"Sable Wings Over The Land" by Ciarán Ó Murchadha

[Paddy Casey]

Was your supper a disappointment because the truffle paté ran out just as you wanted to put an extra spoon of it on that delightfully thin toast ? Was your evening ruined because the tournedos was a little underdone at that expensive restaurant ? Is the slight draught under the kitchen door making you a little uncomfortable when the winter evenings close in ? Are you having difficulty finding enough space for all those winter coats in the closet now that the family is growing ?

Well, the book "Sable Wings Over The Land" will straighten things out for you. Authored by Ciarán Ó Murchadha and published by those Clare County Library diesels at CLASP Press, "Sable Wings Over The Land" is a detailed account of Ennis and its rural hinterland during the Great Famine. With 332 pages of thoroughly referenced detail it carefully explains how the famine came about, who did what to alleviate the suffering and who failed to do what and why. It avoids the classical oversimplified fingerpointing at "The English", "The Landlords", "The Government" etc.. It shows how the disaster developed in a complex environment of incompetence, bungling, callousness, philanthropy, official despair, political mistrust, good intentions, bureaucracy, and prejudice, an environment populated by self-interested (and often absentee) landlords, overworked relief officials and committees, avaricious merchants, vacillating philanthropists, feuding religious ministers, violent agrarian factions and faraway but powerful London politicians to whom the fate of the Irish was of little consequence.

Whilst the book is an academic work it is laced with vignettes and eyewitness accounts from the local newspapers and individuals involved in the famine relief efforts. An example is the following account given by an official who was responsible for selecting people as eligible for employment on public relief works: "I ventured throughout the parish this day, to ascertain the condition of the inhabitants, and although a man not easily moved, I confess myself unmanned by the extent and intensity of suffering that I witnessed, more especially amongst the women and little children, crowds of whom were to be seen scattered over the turnip fields, like a flock of famishing crows, devouring the raw turnips, mothers half naked, shivering in the snow and sleet, uttering exclamations of despair, whilst their children were screaming with hunger; I am a match for anything else that I may meet with here, but this I cannot stand." The phrase "......scattered over the turnip fields, like a flock of famishing crows...." is stunningly descriptive, don't you think.

"Sable Wings Over The Land" is not light reading but is definitely a must for those whose ancestors lived in - or fled from - Clare and the West of Ireland in the mid-19th century. It moves one on from the construction of family trees to an understanding of the daily lives of those families and individuals. And it makes it easier to put up with the shortage of truffle paté or the slightly underdone steak at this evening's supper.

Paddy

[moc66]

Hi Paddy,
Excellent production and another one to read as well ' A Pride of Paper Tigers ' by Michael O'Gorman of Scarriff published in the early nineties about The Scarriff Workhouse and the workings of Board of Guardians of the Scarrif Union. The book was available in the Ennis Bookshop and probably for sale online if is not out of print. Same inepitude was displayed by the authorities in the Scarriff Union as was found in Ennis an surrounding districts. Captain Kennedy's reports from the Kilrush Union would show the same. Two books by Fr Ignatius Murphy, 'Kilkee before Famine times and 'Kilkee during the Famine tell of similar happenings.
michael

[Paddy Casey]

Thanks very much indeed for these reading suggestions, Michael.

I just checked Amazon and ebay for Michael O'Gorman's book but had no luck. It is, of course, stocked at the Clare County Library so the indigenous are in luck. However, whilst searching for sources of the book I stumbled on the CC Multitext article on the famine at http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Famine. Interesting.

Also no luck on ebay with Fr Ignatius Murphy, 'Kilkee before Famine times'. Looks as if I'll have to wait for my next visit to the County Library.

Paddy

[mcreed]

Hi Paddy and Michael,
Ignatius Murphy's book is actually called "Before the famine struck: life in west Clare, 1834-1845"
He also published "A starving people : life and death in west Clare, 1845-1851".
I'll try to make links to them here in the library's online catalogue.
http://opac.clarelibrary.ie/search/q?au ... rchscope=1
http://opac.clarelibrary.ie/search/q?au ... chscope=1#

Hope that's of some help.
Mike

[Paddy Casey]

Hope that's of some help, Mike ? Indeed it is, thank you very much. I've now found both on Amazon for €19.99/€18.65 and ordered them as it's cheaper than flying over to Ennis to take them out at the Library (albeit not so enjoyable).

Paddy

[moc66]

Hi Mike,
You are spot on with the titles and Paddy it was great that you were able to get them online. Both books are very good read's. You will see that he refers a lot to Fr Malachi Duggan in both books. Referring to the report Fr Malachy gave to the British Parliament in 1825 which is given in full on the site EPPI. Testimony of Fr. Malachi Duggan of "Moyferta" pp. 121-29 http://www.eppi.ac.uk/eppi/digbib/view? ... 2844&p=621 . I came across that link 12 months ago in the forum and within a few minutes I had read the report which Fr Ignatius took probably tree weeks to access. Those two volumes started out as a thesis and before Fr I Murphy could publish the material he sadly passed away. The books were published posthumously by his brother Mr. Gay Murphy of Magowna Kilmaley and came out in the mid nineties. The Murphy brothers were from Kilkee Co Clare. Even though Fr Malachi was reporting on the combined parishes of Carrigaholt and Cross on the Loop Head Peninsula the Kilkee Parish was just north of them, as Fr Ignatius writes mostly on the Kilkee Parish the conditions that Fr Malachi refers to in his account applied to the whole area. Also at time the Kilkee/Kilferagh parish was a combination of two modern parish's Kilkee and Doonbeg/Killard.
I will finish for now, just back from a battle in Thurles where The Claremen emerged victorious against Limerick. So here's to the next battle with our old rivals Tipperary! "UP The Banner" Michael...