Beyond the Twelve Bens: History of Clifden and District, 1860-1923 - Softcover

Villiers-Tuthill, Kathleen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 095304551X ISBN 13: 9780953045518

Publisher: Connemara Girl Publications, 1997

Synopsis

Beyond The Twelve Bens tells the story of the land that lies between the Twelve Bens and the Atlantic Ocean, and of the people who inhabited it during the years 1860 to 1923.
Having lived through the Famine, the tenant farmers in Connemara in the 1860s were fully aware of the vulnerability of their position and the possibility of crop failure recurring was high; for them the future held no promise or hope. If they stayed, there was a good chance they would watch their children die of starvation, fever or disease resulting from malnutrition. So they emigrated in their thousands, hoping for the promise of work and grasping any chance of enjoying a better life. Their passage was paid by well-meaning English and Irish gentlemen, who believed this was the only solution to Connemara's problems of poverty and want. But those who remained would, in the years that followed, find other solutions to these problems.
However, before freedom, came fame. The turn of the century found Connemara somewhat more prosperous. A railway line, linking Clifden with Galway, was opened in 1895 at a cost of £9,000 per mile. In October 1907, from the Marconi Station at Derrygimla, the first commercial wireless messages were transmitted and received across the Atlantic. It was at the Station also that the first transatlantic flight landed on 15 June 1919, on board were Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitton Brown. These events were to ensure Clifden's place in the history of world communications.
Above all else this book tells of the people of Connemara. For, be they rich or poor, their lives and their personalities went into the making of Connemara as we fine it today.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The years from the Famine to the Free State were years of agricultural advancement, expansion of the educational system, commercial awareness and political diversity. They brought many social changes and elevated the participation of the individual in the shaping of his destiny. The 1860s and 70s saw the rise of a well-educated middle class. The town produced a number of professional men. These did much to shape the social and political thinking in their day.
However by far the biggest influence on Clifden, in the early part of the twentieth century, was Monsignor McAlpine. Under his direction the town supported the Irish Party. It was branded a pro-British town offering little support to Sinn Fein and the Volunteers. The actions of the Black and Tans; their raids, their looting and eventual burning of fourteen houses on 17 March 1921, soon changed all that.
In the Civil War the Connemara Flying Column was split. Old comrades, who had once stood back to back to face the enemy, now turned around and aimed their guns at each other. The birth of the Free State opened wounds that would not be healed for generations.

Edition details

• Publisher: Connemara Girl Publications
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 095304551X
• ISBN 13: 9780953045518
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252