Articles

A large number of men from the Blarney area, for many different reasons, left to take part in the First World War between 1914 and 1918. Many returned but quite a number of them did not and they will never be forgotten.

The very beautiful and highly illuminated stained glass windows which make up the display above the organ and choir gallery in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Blarney, depict, appropriately, the martyred Saint Cecilia – Patron Saint of Church Music.

Blarney has welcomed many visitors over the years. Some have left a record of their visit for posterity, usually in words, but sometimes in visual media; a drawing, a print, watercolour or oil painting.

When Donagh, the last of the McCarthy family, left Blarney to live on an island in the Wadden Sea off the North-West of the Netherlands, where he ended his days in relative comfort, Blarney Castle and lands were put up for sale.

James St. John Jefferyes inherited the Blarney estate in 1740 and eventually set about developing industry in the village, building an inn, a new church, 90 houses and some flax mills – a development noted with approval by the English agronomist Arthur Young in his ‘Tour of Ireland.’

Following Timothy Mahony’s death on 2nd January 1818, the business was run by Martin, who possessed a different temperament to his brother.

One of the first things we would notice if we could go back in time would be the darkness.  Once the sun had gone down people had only candles to give them light and these candles were smoky and smelly.

On December 5th 1948, there was continued and heavy rain which resulted in severe flooding in the river valleys which feed Blarney, namely, the Martin, the Blarney and the Shournagh. 

In September of 1776, Arthur Young visited S.J. Jeffery’s, Esq; at Blarney Castle.  

Of whose great works in building a town at Blarney, I cannot give so particular an account as I wish to do; for I got there just as he and his family were on the point of setting out for France.