[Illustration: THE CASTLE AND LAKE OF INCHIQUIN, COUNTY OF CLARE.]
Connemara itself, now so celebrated for its lakes and mountains, was not
less unknown a few years since than the greater portion of the county
of Clare. Without roads, or houses of entertainment for travellers, its
magnificent coast and other scenery were necessarily unvisited by the
pleasure tourists, and but little appreciated even by their inhabitants
themselves. But Clare can no longer be said to be an unvisited district:
the recent formation of roads has opened to observation many features of
interest previously inaccessible to the traveller, and its singular coast
scenery--the most sublimely magnificent in the British islands, if not in
Europe--has at least been made known to the public by topographical and
scientific explorers--it has become an attractive locality to artists and
pleasure tourists, and will doubtless be visited by increasing numbers of
such persons in each successive year.
There is however as yet in this county too great a deficiency in the
number of respectable houses of entertainment suited to the habits
of pleasure tourists; for though the wealthier and more educated
classes in the British empire are becoming daily a more travelling and
picturesque-hunting genus, they will not be content to live on fine
scenery, but must have food for the body as well as for the mind; and
truly they must be enthusiastic lovers of the picturesque, who, to
gratify their taste, will subject themselves to the vicissitudes of such
an uncertain climate as ours, without the certainty of such consoling
comforts as are afforded in a clean and comfortable inn.
Yet we do not despair of seeing this want soon supplied. Wherever there
is a demand for a commodity it will not be long wanting; and the people
of Clare are too sagacious not to perceive, however slowly, the practical
wisdom of holding out every inducement of this kind to those who might
be disposed to visit them and spend their money among them. The first
step necessary, however, to produce such results in any little frequented
district, is to make its objects of interest known to the public by the
pencil and the pen--the rest will follow in due course; and our best
efforts, such as they are, shall not be unexerted towards effecting such
an important good as well for Clare as for many other as yet little known
localities of our country.
Clare is indeed on many accounts deserving of greater attention than
it has hitherto received. It is a county rich in attractions for the
geologist and naturalist, and interesting in the highest degree to
the lovers of the picturesque. With a surface singularly broken and
diversified, full of mountains, hills, lakes, and rivers, dotted all over
with every class of ancient remains, its scenery is peculiarly Irish, and
though of a somewhat melancholy aspect, it is never wanting in a poetic
and historic interest. Such a district is not indeed exactly suited to
the tastes of the common scenery-hunter, for it possesses but little of
that woody and artificially adorned scenery which he requires, and can
alone enjoy; and hence it has usually been described by tourists and
topographers with a coldness which shows how little its peculiarities had
impressed their feelings, and how incompetent they were to communicate to
others a just estimate of its character. Let us take as an example the
notice given by the writers of Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary, of one
of the Clare beauties of which the natives are most proud--the caverns
called the To-meens or To-mines, near Kiltanan:--
“At Kiltanan is a succession of limestone caverns, through which a
rivulet takes its course: these are much visited in summer; many
petrified shells are found in the limestone, some of which are nearly
perfect, and--_very curious_!”
This it must be confessed is cold enough; but the description of the same
locality given by our friend the author of the Guide through Ireland, is,
as our readers will see, not a whit warmer. It is as follows:--
“A mile from Tulla is Kiltanan, the handsome residence of James Moloney,
Esq.; and in addition to the pleasure of a well-kept residence, in a
naked and sadly neglected country, _some interest_ is excited by the
subterraneous course of the rivulet called the To-meens, which waters
this demesne!”
Now, would any person be induced by such descriptions as those to
visit the said To-meens? We suspect not. But hear with what delight a
native writer of this county actually revels in a description of these
remarkable caves:--
“About a mile N. W. of Tulla lies the river of Kiltanan, and Milltown,
famous for its ever-amazing and elegant subterraneous curiosities,
called the To-mines: they form a part of the river, midway between
Kiltanan House and the Castle of Milltown, extending under ground for a
space, which (from its invisible winding banks and crystal meanders) may
reasonably be computed a quarter of an English mile: they are vaulted,
and sheltered with a solid rock, transmitting a sufficiency of light and
air by intermediate chinks and apertures gradually offering at certain
intervals.
At each side of this Elysian-like river are roomy passages or rather
apartments, freely communicating one with the other, and scarcely
obvious to any inclemency whatsoever: they are likewise decorated with
a sandy beach level along to walk on, whilst the curious spectators are
crowned with garlands of ivy, hanging in triplets from the impending
rocky shades: numbers of the sporting game, the wily fox, the wary hare,
and the multiplying rabbit, &c. merrily parading in view of their own
singular and various absconding haunts and retreats. Ingenious nature
thus entertains her welcome visitants from the entrance to the extremity
of the To-mines. Lo! when parting liberally rewarded, and amply satisfied
with such egregious and wonderful exhibitions, a bridge or arch over
the same river, curiously composed of solid stone, appears to them as a
lively representation of an artificial one.
What can the much boasted of Giants’ Causeway, in the north of this
kingdom, produce but scenes of horror and obscurity? whilst the To-mines
of the barony of Tulla, like unto the artificial beauties of the Latomi
of Syracuse, freely exhibit the most natural and pleasing appearances.
Let the literati and curious, after taking the continental tour of
Europe, praise and even write of the imaginary beauties and natural
curiosities of Italy and Switzerland--pray, let them also, on a cool
reflection, repair to the county of Clare, view and touch upon the truly
subterraneous and really unartificial curiosities of the To-mines: they
will impartially admit that these naturally enchanting rarities may be
freely visited, and generously treated of, by the ingenious and learned
of this and after ages.”--_A Short Tour, or an Impartial and Accurate
Description of the County of Clare, by John Lloyd, Ennis; 1780._
Excellent. Mr Lloyd! Your style is indeed a _little_ peculiar, and
what some would think extravagant and grotesque; but you describe with
feeling, and we shall certainly visit your To-meens next summer. But
in the mean time we must notice another Clare lion, of which you have
given us no account--the lake and castle, which we have drawn as an
embellishment to our present number. This is a locality respecting the
beauty of which there can be no difference of opinion: it has all the
circumstances which give interest to a landscape--wood, water, lake,
mountain, and ancient ruin--and the effect of their combination is
singularly enhanced by the surprise created by the appearance of a scene
so delightful in a district wild, rocky, and unimproved.
The lake of Inchiquin is situated in the parish of Kilnaboy, barony
of Inchiquin, and is about two miles and a half in circumference. It
is bounded on its western side by a range of hills rugged but richly
wooded, and rising abruptly from its margin; and on its southern side,
the domain surrounding the residence of the Burton family, and the
ornamental grounds of Adelphi, the residence of W. and F. Fitzgerald,
Esqrs. contribute to adorn a scene of remarkable natural beauty. One
solitary island alone appears on its surface, unless that be ranked as
one on which the ancient castle is situated, and which may originally
have been insulated, though no longer so. The castle, which is situated
at the northern side of the lake, though greatly dilapidated, is still a
picturesque and interesting ruin, consisting of the remains of a barbican
tower, keep, and old mansion-house attached to it; and its situation on
a rocky island or peninsula standing out in the smooth water, with its
grey walls relieved by the dark masses of the wooded hills behind, is
eminently striking and imposing.
It is from this island or peninsula that the barony takes its name; and
from this also the chief of the O’Briens, the Marquis of Thomond, derives
his more ancient title of Earl of Inchiquin. For a long period it was the
principal residence of the chiefs of this great family, to one of whom it
unquestionably owes its origin; but we have not been able to ascertain
with certainty the name of its founder, or date of its erection. There
is, however, every reason to ascribe its foundation to Tiege O’Brien,
king or lord of Thomond, who died, according to the Annals of the Four
Masters, in 1466, as he is the first of his name on record who made
it his residence, and as its architectural features are most strictly
characteristic of the style of the age in which he flourished.
But though the erection of this castle is properly to be ascribed to the
O’Briens, it is a great error in the writers of Lewis’s Topographical
Dictionary to state that it has been from time immemorial the property
of the O’Brien family. The locality, as its name indicates, and as
history and tradition assure us, was the ancient residence of the
O’Quins, a family of equal antiquity with the O’Briens, and of the same
stock--namely, the Dal Cas or descendants of Cormac Cas, the son of
Ollioll Oluim, who was monarch of Ireland in the beginning of the third
century. The O’Quins were chiefs of the clan called Hy-Ifearnan, and
their possessions were bounded by those of the O’Deas on the east, the
O’Loughlins and O’Conors (Corcomroe) on the west and north-west, the
O’Hynes on the north, and the O’Hehirs on the south. At what period or
from what circumstance the O’Quins lost their ancient patrimony, we have
not been able to discover; but it would appear to have been about the
middle or perhaps close of the fourteenth century, to which time their
genealogy as chiefs is recorded in that invaluable repository of Irish
family history, the Book of Mac Firbis; and it would seem most probable
that they were transplanted by the O’Briens about this period to the
county of Limerick, in which they are subsequently found. Their removal
is indeed differently accounted for in a popular legend still current in
the barony, and which, according to our recollections of it, is to the
following effect:
In the youth of the last O’Quin of Inchiquin, he saw from his residence a
number of swans of singular beauty frequenting the west side of the lake,
and wandering along its shore. Wishing, if possible, to possess himself
of one of them, he was in the habit of concealing himself among the rocks
and woods in its vicinity, hoping that he might take them by surprise,
and he was at length successful: one of them became his captive, and was
secretly carried to his residence, when, to his amazement and delight,
throwing off her downy covering, she assumed the form of a beautiful
woman, and shortly after became his wife. Previous to the marriage,
however, she imposed certain conditions on her lover as the price of
her consent, to which he willingly agreed. These were--first, that
their union should be kept secret; secondly, that he should not receive
any visitors at his mansion, particularly those of the O’Briens; and,
lastly, that he should wholly abstain from gambling. For some years these
conditions were strictly adhered to; they lived in happiness together,
and two children blessed their union. But it happened unfortunately
at length that at the neighbouring races at Cood he fell in with the
O’Briens, by whom he was hospitably treated; and being induced to indulge
in too much wine, he forgot his engagements to his wife, and invited
them to his residence on a certain day to repay their kindness to him.
His wife heard of this invitation with sadness, but proceeded without
remonstrance to prepare the feast for his guests. But she did not grace
it with her presence; and when the company had assembled, and were
engaged in merriment, she withdrew to her own apartment, to which she
called her children, and after embracing them in a paroxysm of grief,
which they could not account for, she took her original feathery covering
from a press in which it had been kept, arrayed herself in it, and
assuming her pristine shape, plunged into the lake, and was never seen
afterwards. On the same night, O’Quin, again forgetful of the promises
he had made her, engaged in play with Tiege-an-Cood O’Brien, the most
distinguished of his guests, and lost the whole of his property.
The reader is at liberty to believe as much or as little of this story
as he pleases: but at all events the legend is valuable in a historical
point of view, as indicating the period when the lands of Inchiquin
passed into the hands of the O’Brien family; nor is it wholly improbable
that under the guise of a wild legend may be concealed some indistinct
tradition of such a real occurrence as that O’Quin made a union long kept
hidden, with a person of inferior station, and that its discovery drew
down upon his head the vengeance of his proud compeers, and led to their
removal to another district of the chiefs of the clan Hy-Ifearnan.
Be this, however, as it may, the ancient family of O’Quin--more fortunate
than most other Irish families of noble origin--has never sunk into
obscurity, or been without a representative of aristocratic rank; and it
can at present boast of a representative among the nobility of the empire
in the person of its justly presumed chief, the noble Earl of Dunraven.
We have thus slightly touched on the history of the O’Quins, not only as
it was connected with that of the locality which we had to illustrate,
but also as necessary to correct a great error into which Burke and other
modern genealogists have fallen in their accounts of the origin of the
name and descent of this family. Thus it is stated by those writers that
“the surname is derived from Con Ceadcaha, or Con of the hundred battles,
monarch of Ireland in the second century, whose grandson was called Cuinn
(rather O’Cuinn), that is, the descendant of Con, when he wielded the
sceptre in 254.” But those writers should not have been ignorant that
Con, which literally signifies the powerful, was a common name in Ireland
both in Christian and Pagan times; and still more, they should not have
been ignorant of the important fact for a genealogist, that the use of
surnames was unknown in Ireland till the close of the tenth century. The
story is altogether a silly fiction; and as the real origin of the family
appears to be now unknown even to themselves, and as their pedigree has
never as yet been printed, we are tempted to give it in an English form,
translated from the original, preserved in the books of Lecan and Duald
Mac Firbis:--
“Conor O’Quinn,
the son of Donell,
---- Donell,
---- Thomas,
---- Donell,
---- Donogh,
---- Giolla Seanain,
---- Donogh,
---- Morough,
---- Corc, who was the tutor of Murtogh O’Brien (the great
grandson of Brian Boru),
---- Feidhleachair,
---- Niall, who was henchman to Morough, the son of Brian
Boru, whose fate he shared in the battle of Clontarf,
---- Conn, from whom the name is derived.”
The pedigree is carried up from this Con through eighteen generations to
Cormac Cas, the son of Ollioll Oluim, and the common progenitor of all
the tribes of the Dal-Cassians.
In this notice we may add, as an evidence of the ancient rank of the
family, that the Irish annalists at the year 1188 record the death of
Edaoin, the daughter of O’Quin, Queen of Munster, on her pilgrimage at
Derry in that year. She appears to have been the wife of Mortogh O’Brien,
who died without issue in 1168, and was succeeded by his brother Donald
More, the last king of all Munster.
The Castle of Inchiquin is referred to in the Irish Annals as the
residence of the chiefs of the O’Brien family, at the years 1542, 1559,
and 1573; but the notices contain no interest to the general reader.