Last Day on the Road and Hope For a Final Link

It's our last day in Ireland. It is also September 22nd, the day our dad Bernard John Ingoldsby died in 1978.  

We leave our fantastic B & B, and head off on the road.  We stop at an access point to the ocean, and say goodbye to Galway Bay.

We head out on the road and stop at another little gem called Clonmacnoise.  The ruins of a monastic site dating from the 6th century and founded by St. Ciaran. 

We cross the river Shannon, where we find out you can rent boats and travel this area by river. (next trip!)

Back out on the road, we make for  the town of Kilbeggan.  We are happy to report that this town has brought back an old distillery making Kilbeggan Whiskey We took a tour of the old distillery and saw the new pot stills as well.  Vince, being of the old barrel maker trade (circa 1666) was checking out the barrel room.  

As we were approaching Dublin, Colleen saw a sign for Trim.  Trim is the city (we think) that our ancestor Bryan Bernard Ingoldsby originated from.  We have not been able to find any records of births or death records of his family.  We take a detour for the town and run across Trim Castle.  Braveheart was filmed here!

The parish church is St Patricks, and does not have a cemetery. We ask a passerby if they know of an old cemetery, and she directs us to Newtown, just outside of Trim. An old cemetery and church ruin is there. There are graves dating pre-1804 (the birth year of our 3rd great grandfather)

Maureen and Colleen in the church ruin in Newtown Cemetery.

Well, we didn't really find anything here in Ireland about our ancestors.  We obtained some new genealogical tips and made some new Ingoldsby friends.  We will return though.  It is a wonderful place and a place we are happy to say we have come from!  

cuimhnigh i gconai

always remember

Aran Islands

There are a group of 3 islands called the Aran Islands,  Inismore , Inisheer and Inihsmaan.  We picked the smallest island, called Inisheer.  We took a people ferry, called the Rose of Aran, and had a fun trip across the water.

On the island, we hired a pony trap to take us around the island.  The driver's name was Michael Costello, and his pony was called Maggie Mae. He was a grizzled ex-fisherman and a delight to talk to.   We toured the small island. It was "misting", so our camera lens had a few droplets on it. 

Our ferry trip back was our "Have you ever been to sea Billy?" trip.  We were bounced around and sprayed by sea water.  We heard squeals from people as if they were on a midway ride.  We went past the cliffs of Moher again, this time seen from the sea. 

I am very glad we did not end up like this, which is a ship that wrecked on Inisheer in the 60's

The Cliffs of Moher

We have left the tidy town of Kenmare, traveled back through Killarney National Park, to get to a ferry at Tarbert to cross the River Shannon.  We heard there was dolphins here, but none showed up to greet us

 

We had a nice lunch at Spanish Point 

and then off to the Cliffs of Moher, which are a magnificent site to behold.

Left for our B & B at Ballyvaughn.  A beautiful house called Drumcreehy

Killarney National Park and Muckross House

You always wonder who these folks were that owned the grand mansions, and what it would be like to live in that age.  In Killarney National Park, there is an estate, that has been given to the people of Ireland for everyone to visit.  The park has many natural wonders, and the windy road through the park, challenging to drive.

We stopped at Torc waterfall before we went to Muckross House, a Victorian estate and farms .

The farms were a glimpse into 1920's rural life.  One interesting tidbit was that your neighbours rated your wealth by how many dishes you had in your "dresser"

There were horses, pigs, chickens, donkeys and ducks.  There was a working blacksmiths shop, which interested Vince, as he has taken blacksmith courses. 

We bought some tweed apparel designed at the house, which we will be showing off when we return.

Kenmare and the Ring of Kerry

We leave Kinsale, Cork and get back on the road for Kenmare, Kerry.  On the road, through the bucolic pastoral scenes, we encounter Kerry cows in almost every field.  These are the cows that are responsible for the fabulous butter from this region.  We learned from Don, our guide in Kinsale, that Kerry butter used to be packed in firkins (small barrels) and sent to New York.  We had this butter every morning with our breakfast.

Kerry Cows

We found Kenmare, dropped some laundry off at the launderette and headed off for the Ring of Kerry.  Our first stop at an ancient ringed fort, named Staigue Ringed Fort, an Iron age fort.  300 to 400 A.D.  

We drove along the windy road, stopping here and there, dodging buses and cars.  The sites were amazing. 

We stopped at a beach to watch and listen to the surf.

 

More windy roads, more vistas, more sheep......how much can there be? This is what is called a "famine house".  Structures that were abandoned during the famine, that remain in the fields.

One surprise was a chocolate factory that was on the side of the road.  Why the heck would anyone build a chocolate factory out there?  Because it has gamillions of people driving by every year!  Best sign ever in a chocolate factory!

Back to Kenmare and our B & B and quickly walked back to the town for a nice dinner. Top notch!

Kinsale The Little Port That Could

What a little gem this town is.  We came in last night under cover of darkness.  In the morning, the little streets glisten from the prevalent "Irish Mist".  We took a walking tour with local historian Don Herlighy, and he kept us enthralled with the history of the town from medieval times to now.  We walked around the old walls of the town and learned how the water level and the politics had changed over the centuries. Kinsale was a port that was used to victual ships before long journeys, and barrels were used to store those victuals.  Kinsale was a large producer of barrels and firkins.  He explained the importance of the barrel in the previous centuries and how battles were won and lost on the quality of barrel staves.    

Don recommended that we visit the Charles and James Forts which protected the valuable harbour.  Maureen was so taken with the place, that she has applied to a hospital in the Fort.

It was raining sideways at Charles Fort but we had a good look around and figured out the soldiers had a pretty hard life in one of these forts. 

 Next stop before Jim hopped on a train to Dublin was Cobh.  This port town was the last port of call for the Titanic

The original pier from which the last Titanic passengers embarked.

Have Car Will Travel

We left the hotel after heartfelt goodbyes to our new friends and Dublin. 

We picked up a car in Dublin and jammed in all of our bags and bodies.  It was something to behold and no one died of asphyxiation.  Vince figured out how to drive on the "other" side of the road (the devil's side!).  Jim swore again and again that he would never drive on that side of the road himself.  

We made our way down the windy roads that don't seem wide enough for 2 cars to pass. But pass we did. We stopped in a town called Shillelagh where Vince and Colleen bought 2 walking sticks that we plan on using in our dotage.

While looking for Shillelagh, we encountered a wonderful lady, who stopped us on a side road to ask if she could help us. Her name was Carmela O'Dougherty.  She asked us in  for tea, offered us apples, and then gave us plums, after we declined her offer of tea for 20 minutes.  She lives in the former manager's office of the Fitzwilliam estate. This large estate, was recently in the news as a place where many famine refugees left for New Brunswick from. Two days before our arrival there, 80 Canadians were welcomed back to the estate in Wicklow to see the area that their ancestors left during the famine.    

Jim and Colleen in Carmela's yard

We had had a fantastic pub lunch in Rathdrum.  We had to speed to get to Waterford before it closed.  One never has too much Waterford crystal. When we walked in,  the lady at the reception desk looked at us and said "we close in 20 minutes". When we got to the desk with our purchases, 15 minutes later,  she said "you are very efficient shoppers.  I would have been 2 hours".

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Off to our B &B, an old structure called the Old Presbytery .  We had a fantastic seafood supper in a restaurant called the White House.  Jim had the biggest plate of seafood you could imagine. He said it was excellent.

Jim's Seafood Platter

Root Search

When we made the decision to travel to Ireland to meet with other Ingoldsby's, there was a hope that we would encounter information that would help us find our 4th Great Grandparents, the parents of Bernard Ingoldsby and Jane Keegan. We met all kinds of interesting folks from Ireland and North America.  One of the organizers, Padraic Ingoldsby has traced his roots to 1799 in Ireland.  On our first gathering evening, we had the chance to work with local genealogists who gave us tips on where to look for information.  They also said that it is very difficult to get information in Ireland and that so many records were lost or destroyed.  We had 3 evenings with the Ingoldsby's from far and wide. Pictures are better than words.

Brendan the organizer and his family

The Canadian Ingoldsby Contingent

Discussing ancestor records with Maurice

Here we are at The Gathering!

The First Cousin Contingent

A family quartet entertained us

We have some video of the other entertainers that we will upload later. Check back soon.

A Book, a Beer, a Church and a Horse

A reunion is all about connections.  First cousins; long lost cousins (who said they were lost?) Maureen had a chance to connect with first cousin Paul Ingoldsby from Toronto in the Irish countryside.  Rolling hills and sleek stallions that are the crème de la crème of the horse world were encountered.
 

On tour today Jim Colleen and Vince took a trip to Trinity College to see the famous Book of Kells, and the fantastic Trinity College Library.

The only Irish record of our ancestors in Ireland is a Marriage record of Bryan Bernard Ingoldsby and Jane Keegan.  Their marriage took place in St Mary's Pro Cathedral on July 7th, 1826. The church was beautiful.

St Mary's Pro Cathedral

The prerequisite tour of the Guinness Store House occurred.  Very well done Arthur Guinness!

We met back at the hotel and took a stroll on the pier.

A great Day!