Oral folklore project ‘last chance’ to record the legacy of great houses

IN many cases, only the ivy-wreathed ruins and the memories remain.

Most of the great houses, their surrounding estates and the landed gentry that occupied them havevanished from the Irish landscape, becoming part of history and folklore.

But, the descendants of such families, including a handful with centuries-old titles, are still around and can recall life behind the high stone walls that enclosed the tree-lined parklands.

Over the past year, Maurice and Jane O’Keeffe of the Tralee-based Irish Life and Lore Series have been working on an extensive oral history project involving 30 big houses in Cork and Kerry.

Names such as Colthurst, Townshend and Somerville, in Co Cork along with Blennerhassett and Landsdowne in Co Kerry are redolent of relatively recent history.

Composed of audio recordings of their descendants, the project, titled The Great Houses of Cork and Kerry — An Oral History, will be launched by the Irish Heritage Trust at Fota House, on January 26.

“Many of the people interviewed are in their 80s and 90s and we were on the brink of losing a huge amount of history if their stories were not recorded,” said Mr O’Keeffe.

“This project could well have been the last chance to record these people who were witnesses to many momentous events in the past century and who give a vivid account of what life was like in the great houses.”

It was, of course, an upstairs-downstairs world where everyone knew their place and also included in the project are domestic staff and associated land agents.

Some of the houses were burned down during the War of Independence and many of the estates were divided amongst farmers, frequently controversially, after independence.

In other cases, families could no longer afford the upkeep of huge houses and just went away.

Anyone researching this period will now have primary source, authentic material from which to draw.

Mr O’Keeffe has had contact with the families over several decades due to his involvement in the antiques business.

“I was always interested in the stories behind the antiques which were generally quite fascinating,” he said.

Since the Fexco-sponsored project began, he has become aware of many positive contributions such families made to Irish life and enterprise.

The Dennys, in Tralee, promoted apple-growing for the production of cider locally, while other families were involved in the building of towns and villages and the development of fisheries, tourism and mills.

The current Tralee Town Park was once a huge orchard run by the Denny family after whom one of the town’s principal streets was named.

In Waterville, Co Kerry, the Butlers are credited with the development of a salmon weir and fishing in general. The area is famous to this day for its sea trout fishery.

The Mahonys of Dromore Castle, near Kenmare, were involved in salmon fishing, while the Godfreys primed the building of the attractive village of Milltown.

Magnificent gardens at Glanleam House, Valentia, once the home of Lord Mont Eagle, are open to the public and are one of the gems of the island.

Some of the families are still involved in farming and live in the old houses, especially those in Co Cork.

For example, Rosemary Purcell, of Burton Park, Churchtown; Charles Harold-Barry, of Buttevant, and Desmond Sharpe-Bolster, of Kanturk, are all well-known in agriculture circles.

The White family of Bantry House have turned their ancestral home into a heritage and tourist attraction, with its works of art seen by thousands of visitors.

Annually Lady Elizabeth O’Connell, whose family line includes Daniel O’Connell The Liberator, still lives in the old home, Lakeview House, Killarney, overlooking picture-postcard Lough Lein.

Some of the 52 people interviewed, including Sir Adrian Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry, and Sir Anthony Denny, live in Britain.

Also unearthed was a vast of amount of memorabilia such as old family papers, diaries, letters and photographs, much of which is coming into the public domain for the first time.

These will be included in the Irish Life and Lore catalogue which accompanies the audio recordings.

The collection will be available in Cork and Kerry county libraries, the National Library and in many public and college libraries.