THE HISTORY OF THE KERRY GEOPARK

[histuree] The discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings. (www.hyperdictionary.com)

The legendary six | Vikings | Medieval times | Contemporary

THE LEGENDARY SIX

It is said that Ireland was invaded six times in prehistoric times. The first invaders were Cessair and after that Parthalon, Nemeth, Fir Bolg, Tuatha De Danaan and finally the Gaels.

Cessair

The legends say that the first inhabitants of Ireland were led by Cessair, a granddaughter of Noah. She came there with a large number of women, her father Bith, whom Noah decided not to bring on his boat, and two other men. Cessair believed that since the land had never been inhabited by men, it was not tainted and would be safe from the flood. They sailed in three ships but two of them were lost at sea including Bith and one of the men. Cessair died from grief and all the other women soon followed her until there was but one survivor, Fionntan, the last of the three men. Fionntan lived on for 5500 years, changing shapes into wild animals, sometimes a stag, sometimes an eagle and sometimes a salmon. Fionntan remembered all that had happened to Cessairs people and so he related the tale to scribes and druids later on.
It is also said that Cessair brought the first sheep to Ireland.

Partholon

Partholon led a group to Ireland after escaping from Greece, having killed his mother and father in a coup to usurp the kingship from his brother. His sins would eventually haunt him in Ireland.
Partholon arrived with his wife, three sons and their wives. It is also said that they brought the first four oxen to Ireland. Under Partholons reign, the people started clearing plains which resulted in seven new loughs and nine new rivers bursting forth.
The Partholonians weren't alone in the land, a race of sea monsters known as the fomorians started giving them a hard time, being a very malevolent people and with supernatural abilities. After a magical battle lasting a week Partholon and his people managed to drive the Fomorians away. Thirty years later, Partholon was dead. The Partholonians lived on for another 520 years but when they reached 9000 people, they were all killed "between two mondays in May" in a terrible plague. This was the curse bestowed upon Partholon for killing his parents. There was a sole survivor though, Tuan mac Cairill, whose tale is similar to that of Fionntan's. Maybe they were the same person?

Nemeth

Nemeth came from the distant Scythia across the caspian sea with 44 ships. Nemeth arrived in Ireland but all of his ships except for one was lost at sea. It is said that they sank while trying to capture a tower of gold, an illusion in the distance. With Nemeth were his wife Macha, his four sons, their wives and twenty others.
When the Nemedians came to Ireland the Fomorians had resettled into their old forts so Nemeth had to battle them as well. After three battles the Fomorians were defeated and the Nemedians built theirselves a castle at Armagh. They too strated irrigating and clearing plains, which resulted in another four loughs bursting forth. When the Nemedians had settled in and their population had grown, Nemeth and two thousand of his followers were killed in a plague. The Fomorians at once saw their plight and took control and forced them to pay heavy taxes. The Nemedians couldn't allow this and started to revolt but they were beaten down. Thirty of them managed to escape in a ship and sailed to a northern island, which might possibly have been Atlantis, where they studied magical arts.

Fir Bolgs

The Fir Bolgs consisted of three different tribes when they arrived in Ireland. They formerly lived as slaves to the Greeks before they fled and colonized Ireland and the British Isles. Their name 'Fir Bolg' means 'Men of the bag' and comes from their tradition of hanging pouches around their necks, but legend also sais that they put Irish soil in the bags and sent to Athens to protect the city from snakes. A celtic race as they were, it is probable that they formed the Bretons and Welch people as well. Though they were driven out of Scotland by the picts later on.
The Fir Bolg formed an alliance with the Fomorians and payed homage to them. We can still see their heritage today and many of the people living in Ireland are descendants from them. They eventually mingled with the Gaels, who came later, and formed the Irish people.

Tuatha de Danaan

The Tuatha de Danaan had supernatural abilities in that they were magical. Perhaps they where the descendants of the Nemedians?
They arrived in Ireland in a great mist in Leitrim, and after a few battles with the Fir Bolg and what was left of the seamonsters, the Fomorians, they conquered the country. Since the Tuatha de Danaan where magical they didn't have a great love for Iron, so they used bronze weapons instead. This would be their downfall later on when the Gaels invaded.

The Gaels

The Gaels reputedly had come from Egypt and took over Spain. From a high tower on the spanish coast, a man called Ith, saw the trands of Ireland and wanted to go there. He took three ships with him and landed in Kerry where they encountered the Tuatha de Danaan. The Gaels demanded territory but the Tuatha de Danaan who had already conquered the Fir Bolg told the Gaels to sail back from whence they came. When they had passed the nineth wave the Tuatha de Danaan conjured up a magical storm which wrecked most of the ships and drowned many of the Gaels. Those who survived made it into shore and declared war on the Tuatha de Danaan. The interesting part is that the Gaels won. Some say that this was because the Gaels used iron weapons while the Tuatha de Danaan used bronze, which is a very weak material for weapons. Others say that the Tuatha de Danaan, weary of battle as they were, simply gave up the land to the Gaels. The Gaels later started to worship the Tuatha de Danaan as gods and payed homage to them.
Some people say that the Tuatha de Danaan still live in Ireland in underground burghs, in fairy forts, as animals or in the astral plane.

Impact on Kerry

Only Cessair, Parthalon and the Gaels had anything to do with Kerry. The Fir Bolg settled down in Cork though.
The Gaels left a lot of interesting things after them, including stone rows at different places. Kildreelig near Waterville, where Erann was buried and Eightercua, where Scene was buried, are two examples. The great Ballybrack dolmen is also said to be a tomb over one of the Gael invaders.

Notice: The history in this chapter is not documented and is in many respects only legends and folklore. Since the art of writing came to Ireland around the 5th century common era, we don't have any recordings of these events except those written in the 10th century by monks.

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THE VIKING INVASIONS

The Viking era officially started when Vikings plundered the monastery in Lindisfarne on the English east coast. It continued until around the year 1050 ce.

The Viking era in Ireland is divided into two sections; one era begun in 795 ce and ended in the mid 9th century. The second era begun around 914 ce and continued until the middle of the 11th century. The Vikings started their era by burning and pillaging monasteries on islands and coasts, mainly the north and east coasts. Monasteries at Rathlin, Innishmurray and Insbofin were the first.
After this followed 250 years of plunderings but also peaceful trade between the Vikings and the Irish people.

The Viking ship was very advanced for it's time. It had a combination of new navigational methods, the advanced rig, a flat bottom and very good speed and maneuverability. Without all this, the Vikings would not be able to make efficient surprise raids. The ships could sail the oceans but also into narrow and shallow rivers where they were less expected to conduct raids. With this in mind, Vikings sailed and discovered Iceland, Greenland and a viking namned Leif Eriksson actually discovered North America 400 years before Columbus.

Vikings in Kerry

Although the Vikings had set up a base camp in Cork, they don't seem to have visited Kerry very often. What we do know is that a band of Vikings were defeated by the people of Kerry in 812 ce and that the monastery on the Great Skellig, outside Ballinskelligs, was attacked in 824 ce.

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MEDIEVAL TIMES

Prior to the Anglo-Norman conquest, County Kerry was ruled by three dynasties – Ciarraige Luachra, Corca Dhuibhne and Eóghanacht Locha Léin. The Corca Dhuibhne occupied much of what is now the barony of Iveragh with the Eóghanacht Locha Léin ruling Dunkerron. Barrington states that the founder of the Eoghanacht, Eogan Mor invaded Ireland either through the Kenmare River or Bantry Bay while others believe he originally came from Tipperary (personal comment: Michael Connolly)

Anglo-Norman conquest

Around the time of the Anglo-Norman conquest at end of twelfth century, a number of north Munster septs, including the O'Sullivans, O'Donoghues and MacCarthys began a process of migration out of their ancestral homes in Tipperary to south Munster or Deas Mumhan anglicised to Desmond. There in turn, native septs, such as the O'Sheas and O'Falveys of Iveragh were deprived of their territories. By the late 12th century a branch of the O'Sullivans, known as the O'Sullivan Mores, had become rulers of Dunkerron and of a portion of Iveragh.

Defeat of the Anglo-Normans

The Anglo – Normans were defeated by the MacCarthy and Desmond septs at the Battle of Callan near Kenmare in 1261 thus ensuring that the Desmond septs of South Kerry retained their independence for the next three centuries. During this time the O'Sullivans and Maccarthys built a number of tower houses and fortified residences. Dunkerron Castle , south of Kenmare was the principal seat of the O'Sullivan Mores, and gave its name to the Barony (O'Sullivan, Sheehan). The McCarthys had their principal seat at Eightercua (Barrington).

In the 18th century Maurice ‘Hunting Cap' O'Connell had an export trade of hides and cattle products to the continent and import of wines, brandies, silks and furniture operation from Derrynane Harbour. It is reputed that some of this trade may have involved smuggling. Buried at Abbey Island are Hunting Cap, his mother and father and Daniel's wife, Mary.

The great famine and migration

In the summer of 1845, a great part of the potato crop in Ireland was struck by blight, a fungus disease that people had no knowledge about. The crop in 1846 also failed miseably and the crop in 1847, although not affected by blight, was too small because of the shortage of seed. Also, the crop of 1848 failed. These catastrophic four years resulted in a population loss in Ireland of 2 million people. Half of them died from starvation and the other half was sent, panic-stricken and starving, over the atlantic to another hotbed of problems, North America.

In Kerry, the inadequate Irish administration did it's best with help from private charities to sort out the problem. In the autumn of 1846, relief works were slowly getting under way and by October there was a threat of all-out plunder. In February of 1847, soup kitchens were set up to feed the starving. One was in Killarney, serving 10.000 people and in Tarbert, two places serving 18.000 people.

The soup kitchens were to be disbanded in the fall of 1847 because the idea was that workhouses would be set up. There, the able-bodied workers would get relief and the infirm was to get cash relief in their homes. This idea became a disaster in Tralee since there were thousands more workers than the 1400 that the only workhouse could allow. Also, the infirm people had no homes to go back to because the landlords tore down the houses when they were vacated the last spring.

Thanks to the parish priest of Kenmare, Fr. John O'Sullivan, with financial aid from Lord Landsdowne, shiploads of grain were imported but now that the famine had settled in, starvation was only a part of the problem. Diseases such as Typhus, fever, dysentry and cholera had now claimed it's grip on the population, and mainly the starving ones. Also, the public health services were pitifully inadequate and of course there was no great knowledge about those diseases since cholera for example was a relatively new one. Fever was carried by lice so in 1847 a great effort was put in to cleanse homes, clothes and persons.

By 1850, 30.000 people was still receiving relief in Kenmare. It was then realised that it would be more humane and economical to support their passages to North America than to continue supporting them in the homeland. 4600 penniless emigrants were thus launched into the new world from Kenmare alone.

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