Discovering McKenna Country

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Saturday was a day of discovery and adventure.  We felt like Liz discovered a gem when she found the Tullybryan B&B - comfortable accommodations and a fabulous Irish breakfast.  You can't have breakfasts like that every day but we're enjoying it while we're here.

The Carrickmacross Workhouse

The McKenna Rally offered a bus tour of sites in Monaghan County, and we took advantage of that, at least for part of the day.  It gave us a chance to continue to talk to our fellow McKenna cousins (not sure how we're related, but we're bound to be, don't you think?).  And we saw things that we normally wouldn't see.  First stop was to the Carrickmacross Workhouse.  The first workhouses were built in 1841, and they were for the poorest of the poor.  When the Great Hunger hit, this workhouse, originally built for 500, housed 2,000.  At the height of the famine, on average 70 people died every day in Monaghan.  At that time, there were 8.5 million people in Ireland; 1.5 million died and 3 million emigrated. The emigration had, of course, started before then and continued afterward, as we know because Thomas and Sarah emigrated in 1872.  The country's greatest resource, its people, was reduced by half.  To this day, Ireland has never reached the same level of population.

What was horrifying to discover was that while the potato crop, the mainstay of the common man's diet, was decimated during the famine, the rest of the crops and the animals were not.  But they were grown to pay the rent on land owned by absentee English landlords, and food that could have saved lives was shipped annually to England.  

We also learned that during the famine, Earl Grey  devised a scheme to ship young girls, ages 14-18, from the workhouses to be wives and servants for men in Australia.  Thirty-two girls were sent from the Carrickmacross Workhouse; they know the names of 19 of them.  We'll never know if they went willingly, but it's not hard to imagine that most of them would want to escape the workhouse, which was set up very much like a prison.  How do you decide between two bleak choices?  Many children had been left orphans (think Oliver Twist - he was in a workhouse), and life was incredibly hard.  Thinking about what our family had to endure during that trying time has helped us appreciate them so very, very much.

The next stop on the tour was a golf course.  Rich and Reed might remember the name (Reed said it was Concran).  It was beautiful.  But it was then that we decided the tour wasn't going to take us to the McKenna sites that we wanted to see.  As the tour was going back to Monaghan for a break, we decided to switch to our OWN tour.  That's what the rental car is for, right?

Reed, Aunt Kathy and Rich
with Seamus McCluskey

So, we piled in and headed for Emyvale, the heart of McKenna Country.  We needed to stop in Emyvale for an ATM, and as we were walking right by Seamus McCluskey's house, we thought we would stop in for a wee visit.  We truly wanted to thank him for his hospitality previously.  Oh, and let him know that we put his tour on YouTube!  He didn't remember Liz and I, but when we told him about YouTube, he said, "Oh, that was you who did it!"  He said that he wasn't up on that type of thing, but someone else had seen it and told  him about it.  Sounded like he was fine with it.  Whew!  Rich, Reed and Aunt Kathy were able to meet Seamus and had a picture taken with him. While we had no intention of asking him for a tour of the McKenna sites, he apologized several times that he couldn't take us on account of his having visitors.  How kind was that?  It was a pleasure for everyone to meet this truly fine gentleman - what a great day when we first discovered him.  Thank you, Todd!

Seamus shared with us an article about a burial site for unbaptized babies, and we set out to discover the location.  After a bit of a hiccup, we finally got on the right road and reached it.  We also discovered the Blue Bridge, a beautiful stone bridge that was mentioned in a poem by one of Monaghan's famous sons, the poet William Carlton.

The next adventure was Tully Fort, the site of one of the McKenna ringforts.  After crawling under (or over) a gate, climbing through stinging nettle, rolling under a barbed wire fence, and being zapped by an electric fence (so sorry, Reed), we reached the center of the ringfort - only to discover that there was a path into the ringfort and all you had to do was open a couple of gates and watch out for the cow pies!  But how adventurous would that have been?

With the McKenna High Cross
at Donagh Cemetery

Donagh Cemetery was our next destination.  This was the place Aunt Kathy was most anxious to see.  The McKenna High Cross still guards the old graveyard - what stories it could tell!

We next journeyed to Castle Leslie, site of the original McKenna Castle (no longer there) for a quick visit.  Didn't get out, took a couple of pictures through the window, and then continued on.  The 2011 research team actually stayed at Castle Leslie, and they have lots of pictures to share on our SmugMug site - McKennaFamilyHistory.smugmug.com.

Here lyeth the body of
Hugh McKenna
who departed this life
on May 7th 1723
aged 58 years

The McKenna crest
on Hugh McKenna's
headstone

The ancient graveyard, Eriggal Truah, was our last destination of the day and a great discovery.  It is in this cemetery that the original McKenna crest can be found on a headstone - but we had no directions to where that headstone might be!  Fortunately, it's a small cemetery.  The grass had been cut down (sort of), and we were able to see most of the headstones.  (FYI:  it's a tad bit treacherous walking through the graveyard - be careful for hidden stones and holes.) Within 15 minutes, Aunt Kathy had discovered the headstone.  We've all heard about it, right - the crest with the rider, the stag, the two hounds, and the two moons.  But what we haven't heard is whose headstone it is.  We looked on the other side, and the name of Hugh McKenna popped out! Yes, it did!  We were so thrilled.  We worked to get the moss off the stone so we could read what it said (where was a toothbrush when you need one?).  "Here lyeth the body of Hugh McKenna. . .1723."  It was so, so, so cool. We went on to find more and more McKenna headstones, some which could be read and others not so much.  Finally, time just ran out, and we had to leave.  But what a discovery!  Someone has provided information on each of the headstones at this website: http://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/monaghan/ cemeteries/errigal.txt. Note:  We need to search the web for an article on this graveyard by Plunkett McKenna.

Richard McKennas -
identically different

The McKenna Rally hosted a dinner at 8:00; it was tasty, and we were hungry. We have met many people, but we've really enjoyed talking with a couple from Australia, Richard and Ruth McKenna.  We have a picture of the two Richard McKennas; the Australian one said that they were "identically different."  We had a lovely visit with them and will be sharing information.  Since they have retired, they have been to Ireland five times and to many other places as well.  Interesting, kind people.  Note:  We need to see if we can find a copy of a book Seamus McCluskey wrote titled "Emyvale."  Richard and Ruth found a copy online last year and showed it to us at the dinner.  And they also know Seamus - have been communicating with him for several years.

At the McKenna Rally
with Father McKenna and
his sister

At the end of the evening, we had our picture taken with Father McKenna.  He gave the blessing on the food and the thanksgiving grace after the meal, and you could just hear him talking to God.  A sweet spirit emanated from this man, and we felt very privileged to talk with him.  Even after 50 years of serving in San Antonio, Texas, he still speaks with a delightful Irish brogue.  He attended the dinner with his sister, and they told us how all nine of their family (brothers and sisters aged 73 to 93) get together one week a year to visit.  Father McKenna said that when one of them passes away, they will spend three or four days together at the funeral, but he would rather spend the time with them now when they can share stories and reminisce.  Inspiring.

And that ended another very busy day.  While we are all enjoying the work tremendously, we are going to love being home and having a good night's sleep.