Day 5- Sep. 7- Fountain House- Macroom, Cork co.

Day 5 was a very exciting day for all of us. When we were at Dungarvan Castle the day before, a man told us that we could do ancestry research at the local library. Thankfully, he gave us directions, as the library sign was all in Gaelic. :) But, at least, the people inside spoke English. 

The lady that helped Gram was so sweet! She went above and beyond to help us find our long lost relatives.

A couple hours later, we found them! The last name Dalton had been misspelled and once we figured that out, the lady started finding our ancestors right away. She found records for John and Margaret Dalton, Gram's great-great Grandparents, where they lived and other ancestors. Gram was just beside herself with joy (not to mention the rest of us)! This was a dream of a lifetime come true!

After we left Dungarvan, we were supposed to go to Blarney Castle, but we all forgot about that. :) Along the road we saw a sign for a Ballyscourt Castle (which is probably what banished all thought of Blarney). So, of course, we had to stop to see another castle! The pictures are down below...

Our next destination was Cobh (cove) aka, Queenstown, a cozy seaport village. Gram's great grandma, Mary Dalton, sailed out of Cobh to America between the ages of 19-21.

We talked to a man there that was helping to trace emigrants from Ireland. But, sadly, he wasn't able to help us since we didn't know which port she sailed in to America. Oh, well, at least we tried.

There were small restaurants, shops and museums inside the big building that we were in, so we ate lunch there and did some shopping.

Famine Museums... If you were to mention those 2 words to any of us, you would hear a deep groan. We tried throughout our whole stay in Ireland to go see the museums dedicated to the great potato famine, and without fail, we missed every single one... (you'll here more about this on a future post). The best famine museum was located in Cobh, but sadly, we decided not to go to it because of the really, really long flight of stairs that led up to it. 

*All the pictures from the library and Cobh are from Gram. She graciously sent them to me since Abi and I seem to have missed those opportunities for photography.* 

A Beautiful Morning

The sunrise was just breathtaking at Sea View!

Tide

The tide was coming in.

Deer

I didn't see these deer, but Mom and Abi did. I'm glad they got a few shots at them.

Intersection

Another scary intersection while on the way back to Dungarvan.

Knockroe

Gram is pointing on a boundary map to where her ancestors lived and where the Kilgobnet church was located. They lived in a small area called "Knockroe". Knock means a hill, so it basically means "Hillroe". 

Barryscourt Castle

This castle wasn't as neat as Blarney, but it was a nice substitute.

Forward, me knights!

Carriage House

The carriage house had a cute little restaurant inside, but it was closed due to it being almost out of tourist season.

Solid

Our tour guide told us that those iron circles on the door are from big spikes that were installed to repel the enemy. I think that I'd steer clear of that door! 

Alcove

Courtyard

This is a panoramic of the Castle's courtyard. 

Stronghold

Notice the door that is toward the right on the castle? That's the door that had the iron spikes.

Moss

This was a mossy stairway in the wall.

Black and White

Snail

To demonstrate it's size, that's my hand.

Flora

Rose

Bee

See if you can spot the hideous inch worm! :)

Paradise

I waited a long time to get this shot! There was a bench right at the end of the path, so people kept sitting there, right in my picture! :)

Cobwebby

Thistle

I think this was a thistle flower.

Archaic 

Slots

Notice the arrow slots?

Group

We're inside the castle finally! This was our group... Our tour guide is the man in the black jacket and pants. 

Room

Kitchen

I think I'll hold it...

Interesting bit of info, that little cupboard space straight on was where they stored the "toilet paper". Someone would go out every day and gather moss and other similar flora for the daily toilet paper. 

Family Room

That line on the wall just above the windows used to be a balcony that ran around the entire room. The lady of the castle would come out a small doorway, which you can just barely see on the wall above the red and white curtain, to look out on any festivities.

Original Fireplace

Tallow Candle

Banquet Table

Lord and Lady's Bed

The lord and lady's bed was very interesting. I'll start with the canopy; the canopy was used to protect the sleepers from creepy crawlies falling from the hay loft above them where all their children slept. The bed curtains were used to retain the heat in the bed and to keep drafts away. The bed was also very short length-wise. The castle dwellers used to have a lot of upper respiratory problems because of the damp and mold so they slept sitting up. They also believed that if they were lying down, the grim reaper might think they were dead and take them... Sad to think that they had to live in such fear, what a life without Jesus' peace!  

Cradle

When the lady was expecting, she would go up to their bedroom for the remaining six weeks of pregnancy. There she would stay for six more weeks after the baby was born. Could you imagine... 12 weeks in one room! Since their bedroom was on the top floor, I'm sure taking those stairs every day would wear her out pretty fast, but still, 12 weeks!!! 

Trip Step

In most castles they have what's called a trip step in the main stairway. A trip step is made a little higher than the rest of the steps, designed to trip invaders up, giving the castle dwellers those few extra moments to prepare. Well, in this stairway's case, it was tripping too many tourists up (even though they'd been warned), so they had to block it off and make another tourist safe stairway. :)

Ship

This great big ship greeted us as we drove into Cobh.

Time Warp

This was the old depot in Cobh were Mary Dalton embarked on her journey. This building had restaurants, museums, gift shops, vendors, etc, probably almost the way it was way back then.

Luggage Cart

Ladies

I'm not sure what these ladies represented, but they were all dressed in black and white period clothing, complete with hats and gloves. I think that some people thought that we were with them. :)

Titanic at Queenstown!

Yes, the Titanic did indeed stop at Cobh, Ireland.

Lunch

Tomato soup for Gram, Mom, Abi and I, plus a little extra, blueberry crumb cheesecake.

Me

Enjoying Lunch

Aunt Carol, Abi and TJ.

Memorial

This is a memorial to all the people that emigrated from this port. 

Chevron

Hmmm... all those chevron signs, plus the green fence equal a scary drive.

Underground Tunnel

We had to go through an underground tunnel to get back to our B&B in Macroom.

Light at the end of the Tunnel

Resting

Ah... Rest and relaxation back at our B&B, Fountain House in Macroom. Looks like Aunt Carol and Mom felt at home. :)

Day 4- Sep.6- Sea View, Dungarvan, Waterford co.

Day 4 found us on our way to Dungarvan. Our first stop that morning was at the "petrol" station down the road from Frank and Sheila's for "petrol" (gas or diesel) and air for our "tyres". :)

It took us a little over an hour to get from Kilkenny to Dungarvan. We were doing ancestry research in a small parish near Dungarvan called Kilgobnet. Google maps barely showed the road leading to it, so we were a little apprehensive as to what the road condition would be like.

Just a little history, Gram's great-great grandma, Margaret Dalton (her husband was John) was married and buried in the Kilgobnet parish. Margaret's daughter, Mary, Gram's great grandma, was baptized in that church, too. She was the one who came across the ocean to America in 1881 when she was 20-21.

Hopefully that will make it a little more clear why we wanted to visit Dungarvan and Kilgobnet.

120... km... not mph...

This would be around 75 mph.

Modern Bridge

These touches of modern architecture sort of clashed with the beauty of the landscape.

Tollbooth

It looks like we're headed for the tollbooth second from the left. All the tollbooths accepted only exact change. We were always scrounging around in our money pouches for all our spare change.

Waterford

We're headed out south on R710 to Waterford. That means we're almost there!

On the road!

Dungarvan Bay

Dungarvan Bay was so beautiful! There were all kinds of small boats anchored in the harbor. Everything looked so European, with the houses right on the water front and all so tightly packed together.

Gram

It was so special watching Gram walk the same streets as her great-great grandmother walked years ago.

Epitome of Ireland

This cute, little old man walked across the street as we were waiting for Gram while she was in the Bank of Ireland getting more euros. We thought that he captured the spirit of Celtic Ireland perfectly. 

Kilgobnet Parish Church

After winding up a two lane, paved road (it really should have been a one lane road), we made it to the Kilgobnet church!

Sanctuary

At Last!

After more than a century has passed, the fourth, fifth and sixth generations of Dalton ancestors have returned.

Celtic

Young Among Old

TJ. and I spent the entire time we were there searching for John and Margaret Dalton's grave. We did find a grave with those names on it, but the date on the head stone was the 1700s, which was too early for the Daltons we were looking for. There were so many head stones that had been completely chipped away and effaced. We figured that the Dalton's grave must have been one of those.

Hill

The Kilgobnet cemetery was up a steep hill, with the church at the top. the oldest grave that we could decipher was from 1704!

Forgotten

There were so many ancient, effaced head stones there, so many people forgotten.

Golden Arches!

After wandering around in a cemetery, we needed some refreshments. McDonald's happened to be right at hand! :) 

Sea View B&B

Gram has arranged for us to meet our next B&B owner that afternoon.

What a View!

This was a lighthouse way out there. Our camera was zoomed in almost 30x!

Waiting...

We were waiting for Gram, Mom, and Aunt Carol to check us in at Sea View. Meanwhile, TJ., Abi and I were waiting in the van. Abi started snapping pictures. :)

Sitting Room

This is the lovely sitting room for the guests. The view out the window was outstanding!

Aw...

"Sisters, sisters..."

Bay Window

This is how it looked out of the huge sitting room window. The ocean was just down in the valley below us!

"Waiting till the cows come home"

You can just barely see the farmer at the end of the line of the cows. He has a red shirt on.

Beached

This small boat was beached when the tide went out. We went back to Dungarvan to try to do some shopping and just to see the sites. But, we came into town about the time school let out and everyone and his uncle was getting off work. :)

Aunt Carol!

This picture is just for you, Aunt Carol! Haha! :)

Church

I'm not sure what church this was. After turning down a side street to avoid all the traffic, we got lost and ended up by the ocean, so we stopped and got out.

Gazebo

This was a gazebo right outside that church's walls.  I love this picture (if I do say so myself)! :)

Shop Fronts of Dungarvan

Dungarvan Castle

As we were driving around Dungarvan, we got lost again, came around a corner and there was Dungarvan castle! Every time we got lost, we always found something very interesting. 

Inside the Castle

Abi, in the courtyard. Notice the remains of a red brick fireplace over toward the right?

Old Map

This is a drawing of how the castle looked before it fell into disrepair.

Irish Police

This showed the stages of the Irish police man through the centuries. There was one more on the far right, but I didn't get it in the picture and can't remember what they were called. Starting on the right, 18th C Redcoat, RIC Constable, IRA Soldier, Garda. The Garda is Ireland's policeman as of right now. 

Soldier's Bed

This was a replica of a soldier's bed in the castle.

Musket

This musket was almost as tall as Abi! She's 5' 4"!

Surgeon Poole's Report, 12 November 1801

This was an old report written by a surgeon who was stationed at Dungarvan Castle. From what I could make out, it didn't seem like conditions were very nice there.   

Burned Out

The castle burned out at one point. They are still working on restoring it.

Maxims For Constables

Danger- Work in Progress

Like I said before, there was a lot of construction going on, so it wasn't all that interesting, but we still enjoyed it! :)

Good-bye Dungarvan Castle!

Stone Bridge

Picture perfect!

Stairs

I really liked how untouristy (I made that word up!) the town of Dungarvan was. These stairs weren't blocked off at all, so if we'd wanted to go down to the water, we could've! We walked right along that cement wall toward the left. Also, over on the left is the library that a man at the castle directed us to. He told us that that would be a good place to do ancestry research. But, they were closing, so we had to go back the next day.  

Panorama

This is back at Sea View B&B. The ocean was just gorgeous!

Mists

As night fell, a mist started creeping up from nowhere- over the mountains, ocean and valley.

Gram's Silhouette

Misty Bay

As Dusk Descended...

...The lights of Dungarvan started twinkling way down in the valley as night fell.