Wednesday April 20th: Cork, Ireland
Bob: We met with the reference librarian in the Cork County Library at 9:30 and proceeded to scan the microfilmed property lists for Derrynagashee, Glawn, and Tanaguska. The microfilm reader induced heavy eyestrain, but we found some lists of tenants for Derrynagashee and possibly Tanaguska, but no trace of Glawn. Surprisingly the library also had a copy of "In the New World", from whence we got the reference to the Holmes' ancestral chart in the local historical magazine, which the library also had in the reference section. Although the citation was for the 1919 edition, we didn't find it there but Monika kept on searching until she found the article in the 1921 edition! Locating the correct pages, we took copy shots of the Holmes family tree and other esoteric family information. |
Monika: We had an appointment at the Cork County Library (as opposed to the City library). We had been told that it was opposite the Kingsley hotel. Our host Seamus had given me directions, but I still tried to use the GPS. I did not find the county library but did find the Kingsley hotel. With that, we were safely guided to the right place. The librarian helped us with the old estate records that were on microfiche. They were by parish , and we had no clue what parish the different estates where in that Sarah Kingston Holmes mentioned in her will. But the librarian did help some and Bob spent a fruitless hour squinting at the microfiche reader. But we did get something accomplished. This library had a copy of Constance Pole Bayer's book "And in the New World" that contains history, family trees, and pictures of the Holmes family that lived around Cork. We had tried to find the book in the Library of Congress, but they had misfiled their copy. Now we did see the pages that were missing from the zip files I had received via ancestry.com. To my delight, we also found that they had a copy of the Annals of County Cork History that was mentioned as a reference to the Holmes family tree. It was not in the 1919 volume, as was mentioned in the reference, but we did find it in the 1921 volume. I went ahead and happily Xeroxed all the missing pages, and Bob made copy shots of the pictures . So the trip was not wasted. |
Bob: Quitting at noon (with a roaring eyestrain headache on my part), we drove to center of Cork to walk around the city a bit. The downtown area was attractive and fairly large with quaint shops and narrow streets, some of which had been turned into pedestrian malls. The first landmark was the English Market, which turned out to be very similar to a Spanish Mercado or general city market. Fresh fish and meats were available along with offerings from other boutiques. We tried to have lunch at the restaurants on the second floor of the market, but it was way too crowded. |
Monika: When we finally left, it was almost lunch time and we were on the outskirts of Cork. We knew that Cork was a walkable city, knew the church were Bob's great-grandparents got married, and knew that there was a parking garage across from the tourist information. So I set the GPS to lead us to the parking garage. What we did not take into account, was that Cork is an old city with very narrow roads that went this way and that. Bob was just happy that he had a narrow car and was even happier when he had it parked without a new scratch on it. Our first stop was Tourist Information Centre, where we acquired some rather nice maps of Cork. We then walked around Cork, stopping in the English Market, hoping for lunch. It reminded me a lot of the Mercados we have been seeing in Spain. But the only lunch place was extremely crowded. |
Bob: Reluctantly, because the food at the English Market looked good and fresh, we gave up and walked a couple short blocks further to a pub that was open for mid-day meals. The radio was turned up a bit loud, but the pub grub was acceptable and gave us the energy to walk some more. |
Monika: So on we forged and stopped in a little pub, where we all had the cottage pie, with chips of course, and I enjoyed my first Murphy's. Ahhh, I finally knew I was back in Ireland. |
Bob: We walked North over one of the branches of the river that flows through the downtown area and climbed the hill to the Anglican church. |
Monika: Thus fortified, we walked on through the rather pedestrian friendly (car unfriendly) city. We crossed the river Lee and started uphill to St. Anne's church, the church of Lower Shannon mentioned by Sarah Holmes as the place she and James Holmes got married. It was a nice older church rebuilt on the foundation of an even older one. What was especially fun, was that we could walk up the tower, ringing the bells halfway up. We had to wear earphones, to be safe, in case someone else was ringing them while we where walking up. At one point we were actually right next to one of the bells, and I was glad it was not being rung at that moment |
Bob: Monika and I climbed the bell tower and rang the bells, and then continued up to the top to get a great view of the City of Cork spread below us. |
Monika: But the climb was well worth it. From the top we had a wonderful view of the city of Cork and could indulge in all the picture taking we felt like. |
Bob: Returning downhill to the river, we crossed via a different bridge and purchased some groceries at Tesco before returning to the car. |
Monika: On our way back to the car, we stopped at a Tesco store I had spotted earlier to buy buns, cheese, and wine for our evening meal. By this time, we all were ready to get back into the car and head for our home away from home. |
Bob: It was a very difficult drive home. First, we got trapped by the network of 1-way streets in downtown Cork and had to take the wrong way out of the central business district. Driving back across town was a nightmare because the high traffic densities of Cork at rush hour combined with all the cars parked helter-skelter on both sides of very narrow streets to make driving in 2-way traffic very dicey. Just about the time we were getting out of the city traffic the GPS quit on us (low battery) and we got lost. Did I mention street signs are generally absent in Ireland? But there were signs to the airport, at least, so we headed that way and then picked up the route back to our B&B from that point. Whew, was I glad that day of driving was over! |
Monika: This was easier said then done. I thought I had mapped out an easier way, but had not realized that Cork was full of one-way street that did not go the way I wanted to go. So I finally gave up and let Mr. GPS lead us home. After some misguidance, we did get on the right road, at which point, he decided he was out of battery juice and quit on me. So now it was back to the old fashioned way, just me and the maps. Of course, there was one round-about where I managed to have us go east instead of west. But a few miles down the road, I did find another one that promised me it would lead us to the airport. Well I knew the way from the airport, so that was ok and we did make it home none the worse for wear. But Bob thought that we had better have the GPS charger in the car, so that it won't quit on me again. |
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Transatlantic Cruise | Map of Drive in Ireland | Epilog |
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