As summer beckons, thoughts turn to some of our most favoured coastal spots.
Mary McCarthy meets a man who recalls growing up in Castletownshend – one of the area’s most popular coastal villages, loved by locals and tourists alike – which may even boast the country’s very first roundabout!
TWO young women from Castletownshend travelled to London in the early 1900s to be ‘presented at court’ in the capital city but they came home after a week – because the social life was better in the West Cork village.
So recounted George Salter Townshend, who was a child in the iconic Castlehaven castle in the 1940s.
Castletownshend is ‘for dreamers’, as gleaned from the writings of The Irish RM author Edith Somerville, said George.
‘It is a tranquil place. It is where everyone visits, including famous people. But its uniqueness is that everyone is treated the same,’ according to George.
Edith’s story and the village were both immortalised recently by award-winning author and journalist Martina Devlin in her book, Edith: A Novel. Indeed, Martina is herself a regular visitor to the colourful village, along with many other writers and artists, drawn to its unique geography and pretty harbour location.
Most visitors will recall the village as the one which has two trees in the middle of the road. ‘Perhaps it was one of the first roundabouts in the world,’ he wondered. ‘During the war, local men fighting on the front, used to say to one another that they would meet at these trees after the war. That was their hope.’
‘In the 1640s, when Col Richard Townsend first came to Castletownshend, the O’Driscoll’s ruled the sea and The McCarthy Reagh was lord of the land. King Charles I granted land to Townsend. However, Townsend paid for all the land. Then McCarthy Reagh willed the land to him,’ he said.
George pictured at the Castle. (Photo: Anne Minihane)
‘Interestingly to note, Col Richard Townsend came for king and parliament, and not as some historians claim – that he was a Cromwellian,’ George stated.
The village, which has 200 permanent residents today, was originally located at the mouth of the harbour before it moved, and was built up around a bolting mill. Back then, there was direct sailing from Castletownshend to America by Tom, the merchant Somerville.
‘In the 1800s, my great, great, grandfather, Maurice Fitzgerald Stephens Townshend, who gave the Fairfield to Skibbereen forever, suggested that farmers wash their hands and the cows’ udders before milking,’ he said.
‘In the 1930s, my grandmother died young. She was a poet and a painter. A lot of her work is still displayed in the castle’s drawing room,’ he added.
‘And in those days, all the big houses put on plays and charades. It was well known that two ladies from Castletownshend went to be presented at court in London. They came home after a week, because the social life was better in the village of Castletownshend. That original story was featured in The Times in London,’ George said.
Both churches in Castletownshend and Castlehaven are known as St Barrahane’s.
‘They are named after a local patron saint. This shows the closeness between the two communities,’ he said.
In the 1800s, Maurice Fitzgerald Stephens Townshend had unexpectedly inherited Castletownshend, when his brother Col John Townsend died of wounds fighting in Spain. He is immortalised in the song Sweet Castletownshend Demesne.
The Irish RM author – and church organist – Edith Somerville, with her dogs.
‘When Col John Townsend was abroad fighting in Spain, and wounded with the ague [fever], they lit candles in the Catholic church, praying for his recovery and homecoming,’ said George.
In 1826, St Barrahane’s Church was built in Castletownshend. Before that, it had been situated at Castlehaven harbour, and locals would often make the dangerous journey to church by boat.
A list of incumbents, recorded in the baptistry of the church, has all the old Catholic names going back to the 1400s.
The stained glass windows are by the famous Harry Clarke and Powell. In one of the windows, Harry Clarke depicted a friesian cow.
But the traditional black and white cow is coloured blue and white by Clarke. Incidentally, it is believed that friesian cows were brought into Ireland by the Somervillles.
In church, some families had their own pews. Where the vicar changed his clothes, this was the anteroom where the Townsends could go for a smoke – if they felt the urge – during the service. The church could hold several hundred in the congregation, and indeed the aforementioned writer Edith Somerville played the organ here, for over 50 years.
‘Lots of famous writers came to stay at the castle, and at Drishane with the Somervilles,’ said George. ‘Edith Somerville was my cousin. And when she was not exporting horses to America, she was writing in collaboration with Martin Ross. In The Irish RM, it was said, that all the characters could be identified locally.’
The famous ‘two trees’ roundabout, in the village.
Dean Jonathan Swift stayed at the castle in a place called Swift’s Tower, where he wrote the poem Carberry Rupes.
In 1898, George Bernard Shaw married Charlotte Townsend. (She should not be confused with Charlotte Payne Townsend, of White Hall).
‘Back in the day, most locals made their living from fishing and boat building,’ he said. ‘And tonnes of fish came in from the bay. Most fishermen caught pilchards and herring. More were farming. And then, there were those who could afford local people to work for them.
‘When I was going to school in Skibbereen during the war, there was a local taxi service run by Jerome O’Donovan. He also provided transport with lorries,’ George added.
‘Businesses included three cobblers, a forge, five pubs, three shops and the post office that I remember,’ he said. ‘Shana Court House, a Georgian house built in 1725, was the old customs house for Skibbereen. In later years, it had a visiting doctor on and off.’
George concluded that although Castletownshend overlooks the water’s edge, the village is most proud of its diverse community. This place has great characters, all larger than life, and all rich in language and story.
