BSW1 Biddy's
Episode 9, Oct 21, 2021, 02:28 PM
From The Bluestack Way Audio Guide, Part One: https://www.racontour.com/Bluestack/
Speaker: Megan Slevin
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
The verdant hallway ends and you’ll be turning left down a steep hill, over the Eske river and up a hill until you get to a crossroads. Follow the Bluestack Way signs until you get to the signs for Lough Eske Castle. You’ve made it to the end of Day One on the Bluestack Way. We suggest you enjoy the wonderful surroundings of Lough Eske and get in touch with local tour guide Patsy McNulty to see and hear more about the area. He also has a great self-catering house overlooking the lough if you’re interested in waking up to a wonderful view. Ask also about taking a walk around Ardnamona. Two other highly regarded Ann McGlinchey @ Eas Dun B&B and Grainne McGettigan @ Rhu Gorse B&B
Turf
Once timber had become scarce in Ireland, as the land became denuded due to the demands of her ever-increasing population, people began getting fuel from the bog. A day in the bog began with a walk to, and finished with a walk from, “the moss” as the bogs were known locally. Turf was cut and then dried in the summer sun, so that it could be used to warm homesteads and cook food in the open hearths of the thatched cottages.
Poverty
The population exploded in Ireland during the latter half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century due to the new wonder food introduced into this country from the Americas, the humble potato. This food was so well suited to growing in Irish conditions and fed so many people on so little acreage that the population almost trebled in this relatively short period of time. But a great disaster struck in 1845 with the arrival of potato blight, which caused severe famine for the next seven years. The government didn't believe in free handouts or charity which meant any relief measures had to be worked for. Many of the projects on which the poor and hungry had to work in order to get food from the relief agencies were of no strategic importance, just ways thought up by officials to make work for the starving. One such project was the road from behind Lough Eske Castle, up Burns Mountain to the peak of Banagher Hill, ‘the road to nowhere’. The road had no practical use until hillwalkers started to follow its path for recreation over one hundred years later.
The Big House
As the 1900s approached and industrialisation began, and people had more recreational time to spend, the railway arrived in Lough Eske, or rather nearby Barnes. This was the start of ‘tourism’ as we know it. Most of the first visitors to this region came to the Big Houses, Lough Eske Castle and Ardnamona. They mostly came to fish and shoot and many a walk these activities entailed through the wild mountains and the woodlands. But as yet the numbers were small and reserved for an elite. But as demand grew, both Ardnamona and the Castle become hotels. The Castle’s first reign as an hotel came to an abrupt end with the fire of 1939, which almost totally destroyed the building. Ardnamona was to remain a hotel up to the beginning of the 1980s.
After such an information overload, our audio piece has a bit more levity with Megan telling us the original Biddy's - and yes, seeing as you are so close, it would be unlucky not to pop in to try their fare!
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
The verdant hallway ends and you’ll be turning left down a steep hill, over the Eske river and up a hill until you get to a crossroads. Follow the Bluestack Way signs until you get to the signs for Lough Eske Castle. You’ve made it to the end of Day One on the Bluestack Way. We suggest you enjoy the wonderful surroundings of Lough Eske and get in touch with local tour guide Patsy McNulty to see and hear more about the area. He also has a great self-catering house overlooking the lough if you’re interested in waking up to a wonderful view. Ask also about taking a walk around Ardnamona. Two other highly regarded Ann McGlinchey @ Eas Dun B&B and Grainne McGettigan @ Rhu Gorse B&B
Turf
Once timber had become scarce in Ireland, as the land became denuded due to the demands of her ever-increasing population, people began getting fuel from the bog. A day in the bog began with a walk to, and finished with a walk from, “the moss” as the bogs were known locally. Turf was cut and then dried in the summer sun, so that it could be used to warm homesteads and cook food in the open hearths of the thatched cottages.
Poverty
The population exploded in Ireland during the latter half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century due to the new wonder food introduced into this country from the Americas, the humble potato. This food was so well suited to growing in Irish conditions and fed so many people on so little acreage that the population almost trebled in this relatively short period of time. But a great disaster struck in 1845 with the arrival of potato blight, which caused severe famine for the next seven years. The government didn't believe in free handouts or charity which meant any relief measures had to be worked for. Many of the projects on which the poor and hungry had to work in order to get food from the relief agencies were of no strategic importance, just ways thought up by officials to make work for the starving. One such project was the road from behind Lough Eske Castle, up Burns Mountain to the peak of Banagher Hill, ‘the road to nowhere’. The road had no practical use until hillwalkers started to follow its path for recreation over one hundred years later.
The Big House
As the 1900s approached and industrialisation began, and people had more recreational time to spend, the railway arrived in Lough Eske, or rather nearby Barnes. This was the start of ‘tourism’ as we know it. Most of the first visitors to this region came to the Big Houses, Lough Eske Castle and Ardnamona. They mostly came to fish and shoot and many a walk these activities entailed through the wild mountains and the woodlands. But as yet the numbers were small and reserved for an elite. But as demand grew, both Ardnamona and the Castle become hotels. The Castle’s first reign as an hotel came to an abrupt end with the fire of 1939, which almost totally destroyed the building. Ardnamona was to remain a hotel up to the beginning of the 1980s.
After such an information overload, our audio piece has a bit more levity with Megan telling us the original Biddy's - and yes, seeing as you are so close, it would be unlucky not to pop in to try their fare!