's Cathedral was built in the 13th century on the site of a monastic settlement founded in the 6th century. Today, all that remains of the monastery is the tall Irish round tower. Contained within the cathederal are a number of sepulchral monuments, carved out of black marble in memory of members of the BUTLER family, dating back to the middle ages. Kilkenny city is home to approximately 52 pubs of which the Marble City Bar, established in 1709, is one of the oldest and best known, having appeared on numerous postcards over the years. Visitors to the area might be interested in 'The Long Cantwell' a carved upright (human) effigy which dates from about 1320 and is thought to be the lid of the burial chamber of Thomas CANTWELL, the head of the Anglo-Norman CANTWELL family who were local landowners around the town of Kilfane, where the effigy now stands. . Kilkenny is, in essence a medieval town, with a great castle, a magnificent cathedral, well-preserved merchant house and abbeys, churches and inns from the Norman period. By size it is a market town; by ancient charter, and from its cathedral status, it is a city. Its location made it a convenient place for the holding of parliaments. One of these (1336) introduced the 'Statutes of Kilkenny,' an early form of 'apartheid' which aimed to separate the Irish from the Normans. Intermarriage was forbidden, the use of Irish surnames and dress. Clerics and monks of Irish origin were refused admittance to churches and monasteries under Norman control. The ancient Irish game of hurling was expressly prohibited. These drastic measures were taken because of fears that the Norman colonists were becoming overly Hibernicized in dress and tongue and recreation. By the time the statutes were introduced, however, the process of assimilation had advanced to such a stage that most of the Norman inhabitants had Irish blood and many Irish were part-Norman and it became impossible to distinguish between one race and the other. The futility of this attempt at racial separation is apparent today when one sees young men and boys walking through the city's medieval streets with their hurleys tucked under their arms. In Kilkenny, a county which has won the All-Ireland Hurling Championship more than 20 times, the game has acquired an almost religious fervour among its players and supporters. The failure of the statutes has produced in Kilkenny a unique cross-fertilization between old Irish and Norman which is epitomized in the city itself, a place in which more medieval architecture and lore is compressed into such a small area than in any other town in Ireland. Built in 1172, Kilkenny Castle has been altered significantly since its original construction by STRONGBOW, the first Norman conqueror of Ireland. On his death, his nephew, William the MARSHALL, replaced the original structure with a stone fortress. The BUTLERs, one of whom had been made Chief BUTLER of Ireland, took over the castle in 1391, from which time Kilkenny became an Anglo-Irish town with his original inhabitants clustered around St. Canice's Cathedral in a small area which is still known today as Irishtown. For the next six centuries, the BUTLERs, who later became the earls of Ormonde, kept their eye on their lands by establishing Catholic and Protestant branches. If the regime in London favoured Protestant ownership, there were Protestant BUTLERs to fit the bill; if, as it did on occasions, > Catholic ownership found favour, there were Catholic BUTLERs on hand to > take over. The castle and some of the grounds were finally handed over > to the Irish state by the 6th MARQUESS OF ORMONDE in 1967. At the bottom of the gently sloping hill from the castle, the old city begins at Shee's Almshouse, which was built in the Rose Inn Street in 1588 by Sir Richard SHEE and his wife as an institution for the relief of the poor in the town. Nearby in St. Mary 's Lane is the 13th century church of St. Mary and, close at hand, St. Kieran's Lane which is famous for its inns and hostelries. The 'Slips,' a collection of narrow alleyway which run up from St. Kieran's to High Steet, were the principal thoroughfares of the medieval town. Today, modern shopfronts mask much older facades. Close to 'The Ring,' once a centre of medieval bull baiting, stands the remains of the Franciscan Friary, built in 1232, where Friar John CLYN was an annalist in 1348 and 1349 when the Black Death devastated the city. Friar CLYN's annals end; 'I leave parchment to carry out the work if perchance any man survives...' After that entry, the annals continue in a different hand. The Friary now stands in the grounds of SMITHWICK's Brewery, a GUINNESS subsidiary, famous for Kilkenny Beer. Towering over the town, is the magnificent St. Canice's Cathedral which was built by Bishop de MAPPLETON in 1251-56. The second largest medieval church in Ireland (after St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin) St. Canice's stands on the site of an ancient monastic settlement founded by St. Cainneach (anglicized as Canice or Kenny) the only remnant of which is its 100 foot tower. During CROMWELL's brief stay in Kilkenny, in 1650, he left his iconoclastic mark on the cathedral, destroying the 'idols' and using the nave as a stable for his horses. Just to the south is Kilkenny College or 'the Grammar School,' built by the 1st DUKE of ORMONDE in 1666. Among its famous alumni are Jonathan SWIFT, the great satirist and later Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin; poet and playright William CONGREVE. George BERKELEY, philosopher and Bishop of Cloyne, who gave his name to the university city of Berkeley in CA. Kilkenny, the unique city in which they received their secondary education before moving to Trinity College, Dublin and onwards, undoubtedly played a part in developing their imaginations and preparing them for their internationally-renowned careers. -- Excerpts, "Irish Counties," ed. J. J. Lee - (London) 1997

WHEN YOU ARE OLD When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. -- Verse by William Butler Yeats, circa 1891, addressing his unrequieted love for Maud Gonne, Irish nationalist; it appeared in a vellum manuscript book entitled "The Flame of the Spirit," which he inscribed for her.

A LAST CONFESSION What lively lad most pleasured me Of all that with me lay? I answer that I gave my soul And loved in misery. But had great pleasure with a lad That I loved bodily. Flinging from his arms I laughed To think his passion such He fancied that I gave a soul Did but our bodies touch, And laughed up his breast to think Beast gave beast as much. I gave him what other women gave That stepped out of their clothes, But when this soul, its body off, Naked to naked goes, He it has found shall find therein What none other knows, And give his own and take his own And rule in his own right; And though it loved in misery Close and cling so tight, There's not a bird of day that dare Extinguish that delight. -- William Butler Yeats (1933) - winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

Century of Co- Operative Endeavor 1898-1998 - Raymond Smith PUBLISHER: Mount Cross This is the absorbing story of the centenary Co-Operative Creamery Society Ltd., which has its base at Ballyduff, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. The year 1998 marked the 100th anniversary of its foundation.

1876 Land Survey of Ireland of those owning an acre or more in County Kilkenny: The Hon. E. G. D. MORGAN, address Co. Wexford, owned 252+ acres in County Kilkenny valued at 228 pounds 15 shillings. No other MORGANs listed. No MORGANs listed for Kilkenny City on that particular survey, as well. 2. Matheson Survey of Births 1890. Total MORGAN births 32, principally located in counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Dublin, and Louth. (Ulster 67, Leinster 37, Munster 16, Connaught 12). IRISH PROVINCES LEINSTER: Cos. Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois (Leix/Queen's), Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly (King's), Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. MUNSTER: Cos. Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. ULSTER: Divided in two sections -- (1) Northern Ireland with Cos. Antrim, Armagh, Derry/Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. (2) Republic of Ireland with Cos. Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan. . CONNAUGHT: Cos. Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Bleu - I can't pinpoint your "Ballygoganville & Kevain." Maybe some other listers can. In Kilkenny there are townlands on 1850s records called Ballykeoghan, Ballygorey, Ballygegan and Grogan. (There are Grogans in several Irish counties). There is a Ballygroogan in Co. Tyrone. Ballygrogan in Co. Cork. Kilgrogan in Cos. Cork and Limerick. Castlegrogan in Queen's (Laois). Killygrogan in Co. Cavan. There is a Ballyogan and a Ballygowen in Co. Kilkenny. There is a Aghagogan in Co. Tyrone. For more ideas, check out the all-Ireland IreAtlas search engine at the Leitrim-Roscommon website, where data on other Irish counties is being added regularly. The closest one to your data seems to me to be (at time, anyway) Ballykeoghan townland in the Civil Parish of Kilfane, in Co. Kilkenny. Have you found much on the locations in your query? On-line IGI index or in LDS FHC? You can request more information from the LDS FHCs on particular index entries. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 12:17 PM Subject: Re: [IGW] WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? - Kilkenny dairyman - Old 'Creamery'Co-Op nea... >I found something on IGI that said that there was one dairyman named > JohnMorgan in Ballygoganville & Kevain. > If this listing is correct and I am in the right area, that would be my > great-grand-father. > > Bleu

I found something on IGI that said that there was one dairyman named JohnMorgan in Ballygoganville & Kevain. If this listing is correct and I am in the right area, that would be my great-grand-father. Bleu ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

Kells Village is located c.13 kilometres south of Kilkenny City. The site is located in the rural area at c.0.8 kilometres from the village centre and along the main Kells-Callan Road, a Regional Route. At about 150 metres from the village centre there is a small scheme of housing in progress and outwards of this a short long established ribbon extends to end of 30 mph zone. Apart from houses in the immediate vicinity of the site, as mentioned below, there is only one house between the 30 mph limit and the site, this being on the south side of the road. The site is on the north side of the road. Approaching from Kells there is a sharp right hand bend at the east end of the field of which the site forms a part. The road is on a decline and a flatter curvature continues on from the bend and along the site frontage. A slight reverse curve, followed again by long right hand bend runs immediately west of the site. **** Immediately west of the site there is a long established 'creamery' co-op, which probably evolved from the 'donkey and cart' age and seems to operate at a low level of activity. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 11:26 AM Subject: Re: [IGW] WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? - Kilkenny dairyman > Hi Bleu, Do you know the general location in which your Kilkenny families > lived? Jean > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jean R." <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 10:01 AM > Subject: Re: [IGW] WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? - Kilkenny dairyman > > >> Hi Bleu -- What was your ggf's name? (Be sure and add the surname to the >> subject line when you respond, please). Approximately what years? >> Perhaps >> he belonged to a dairyman's association. Jean >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; >> <[email protected]> >> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 7:59 PM >> Subject: [IGW] WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? >> >>> ....... Someone told me my ggf was a dairyman. Does this mean sheep, >>> goats, or cows? Did they raise any >>> vegetables or have chickens? Thank you, Bleu >

Hi Bleu, Do you know the general location in which your Kilkenny families lived? Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 10:01 AM Subject: Re: [IGW] WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? - Kilkenny dairyman > Hi Bleu -- What was your ggf's name? (Be sure and add the surname to the > subject line when you respond, please). Approximately what years? > Perhaps > he belonged to a dairyman's association. Jean > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; > <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 7:59 PM > Subject: [IGW] WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? > > >> In the years between 1835 and 1900 in Kilkenny, what did the typical >> farmer/dairyman's family >> have to eat on a daily basis? How often did they have any kind of meat, >> what >> kind of bread did they have? >> Someone told me my ggf was a dairyman. Does this mean sheep, goats, or >> cows? >> Did they raise any >> vegetables or have chickens? >> >> Thank you, Bleu

Hi Bleu -- What was your ggf's name? (Be sure and add the surname to the subject line when you respond, please). Approximately what years? Perhaps he belonged to a diaryman's association. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 7:59 PM Subject: [IGW] WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? > In the years between 1835 and 1900 in Kilkenny, what did the typical > farmer/dairyman's family > have to eat on a daily basis? How often did they have any kind of meat, > what > kind of bread did they have? > Someone told me my ggf was a dairyman. Does this mean sheep, goats, or > cows? > Did they raise any > vegetables or have chickens? > > Thank you, Bleu

In the years between 1835 and 1900 in Kilkenny, what did the typical farmer/dairyman's family have to eat on a daily basis? How often did they have any kind of meat, what kind of bread did they have? Someone told me my ggf was a dairyman. Does this mean sheep, goats, or cows? Did they raise any vegetables or have chickens? Thank you, Bleu ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

SNIPPET: Per Seamus MARTIN, contributor to J. J. LEE's "Irish Counties"/Salamander Books Ltd./1997," (one of my very favorites) -- "At Powerscourt in Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow, a mere 12 miles (19 km) from the bustling centre of Dublin, the pointed Sugarloaf Mountain provides a perfect backdrop for the man-made lake with its fountain, its terraces and its statues of Pegasus, with the effect that the gardens appear to lead naturally and seamlessly to the true countryside. No line of division can be perceived. Nowhere else in Ireland could this have been possible; certainly not in the ruggedness of the Atlantic coast where the contrast between the gentility of the 18th-century Anglo-Irish landscapers and the savage grandeur of the terrain would have been impossible to reconcile. But Wicklow is the 'Garden of Ireland.' Its scenery is naturally graduated; the great massif slopes gently to the sea on the east and to the Central Plain on the west. Here, there are no great cliffs battered by the ocean's rage, no deep inlets, no craggy shores, but instead sloping pastures filled with black-faced sheep ushered from pasture to pasture by the slender-faced Wicklow collie. Where Wicklow reaches the sea there are long beaches, some of them, such as the three-mile (5 km) strand on Brittas Bay, crowded at weekends, because of their proximity to Dublin, but others, known to a few, virtually empty whatever the weather and whatever the day of the week. Wicklow, the county town, is also a Viking foundation and takes its name from that of the 9th century settlement, "Vikingalo." Now, long after the northern warriors have departed into history, Wicklow is a small port and a seaside town set in gentle countryside. Rugged beauty does exist, but mainly in the deserted centre, on the crests of Ireland's largest mountain chain, where Dubliners, at weekends, in summer, hew peat, and picnic, and fill their lungs and, on the occasional clear day, view the mountain tops of Snowdonia in Wales. The rest of the county slopes gently to the sea, its great houses and gardens nestling in valleys and glens which were gouged from the land in the harsh Ice Age, but which now provide generous micro-climates in which palms and yuccas are able to flourish, albeit at the northernmost limits of their existence. Another town that was founded by the Vikings, Arklow has lost its former importance as a port and is better known today for its yacht-building." RETURN TO AVONDALE You, my love, encourage me to roll down Parnell's sloping sward. I want to spin forever close to pungent earth reclaiming childhood pleasure, trees centrifuged against the sky. We turn another year, my love, Your 'Bravo' assaults the pounding inner ear as I reel, unfocussed, dizzy, towards snap of tourist lens. I already see the caption 'Mature Irishwoman at Play.' -- Eithne Cavanagh

SNIPPET: The Italian Garden was designed by Daniel ROBERTSON. The terraces were laid out during the 1840's and took over 100 men twelve years to complete. On the top terrace are the statues of Apollo Belvedere, Diana and Fame and Victory which date from the mid 19th century. The central perron features Wicklow granite and pebbles from the nearby coastal town of Bray. It is decorated with Bronze Groups of Children and Urns copied from Versailles. Below is the 'Spitting Men' originally from Milan and bought in Paris is 1872 and between them the sun dial which reads, "I only mark the sunny hours." Tower Valley: Many trees native to North America were planted in this area and also in the valley is the Pepperpot Tower built in 1911 and modelled on LORD POWERSCOURT's dining room pepperpot. Japanese Gardens: Laid out on reclaimed bogland by the 8th VISCOUNT and VISCOUNTESS POWERSCOURT in 1908. The Grotto was built in the 18th century from petrified sphagnum found on the banks of the River Dargle. Winged Horses: These are the heraldic supporters of the WINGFIELD arms and were executed in zinc by Professor Hugo HAGEN in Berlin in 1869. Triton Lake: The fountain in the centre of the lake is based on the fountain in the Piazza Barberini in Rome. Pets Cemetery: One of the largest of its kind. It contains many of the family pets of POWERSCOURT. Dolphin Pond: Originally the 'Green Pond' the central fountain has a jet and dolphins spouting water and was purchased by the 7th VISCOUNT in Paris. Walled Gardens: These include the longest herbaceous border in Ireland and the memorial to JULIA, 7th VISCOUNTESS POWERSCOURT. The four busts are of the great Italian Masters -- Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Benvenuto Cellini. Bamberg Gate: This came from the Cathedral at Bamberg in Bavaria and dates from 1770. There is a waterfall 5 km from the gardens. The estate and gardens are absolutely splendid, one of the highlights of my trip to Ireland last summer with my sister! A coach from Dublin took us over and back. Tourists are given a map which outlines a one-hour walking route, a 40-minute route, and disabled access. Gardens and House Exhibition open daily, garden pavilion open all year round, nearby waterfall open daily in summer.

SNIPPET: Readers expressed their impressions of Ireland in the July/August 2006 issue of Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine: Joanna and Doug GROSS, Woodstock, IL: "Thank you for your excellent article, 'Newgrange" The World's first Astronomical Calendar,' (Mar-April 2006 issue). My husband and I have been privileged to visit Ireland four times in the last six years and the Bru na Boinne is one of our very favourite places. On our last trip we drove straight to Newgrange from Dublin Airport. My husband and I were so worried that our plans would flop ... but we shouldn't have been! My sister and brother-in-law who joined us on this trip were awed by the solstice recreation in Newgrange. Our wonderful experience there set the tone for what was to be a memorable holiday for all of us. After this trip, I gave my sister a gift subscription to your magazine for Christmas, and the moment this issue arrived, she called me, thrilled with the beautiful cover and excellent article." Gretchen FLYNN, Norco, CA: "I love your magazine ... I was in Kenny's beautiful and crowded bookstore when I was in Ireland and I was very sorry to hear that they are closing their doors in Galway." (My note - Check out Kenny's website when shopping for Irish books). Joseph CARROLL, Milwaukee, WI: "I read with disappointment a letter in the March/April issue from a writer who was criticising a previous writer for wanting to acquire Irish citizenship. The writer states, 'In my view the spectacle of Americans seeking full citizenship in a foreign country or indulging in the fantasy status of so-called dual citizenship, is little more than a very transparent affection.' The writer adds further insult to suggest that rather than to seek dual citizenship, one should simply 'hasten to the nearest Irish pub!' As a dual citizen I am put off by the general presumption that people simply want to display misguided affection for Ireland. I chose to acquire dual citizenship for two reasons. Firstly, it was to permanently recognise the relationship with my family. My father was born in Ireland and was the only one to emigrate to the US - leaving behind his parents and five brothers. Too often, people lose sight of their roots. I want my daughters to know where their family came from and to feel connected, despite being 3,500 miles away. The second and most immediate reason, is that citizenship of one European Union country affords you many rights in any of the other EU countries (for example freedom of movement and the right to diplomatic and consular protection). Obtaining dual citizenship was a practical step in that it afforded me the opportunity to seek employment abroad without having to deal with visas or other travel restrictions. Perhaps, maybe 15 or 20 years ago, most people wanting Irish citizenship were likely doing so for superficial reasons. But times have changed, and for many of us second and third generation Irish, there are real benefits to holding dual citizenship - we're not just walking around Main Street USA with an Irish passport around our necks! Both countries allow and recognise dual citizenship, and if you meet the strict requirements to apply for Irish citizenship and feel that it is important for you to do so - then, by all means do apply."

SNIPPET: BRONTE is the family name of three sisters who became famous novelists - Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Their lives and works are associated with the lonely moors of Yorkshire, England, where they were born Their brother Branwell painted a lovely portrait of his sisters. Their father, born Patrick BRUNTY in Emdale, parish of Drumgallyroney, County Down on St. Patrick's Day 1777, was a poor, rather eccentric Irishman who became the parish clergyman in the small, isolated town of Haworth, Yorkshire in England. Charlotte's famous novel, "Jane Eyre," (1847) was largely biographical. Through the heroine, Charlotte relived the hated boarding school and her experiences as a governness in a large house, although the hero and master of the house, Rochester, was fictional. At the time it was published, some of her contemporaries were shocked that the character, Jane, wanted to be regarded as a thinking and independent person as opposed to a weak woman. Charlotte wrote a first-hand account of her visit to the Crystal Palace at the The Great Exhibition, in 1851, at Hyde Park, London. Sir Joseph PAXTON's Crystal Palace contained a floor area of more than 800,000 square feet and contained over eight miles of display tables. Charlotte wrote - "Yesterday, I went for the second time to the Crystal Palace. We remained in it about three hours, and I must say I was more struck with it on this occasion than at my first visit It is a wonderful place - vast, strange, new, and impossible to describe. Its grandeur does not consist in one thing, but in the unique assemblage of all things. Whatever human industry has created you will find there, from the great compartments filled with railway engines and boilers, with mill machinery in full work, with splendid carriages of all kinds, with harness of every description, to the glass-covered and velvet-spread stands loaded with the most gorgeous work of the goldsmith and silversmith, and the carefully guarded caskets full of real diamonds and pearls worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. It may be called a bazaar or a fair, but it is such a bazaar or fair as Eastern genii might have created. It seems as if only magic could have gathered this mass of wealth from all the ends of the earth -- as if none but supernatural hands could have arranged it thus, with such a blaze and contrast of colours and marvellous power of effect. The multitude filling the great aisles seems ruled and subdued by some invisible influence. Amongst the thirty thousand souls that peopled it the day I was there not one loud noise was to be heard, not one irregular movement seen; the living tide rolls on quietly, with a deep hum like the sea heard from the distance."

SNIPPET: Charlotte Bronte of Haworth, Yorkshire, England, authoress of "Jane Eyre" (1847), was married to a Banagher, Offaly man, Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte's father, Patrick Brunty, was born in Co. Down. Shortly before her early death in 1855, Charlotte wrote, "No kinder, better husband than mine, it seems to me, can there be in the world. I find my husband the tenderest nurse, the kindest support, the best earthly comfort, that ever woman had." Per "Irish Roots" magazine her married name was Mrs. Bell Nicholls. (Coincidentally, she had earlier written under the pseudonym Currer Bell). Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls was curate at Haworth but much of his life was spent in Banagher, Co. Offaly, at Cuba Court, his uncle's home there, and for 40 years later he lived at Hill House. The large family of Bells enjoyed a fine social life in Banagher, with dancing and boating trips on the River Shannon. Charlotte admired their cheerful and pleasant lifestyle and was made to feel very welcome at Cuba Court by Arthur's Aunt Bell. Charlotte had the good fortune to visit the splendid mansion (now in ruins) in its heyday in 1854. Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls had been born in Northern Ireland but he was orphaned early and with his brother brought up and educated by his uncle, Dr. Alan Bell, at the Royal School housed in Cuba Court, Banagher. The school turned out several distinguished men, including Sir William Wilde, father of the famous playwright Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde) of Dublin. Most of the Bell males were scholars at Trinity College in Dublin, as was Arthur. Arthur's brother managed the Birr Canal. The Bells were all well-respected and known for their excellent sense of humor and their "way with dogs." Six years after Charlotte's death, Arthur married one of his cousins, Mary Ann, and they lived at Hill House, Banagher, where he earned a living as a farmer, still treasuring and preserving the items that had belonged to Charlotte. His grave is beside St. Paul's Church with the inscription, "Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away." Hill House still stands and has been being very well-maintained. The Rev. James Adamson Bell, cousin to Arthur, became headmaster at Cuba School after his father's death. The grandson of Dr. Alan Bell, founder of the Royal School, Banagher, was also named Alan Bell. The latter Bell, a distingushed resident magistrate, was brutally murdered in 1920 at the age of 62. He was forced off a Dublin tram and shot by a group of youths after having successfully, in the line of duty, uncovered Sinn Fein funds lodged in various banks under different names.

FOND MEMORY It was a school where all the children wore darned worsted, where they cried -- or almost all -- when the Reverend Mother announced at lunchtime that the King had died peacefully in his sleep. I dressed in wool as well, ate rationed food, played English games and learned how wise the Magna Carta was, how hard the Hanoverians had tried, the measure and complexity of verse, the hum and score of the whole orchestra. At three o'clock I caught two buses home where sometimes in the late afternoon at a piano pushed into a corner of the playroom my father would sit down and play the slow lilts of Tom Moore while I stood there trying not to weep at the cigarette smoke stinging up from between his fingers and -- as much as I could think -- I thought this is my country, was, will be again, this upward-straining song made to be our safe inventory of pain. And I was wrong. -- Ms. Eavan BOLAND

NIGHTS OF CHILDHOOD My mother kept a stockpot -- garlic cloves, bones, rinds, pearl onions and the lacy spine and eyes of a trout went into it -- When the window cleared, the garden showed beyond the lemon balm, through the steam, cats: Bucking. Rutting. All buttocks and stripes. Up on the wall and wild, they made the garden wild -- for all the gelded shrubs and the careful stemming on trellises, of a bushed-out, pastel clematis. One summer night I went out to them. I looked up. Their eyes looked back -- not the color of fields or kale -- the available greens -- but jade-cold and with a closed-in chill I was used to -- lucid as a nursery rhyme and as hard to fathom, revealed by rhythm, belied by theme, never forgotten in those nights of childhood in a roomful of breathing, under wartime sheeting. Outside, the screams and stridency of mating. -- Ms. Eavan Boland has lived at various times in Ireland, England and the USA - Teacher, writer. Her volumes of poetry include "New Territory," "The War Horse," "In Her Own Image," "Night Feed," "The Journey," "Outside History."