Introduction
Duhallow West 1600
The volume of traffic that passes through Boherbue Square on any given day is astounding - all tapes of vehicles from all over Europe, commercial vehicles, tourist coaches from far away places with strange sounding names and also our own local traffic. Having painted the above picture, it is hard for us to imagine that three to four hundred years ago not a road existed in West Duhallow except paths and trails, mostly through open country (no fences), just catering for pedestrians, horses on the butter route and the movement of cattle who actually defined and decided and created the routes. In the 17th century and possibly earlier, we can only be sure of one highway or route through Duhallow and that was the road from Mallow to Castleisland which went through Ballyclough, Cecilstown, Kanturk and finally over Sliabh Luachra to Kerry. Crossing Sliabh Luachra seems to have been the ultimate challenge for trading pioneers.
The following article which appeared in the Gazetteer of Ireland circa 1846 under the heading Pobble O'Keeffe, describes conditions in the Sliabh Luuachra area of Duhallow around 1800 A.D. In the parishes of Kilmeen, Clonfert, Nohavall Daly and especially The Cork/Kerry border area where the great leap forward was to start under Government engineer Griffith and surveyor Weale who had been sent by the Government to do something to rectify the deplorable conditions that existed in the area. This culminated in the creation of a new route across Sliabh Luachra from Roskeen to Castleisland which passed the already established villages of Boherbue and Kiskeam. It crossed the river Blackwater where a new community and village called King Williamstown was established.
A route that had already existed to Castleisland crossed the Blackwater a few miles to the north near its source.
Besides being a road builder Griffith left his mark in many other aspects of life in Duhallow Sliabh Luachra.
The Gazetteer goes on:-
The tract of territory that I am dealing with, is bounded chiefly in the west by the incipient Blackwater, the division-line between Cork and Kerry, and on the east by the mountains - rivulet Owenaglyn or Auntharaglyn, the Brogeen and the Abha Chaol/ Dalua and in the north by the Feale. Its surface is hilly and undulated and has an average altitude of about 500 feet above sea level. It forma a central portion of a vast mountain district and though exhibiting some peat-bog in the bottom of valleys and depressions, prevailingly shows a good strong soil.
This great mountain region around was, the theatre of desolating warfare in reigns of Elizabeth and James 1, the refuge of outlaws in the reign of William 111, and Anne and the very focus of insurrections in the southwest of Munster since the commencement of the present century. But during the last twenty-two years since Griffith arrived in 1882 it has been the scene of such wise and benevolent engineering measures and a gargantuan operations on the part of the government that created employment for the wretched masses of unemployed people.
This extensive tract of country says a writer in the Dublin Penny Journal "was distinguished by a more than an ordinary degree of indolence and turbulence in its inhabitants and their abodes being almost inaccessible for want of roads, crime frequently escaped unpunished.
During the disturbances of the Winter of 1821, and the Spring of 1822, this district was an asylum for White Boys,Smugglers, and Midnight Marauders. Stolen cattle were constantly driven into it from the surrounding flat and fertile country as to a safe and impenetrable retreat.
A vast change has been effected in the state of the district and its inhabitants since the month of September 1822 when new lines of road were laid down under the direction of Mr. Griffith. He was a man of distinguished talent and information.
The progress of this important change he has thus described.
"At the commencement of the works, the people flocked to them from all quarters seeking employment at any rate which might be offered. Their general appearance bespoke extreme poverty, their looks were haggard and their clothing wretched, they rarely possessed any instruments of husbandry beyond something very small and ill-made and as a consequence it followed that nearly the whole face of the country was unimproved and in a state of nature.
But since the completion of the roads in 1829, rapid strides have been made towards cultivation and improvement.
Upwards of sixty new lime-kilns were built for the purpose of burning lime for agriculture within the two preceding years, carts, ploughs and harrows of superior construction became common, new houses of a better class were built in great numbers in the vicinity of the new roads and also in the adjacent villages .
New enclosures of mountain farms have been made in every direction and this country which at no distant period was the scene of lawless outrage and one of the strongholds of what might be termed the rebel army, quickly became perfectly tranquil and exhibited a scene of industry and exertion at once pleasing and remarkable. To the credit of the people be it told that a large portion of the money received by them for labour on the roads was husbanded with care and subsequently laid out in building substantial houses and in the purchase of cattle and implements of husbandry."
Note:- O'Keeffe: The family were driven from the Feara Muighe area and when they settled in Duhallow their district became known as Pobble O'Keeffe.
The McAuliffe Clan Controlled the north-west portion of this wild and inaccessible section of Sliabh Luachra.
The McDonagh McCarthy clan from Kanturk were the principal clan in Duhallow and their overlords the McCarthy More family of Lough Lein extended their hegemony nearly as far as Boherbue taking in the townlands of Umaraboy, Islandbrack, Ruhill, Lomanach and Derryleigh. They were known as "The Eastern Fractions."
We have come a long way in Duhallow since those days. Now, we have lovely idyllic villages, passable roads, schools...primary and comprehensive.
Mid 19th Century Map of Duhallow
Sliabh Luachra
Much reference has been made to Sliabh Luachra. The geographical boundaries of this region have been the subject of much discussion and argument over the years.
Sliabh Luachra means "The Rushy Mountain." Loosely speaking, the area takes in the land in west and north-west Duhallow plus the immediate area west of the river Blackwater in Kerry. Historians disagree as to the exact boundaries of the area but it is generally thought that the "Ascendancy" who named it, decided that the territory from Clonbannin Cross as far north as Tourmore and the Bacuara mountains and swinging west in a semi-circle, taking in the parishes of Ballydesmond, Gneeveguilla and Knocknagree, was not worth "Planting." They looked on it as moorland inhabited by poverty stricken peasants, a haven for Raparees and infested with wild animals. The gentry, na mor uaisle, the Longfields, the Wallaces etc. were only interested in the wild animals and the pleasure they got from the Hunt. Many of their "hunting lodges" have survived up to recent times.
Although we still cling to the name Sliabh Luachra for nostalgic reasons, in reality it is gone, mainly due to land reclamation and modern farming methods. However the uniqueness of the area and its name has survived, as can be seen in the survival of many of the old cultures and in its use as a "brand name."