Mary Gillham in Ireland – Lovely turns of phrase

Cape Clear, Co. Cork, Ireland

Welsh naturalist Dr. Mary Gillham of Cardiff University had a special relationship with Ireland and some of the accounts of her visits have lovely turns of phrase – both eloquent and humorous.

In 1963 Mary travelled to Cape Clear off Co. Cork, enroute  “Curlews bubbled, a bittern boomed and flocks of finches and larks came rollicking past.”

“”Lost in a maze of villages where signposts were in short supply, I accosted an elderly couple. “Where am I?”
They looked at me in bewilderment, pointing at the patch of Mother Earth on which they stood. “Why, you’re here of course.””

On landing on the island – “A narrow lane led off up the valley, lined with mounded banks of golden gorse, beckoning the newcomer into the interior.”

Following several sunny days – “we were immersed in a clammy cloud of mirky mist, dark as bilge water…..The mist settled, steamy and breathless, where little waves lapped on the stones, but the stillness onshore was absolute.”

Inspirational coastal vegetation on Cape Clear, Ireland.

Mary loved plants – “The massed twin heads of kidney vetch on rocky ridges overshadowed drifts of white scurvy grass flowers in the gullies below. Primroses and violets snuggled in sheltered depressions, some among stunted sloe bushes not much taller. Ubiquitous springtime celandines glistened through globules of condensed fog and Oxalis wood sorrel, template for the Irish shamrock, had strayed from woodland to raise shy blooms among tuffets of hardier thrift. Little mauve ‘snapdragons’ of ivy-leaved scrambled up the flanks of narrow headlands…..”

Mary Gillham made specific trips to Cape Clear, The Skelligs, Garinish Island, The Aran Islands, Inishbofin and Achill Island.  The photographic records of these visits are available on flickr thorough the Mary Gillham Archive Project.

You can enjoy more of her descriptions of her trips to Ireland in:  Gillham, M. (2007).  This Island Life. Discovering Britain’s Offshore Gems. Halsgrove.

 

Dr. Mary Gillham: Ireland, Donkeys and DNA

One of the pleasures of biographical research is finding personal insights. This has proven to be elusive in the case of freshwater ecologist Dr. Kathleen Carpenter who left a trail of scientific studies in the early half of the last century but few accounts exist of what she was like as a person. However one of my work colleagues has shared with me his admiration for his inspirational teacher Dr. Mary Gillham, a more recent Welsh based ecologist. Her papers, photographs and diaries are currently being curated as part of a special project – A Dedicated Naturalist: The Dr. Mary Gillham Archive Project.

Mary Gillham visited many of the classic natural history sites in Ireland between 1963 and 1988 – The Burren, Connemara, Killarney and several offshore islands, including Inishboffin, Achill Island and Cape Clear.  I could not resist asking if I could see some of the material from these trips with her extramural students from Cardiff University.  I did not expect to find an abundance of donkeys! The slides from almost every trip to Ireland include donkeys and her island guide book describes her enjoyment of these surprise encounters. This blog reunited her descriptions of these encounters with photographs she took at the time.

Cape Clear: “We also met an aged donkey who spent most of his time between feeds “stretched” on the ground – he too, past serving his master. All the animals encountered were very forthcoming, evidently regarding humans as friends. Or did they know that the likes of us, furnished with binoculars, were unlikely to put them to work.”

The Aran Islands: “Donkeys ranged freely over rocks, dunes and beaches, serving their master well as mounts or when their paired wicker panniers were laden with seaweed, potatoes or rye. Some hauled small jaunting carts with stores from the pierhead at Killeany.”

Kerry: “Returning to our farmhouse accommodation near Killorglin the lane was blocked at one point by a dappled, long-eared donkey, ruminating at right angles to the bordering stone hedges. We drew to a halt and he turned to us with a self-satisfied smile, knowing he had the upper hand.It took quite a while for Mairead to push him out of the way, one end at a time, after which he trust his head through the driver’s window to seek a reward for being so accommodating. There is something endearing and stubbornly Irish about Irish donkeys, even when they filch the apple from the hand before the first bite has been taken.”

Recent DNA studies have revealed the far away origin of the donkey and the length of the relationship with people. Their ancestors were first recruited and tamed by people in the deserts of North Africa more than 5000 years ago. Ancient trade routes and civilisations were supported by these faithful animals.

Donkeys have come a long way but their joint journey with the people of Ireland is set to continue.

With my sincere thanks to Annie Irving (@sconzani) and Al Reeves for their assistance with the production of this blog.  You can follow follow progress with The Mary Gillham Archive Project on Twitter and Facebook.   

 

 

Frongoch’s Waters of Revolution

This weekend the media is dominated by accounts of the Easter Rising in Ireland which occurred 100 years ago.  This blog focuses on a shared piece of Welsh and Irish human and environmental history with a revolutionary water undercurrent.

I am sure my Irish history school books told me about Frongoch, near Bala in North Wales, where Irish rebels were interned after the Easter 1916 Rising.  But I am afraid I did not rediscover this story until I came to live in Wales to work as a freshwater ecologist.

While driving along the road between Bala and Trawsfynydd, through Frongoch and past Llyn Celyn, my colleague, Tim, told me the history of Llyn Celyn, a controversial reservoir built in the 1960’s to supply water to Liverpool.  Political analysts believe that the damming of the Afon Treyweryn to create this development, with the loss of a Welsh speaking community, lead to the evolution of the distinct Anglo-Welsh politics which continues today.  Despite protests on the streets of Liverpool, the dam was constructed. At the reservoir opening ceremony members of the illegal Free Wales Army, who would also attend the fiftieth anniversary of The Rising in Dublin, protested by parading in uniform for the first time.  The common Celtic history of oppression and protest resonated with me.

But the Frongoch area has generated other historic freshwater connections between Wales and Ireland extending back to a shared appreciation of whisky.  In the late 1880’s R.J. Lloyd Price, owner of the large local Rhiwlas Estate, saw the Afon Tryweryn and its tributary Tai’r Felin as a source of water and power to produce whisky to rival Scottish and Irish spirits.  The Welsh Whisky Distillery Company was established and a large distillery building was built at Frongoch.  The poetic publicity claimed it to be:
“….the most wonderful whisky that ever drove the skeleton from the feast, or painted landscapes in the brain of man. It is the mingled souls of peat and barley, washed white within the rivers of the Tryweryn.”  

However the whisky connoisseurs were very disappointed with the quality of the product, describing it as raw, crude and practically flavourless. In 1899 the company was wound up and the distillery building was sold.  But it has also been reported that the whisky business benefited the Tryweryn trout who were thought to have thrived on the mash of barley and hot water that was discharged into the stream.

The Frongoch distillery building was eventually bought by the government and at first used as a holding camp for captured German prisoners in 1914.  On arrival the Irish detainees compared the surrounding landscape of mountains with their homes, and were very impressed to discover the local Welsh population speaking their native language. Although a German sign, Trinke Wasser, drinking water, was still in place, signs in Irish were not allowed, but Irish and Welsh classes were subsequently incorporated into the camp curriculum.

It is difficult to read about the misery endured by the Irish prisoners in Frongoch – deep mud, extreme cold and damp in winter; trying to sleep in oppressive and suffocating heat in grain drying rooms with rats during the summer.   Despite the abundance of water, conditions were unsanitary. Food quality was very poor, mainly black bread and potatoes. The severe conditions were reflected in cases of scurvy, Sciatica, tuberculosis, a flu outbreak, and severe mental illness.  The camp medical doctors, local Welshmen Dr. David Peters and his nephew, Dr. R.J. Roberts, were caught between following camp rules and restrictions, and their duty to care for their patients. It was an absolute tragedy when Dr. Peters was found drowned in the Tryweryn.

I am relieved to say that none of my Irish family were interned in Wales but I think of my countrymen every time I drive through this area.  Their family and supporters also made considerable journeys to visit them. Notable visitors included Margaret Pearse, mother of Padraig and Willie Pearse, and her daughter Margaret, and Mary sister of Terence MacSwiney.

It was also ironic to discover that the most recent record of a transitory Irish population in this area were the labourers who helped to build Llyn Celyn Reservoir.

Remember Frongoch, Cofiwch Dryweryn, remember Ireland.
Easter 1916. Easter 2016.

Main source: Ebenezer, L. (2006). Fron-Goch and the birth of the IRA. Gwasg Carreg Gwalch.

Coole Park – a turlough and a terrier

View across basin of Coole Park Turlough, Co. Galway. Photo © Warren Kovach

28 July, 2014.

“Turlough” is an Irish word which has transferred into the international language of limnology.  It has been translated in various ways such as the contradictory “dry lake”, but it is generally agreed that it means a place which dries out.  In Ireland turloughs are associated with the hydrology of karstic limestone areas.

According to Micheline Sheehy Skeffington in “Secrets of the Irish Landscape – The Story of the Irish Landscape is the Story of Ireland” (2013):  “Turloughs are temporary wetlands which usually flood in late autumn to produce a lake-strewn winter landscape in and around East Galway and Mayo, where they are common.  They drain in spring, exposing wet grassland, which by summer shows little or no trace of water.  The flooding and emptying is a function of rainfall intensity so that in wet summers they can re-fill for many weeks.  Over 400 have been documented in Ireland, where they were once thought to be unique, but one has been identified in Wales and now a few in Slovenia.”

There is a distinct pleasure in revisiting places after a long absence.  Perhaps this drew me to visiting Coole Park and it’s turlough near Gort, County Galway.  The house which once stood here is well known as the former home of Lady Gregory and her literary and artistic guests, such as Augustus John, George Bernard Shaw and W.B. Yeats.  The water body was one of my Ph.D zooplankton sampling site, when I did see the wild swans of Coole which inspired a poem by Yeats.

Today it was overcast but very mild.  The guide at the visitor centre seemed to understand why visitors might request directions to the turlough.  She gave us a map.  We needed to go along the path past the pump house where once a horse walked in circles to provide unfiltered water for Lady Gregory and her household.  Although there was consternation when leeches were found in the bath!

We were told to check out the pictures on the nearby shelter of the severe flood and freeze event in the winter of 2009-10.  Basically, high water levels in the turlough corresponded with very cold weather.  Ice formed on the water surface adhering to submerged tree branches and created a still discernible ‘snap line’ of broken branches when the water retreated.  The incorporation of recent events into site interpretation really does help engage visitors.

Potentilla. Photo © Warren Kovach.

It was a visual shock to emerge from the dark woodland into the open vista of the turlough.  The classic vegetation zonation first described by Robert Lloyd Praeger was laid out before us, with the species most tolerant of submersion in the bottom of the basin.  The path lead through the Potentilla zone, alongside some of the last remaining clusters of flowering Fen Violet, Viola persicifolia.  The surrounding walls demarcating the woodland were black with moss, probably Cinclidotus fontinaloides.  Alongside the river flowing into the remnant lake, cattle and horses grazed on the emerged summer pasture.  There were no swans today but there was a silhouette of a flock of ducks on the distant lake.

Fen Violet, Viola persicifolia. Photo by © Warren Kovach.

I took an excursion into the lower part of the basin alongside the river.  Although the soil was dried out and cracked, it was still soft under foot.  The only clue to the aquatic seasonality of the turlough was the desiccated aquatic snail shells.  But this stressed environment provided ideal conditions for the mudwort, Limnosella aquatica, a plant.

Then I looked up and the little brown terrier appeared.  It sped around me in circles at high speed barely making the tight turn to pass between me and the river.  Its paws kicked up small clods of soil like a horse in the Galway Races! Turns out this little rascal was evading capture from a leash being brandished by its family, Mum and two small children.  The dog paused to catch its breathe midway between us.  It had a choice – do an encore circuit with my encouragement or return to its owners. I was not surprised it gave in to temptation but this time the dog’s brakes failed and it made an undignified dive into the river to everyone’s amusement.  It quickly scrambled out without assistance.  At least the dip washed off the turlough mud and cooled the dog’s enthusiasm.  We exchanged a few words of reassurance with the owners that the dog would probably be dry by the time it was back to the car.

Turlough Terrier. Photo © Warren Kovach.

Then we returned along the path through the woodland. Interpretation boards reminded us we were walking through the seven woods of Coole which inspired W.B. Yeats:
“I walked among the seven woods of Coole:
Shan-walla, where a willow-bordered pond
Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn…”

Turloughs are a priority habitat for conservation under the EC Habitats Directive.