Cormac MacConnell: Stoking the embers of our turf-burning past

It was both a historic and lonesome half-hour that I sat before my own hearth in Killaloe a few mornings ago with my neighbour and friend Kieran Yelverton from Clonlara.

I’d raked up the ashes of last night’s fire before we drank our coffees in front of the glowing coals and talked generally about the hearths and homes of our lifetimes in Clare and my own Erne country.

Both grew up in traditional country houses where the hearth was the heart of the home. And the old-style hand cut turf sods were always at the core of the fires, heating the kitchens but also spreading that special herbal aroma through the room.