Seamus the Seanachie

On Sunday we had our last tour this semester.  We drove around the Maynooth area with an expert on local history named Seamus.  He is an adorable man with a white mustache, and he has a real flair for story telling.  Seamus is a true seanachie!

The first of many stories Seamus told us was about the Barberstown Castle.  Long ago (but not so long ago that dinosaurs roamed the earth), this castle was leased to a family.  The lease stated that the family could live there until the man who signed it and his son had died.  At least, that's what the owners the castle meant when they leased it.  Unfortunately for them, the lease actually stated that the family living there had to leave when the man who signed the lease and his son were put into the ground.  When the son finally died, his family put his body into the walls of the castle so that they would not have to leave.  Loophole!  The owners ended up having to pay a large sum to get their castle back!  Barberstown Castle is now a hotel and rumored to be haunted! 

Our next stop on the tour was the site of the first international sporting match (according to Seamus, though I feel like there have been international jousting tournaments).  It took place in Donnelly's Hollow, a natural amphitheater in the Curragh plain.  A crowd of 20,000 people gathered to watch the Irish champion Dan Donnelly fight the British champion Cooper in the ultimate boxing match.  The match lasted 11 rounds until Donnelly finally broke Cooper's jaw.  The steps Donnelly took away from the ring were marked with lime and are still cut into the earth today because so many people want to walk in his steps.  I got to walk in his steps too!  Unfortunately Donnelly drank excessively in celebration and began to get huge.  His defeated opponent, Cooper, had unexpectedly won against another boxer named Tom Oliver to become the British champ, so Donnelly travelled to England to face Oliver.  The match lasted 34 rounds but Donnelly came out on top.  Donnelly spent the years following this victory drinking himself to death. After his funeral, a surgeon paid some thieves a lot of money to rob Donnelly's grave.  The grave robbers failed to cover their tracks, so all the mourners knew what had happened immediately.  They threatened to kill the surgeon, so he agreed to give back all of the body except for the right arm (Donnelly's arms were rumored to go down to his knees).  The arm was preserved in red lead paint and has been on display in a classroom, a circuses, a pub, and can still be seen in various exhibits (it even came over to America for a couple years!).

After Seamus regaled us with the story of Dan Donnelly, we made our way to the most famous holy well in all of Ireland, St. Brigid's Well.  It used to be a place where the Druids worshiped the water goddess Brigid but St Brigid blessed it and it became a Christian holy site.  People would take water from Saint Brigid's shoes which are two oval shaped stones with holes running through them where the spring water would pour out.  Back by the well is a rag tree that people would tie a piece of clothing to when they took water.  The rag tree was a leftover tradition of the pagan religion.

St. Brigid founded an abbey not far from the well.  Legend has it that a wealthy man offered St. Brigid land to build a church upon, but she could only have as much land as her cloak could cover.  When she spread out her cloak it covered the whole Curragh.  The man could not afford to give her all the Curragh, but he did give her enough land to build her abbey.  The abbey was built on a Druid holy site.  Besides water, the Druids worshiped fire and they had a fire that they always kept burning.  St. Brigid kept this fire burning when she built her abbey next to it.  No man could enter the space the fire was kept or they would go crazy or get a lame limb.  All of us girls walked into the room but Seamus didn't want to risk it haha!  There was also a rock in the corner of one of the walls of the abbey that had a huge hole in it.  You have to stick your arm through the hole and make a wish!

Our last stop was a castle.  It was in complete ruins with trees and vines growing all over it, but this made it by far my favorite.  I felt like I was in a book.  It was a long hike up to the castle through the muddy, wet grass (we also had to avoid pies made by our cow friends) in the pouring rain, but it was well worth it!

Tomorrow I continue my travels with a trip to Salzburg, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen!