Day 5: Gravestone Hunting and Pint Swilling

We left Kinvarra this morning and I noticed how my mind is slowly starting to unwind. For those who haven’t read from the start, the Burren is what originally called me to make this trip. I was listening to Krista Tippets interview with the late John O’Donahue called The Inner Landscape of Beauty and was reminded of the power the “outer” landscape can have on our interior. John grew up in the Connemara area. Krista asks, “Tell me a little bit more about where you come from and what formed you. What began to form you to come to this spiritual perspective and philosophical and poetic perspective that you have now?” John responds: 

Well, I suppose I was blessed by being born into an amazing landscape in the west of Ireland. And it’s the Burren region, which is limestone. And it’s a bare limestone landscape. And I often think that the forms of the limestone are so abstract and aesthetic, and it is as if they were all laid down by some wild, surrealistic kind of deity. So soon, being a child and coming out into that, it was waiting, like a huge, wild invitation to extend your imagination. And then it’s right on the edge of the ocean, as well, so the conversation — an ancient conversation between the ocean and the stone is going on.

For me, many parts of Ireland are “like a huge, wild invitation to extend your imagination.”  Tonight we will sleep in on of those parts — the Beara Penninsula. But before we do we must go to Limerick to try and find our great-great-great grandfather Garret O'Shaughnessy's gravestone.

Limerick has a reputation for being a rough town. In fact, it’s nickname is “Stab City”. They’ve done a lot to move beyond that reputation but we were still feeling a bit wary as we headed to a rough part of the city where St. Michael’s Church sits. Years ago my mom and dad found the gravestone before they knew we were direct descendants of Garret O’Shaughnessy. The notes she gave us said to go down the narrow lane to the right of the car park. Sadly, the lane was blocked by new row houses. We walked around to the church yard on the other side, but the graveyard had been paved over for use as a locked private parking lot! Undeterred I climbed over the fence to look behind the church. No luck. 

So off we went to the Limerick Cemetery to just have a look for O’Shaughnessy gravestones amidst the 1,000s there and in case Garret’s grave was moved there. While it may seem a bit morbid to some, exploring graveyards is one of my favorite memories from my childhood. Reading gravestone inscriptions is like peeking into someone’s life. At our house in New Hampshire there was a graveyard with birthdates from the 1800s. In Limerick, there were gravestones we could read from 1700s! Some were heartbreaking. One showed a women lost 7 babies at birth in her lifetime. In the 1800s infant mortality rate was 40%! 

We did not find Garret but we did find a couple other O’Shaughnessys, including one written in Irish from the 1700s that was behind an Iron grave marker from the 1800s. Andy brought supplies to do some grave stone rubbings. 

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The day was marching on and we still had a three-hour trip down to Beara. But first! We can’t forget to take Andy to meet Thomas O’Shaughnessy, proprietor of the O’Shaughnessy Pub in Glin. Our Uncle Kenny first visited this pub in the 70s when he was doing family research. He collected a lot of great information from Captain John (Thomas’ father) and thought there might be a slim family connection. The O’Shaughnessy’s of Glin have no problem knowing their heritage. Thomas is the 6th generation to run the pub and descend from Sir Dermott O’Shaughnessy who was knighted by King Henry VIII.  More important that the impressive pedigree of this pub is it’s owner, Thomas. So far my sister Susie, my Mom and Dad, my husband and me, and now Andy and me have sat and shared a pint with him. What a kind man and great story teller. Here’s dad and then Andy and a few more!

Turns out Thomas and Andy had a love of portable saw mills in common!

Off we went for our final destination — Allihies. It is a twisty turn drive — challenging on any day, but today was drizzly and Andy handled the roads like a rally car racer. I did tell him to slow down a click for a bit so I could rest my breaking foot (as a passenger.). We got there in time for an amazing meal at O’Neills pub and some Sunday evening Irish music. Get ready for a wacky video. Wow. What a day!