Time Travellers Guide
Welcome to the official Time Traveller’s Guide to Dunmanway. This page is designed to accompany our Stories on the Street trail, specifically for students and young explorers. As you find each plaque around town, use the accordion below to unlock the story behind it. Listen to the audio, follow the transcripts, and discover the secrets of our town’s past!
Plaque 1: Town Origins & Linen Legacy
Plaque 2: The Market House & Town Commerce
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Plaque 2: The Market Square & Commercial Development over the centuries
School:
Kilnadur National School
Characters:
- Seán
- Aoife
Setting:
The scene is set in 1972 – there is a sound of a digger demolishing the Market House.
Narrator : It is March1972 – there is a sound of a digger demolishing a building- in fact it is a digger demolishing the centre of Dunmanway Market Square, which comprised the Market House and several other buildings, a public house, a veterinary practice, the market house and Paris house. Two children Sean and Aoife are standing in the Square watching the bulldozers in action.
Seán: Look at that, Aoife. The poor Market House is getting a big thud from the bulldozer.
Aoife: I can’t believe they’re knocking it down. It’s been here since the early 1800s.
Seán: Mam said it might even have bits of the old MacCarthy Castle in it. Imagine recycling a whole castle into a Market House. That’s extreme upcycling !
Aoife: “New Market House: now with extra castle in it!” – I wonder what people said about it when they built it ?
(Bulldozer roars.)
Seán: There goes the mid-18th and 19th‑century walls… crash, bang, history in a dusty heap.
Aoife: Do you know what it was like here on market day long ago?
Seán: Bit like today, only with fewer cars and more cows. And posher writers. That fella William Makepeace Thackeray came through in 1842. He said the stagecoach only did seven miles an hour.
Aoife: Thackeray saw the Market House full of people, peasants in blue cloaks, women selling buttermilk, bullocks’ hearts and livers… and dried mackerel. So basically, a shop without a fridge.
Seán: And without the smell control. Tuesdays were market days, and there were big cattle fairs too – May 4th, first Tuesday in July, September 17th and November 26th. Imagine all the mooing.
Aoife: And all the pooping- horrible smells from chickens, ducks, geese , cows, pigs you name it-
(Both laugh.)
Seán: At the crossroads of the main streets stood this big Market House. It had a butter market, a constabulary station, courts, and even a victualler’s shop.
Aoife: A family called the O’Sheas lived upstairs. They took the town tolls until they were evicted in 1871 by Captain Shuldham. There were riots and everything. Imagine being thrown out of your house and it turning into a corn store.
Seán: Then in the early 1900s it got even busier: vet’s practice, a cinema upstairs, boxing gym, and later a Local Defence Force training hall. And a drapery called Paris House. Dunmanway’s own mini‑Paris.
Aoife: By the 1950s, the bottom bit stopped being a market and was just a store. No one thought the bulldozers would come next.
(Bulldozer knocks another chunk.)
Seán: Somewhere near Park Road there used to be a brewery in 1831 making 2,600 barrels of porter and ale a year. And tanyards down Tanyard Lane, and boulting mills grinding flour.
Aoife: Then there were the streetlights and the first electricity in 1911 from Gillespie’s powerhouse. All because someone thought Dunmanway was important enough for a 20‑horsepower unit. Very fancy.
Seán: And look – D. Crowley’s shop is still trading in the Square. Mrs. Dans lives on!
Aoife: Buildings fall, but the stories don’t- they live on in our town.
Plaque 3: The Atkins Family: Industry, Employment & Science
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Plaque 3: From Tanyards to Laboratories
School:
St Mary’s Senior Girls School
Characters:
- Emma
- Sara
- Leah
Setting:
School science lab in Dunmanway. The girls are getting microscopes ready.
Emma: You know, every time we are in here in the school lab, I think it’s mad that one Dunmanway family was at the heart of Dunmanway’s early industry with a tannery producing leather, sawmills….. and … now one of them is a specialist about tiny germs and genes.
Leah: That sounds like one of your history stories. Which family is it ?
Sara: The Atkins family, of course. Emma talks about them more than about homework! It’s a great story.
Emma: The Atkins name is part of Dunmanway’s history. They came to the town in the 1700s having originally lived in the Lettergorman area in the late 1600s.
Leah: So before Bunsen burners, they just had cows?
Emma: Kind of! In the late 1700s, John Atkins set up a tannery on River Lane – that’s Tanyard Lane near the car park but closer to the river near the current post office. They used local animal skins and turned them into leather for boots and horse harnesses. It helped turn Dunmanway from just a market town into a busy working town.
Sara: I read that most of the skins were local, but some even came all the way from Colorado in America. Imagine those skins travelling that far in the 1800s!
Leah: The jobs had cool names – curriers and tanners. Curriers smoothed the leather; tanners changed the raw skin into proper leather. Did you know that they used oak bark to tan a hide and the process took nearly 9 months?
Emma: There were three tanneries over a period of nearly two hundred years, with stables and a bridge over the river. The last tannery closed in 1929 and was demolished in 1961, the same year – the last train left the town.
Leah: They did not stop there. They had sawmills too, and in 1878 the Atkins family opened an agricultural shop in Cork city. That grew into John Atkins & Co. Ltd – still selling farm machines and garden stuff today.
Emma: “Atkins Mills” here in town used a strong engine called a Blackstone engine to power the mill. Their “Supreme” grocery brands, sawmills, and shops were part of everyday life in Dunmanway until the business was sold to McMahons of Limerick in 1974.
Sara: And then the story jumps into 21st century- science! Professor John F. Atkins – from the same family – is a scientist who studies how our cells read instructions from our genes.
Emma: Like when a recipe tells you how to bake a cake?
Sara: Exactly. It’s the recipe book in our cells – it is kind of hard to describe. Maybe when we get to secondary school – it will be easier to understand. It’s all about Recoding they say!
Leah: Professor Atkins was the first Irish person in a big science group called the European Molecular Biology Organization. He managed laboratories in many countries including at University Collee Cork and is an honorary professor of genetics at Trinity College – where he studied as a student.
Sara: In the late 1960s and 70s he showed that cells do not always read the RNA instructions in a simple way. Sometimes they “change gear” while reading. That idea is called “recoding.” He co- invented the word Recoding ! It sounds tricky, but it helps scientists understand how life works.
Emma: So the family went from lining up animal skins in the tannery….… to lining up tiny genetic instructions.
Sara: He wrote important books about RNA.
Leah: And in 2013 he helped bring a big sculpture called “What is Life?” to the Botanic Gardens in Dublin – blending science and art.
Sara: Scientists were so impressed with his work that they even named a whole family of tiny viruses after him: Atkins viidae. That’s a huge honour.
Emma: During Covid, his team in UCC and a Swiss team found a weak point in how the Covid virus copies itself. Discoveries like that can help make better treatments in the future.
Leah: So the Atkins family went from tanning hides and running mills… to studying genes and helping fight pandemics.
Sara: That really is some family history.
Emma: And it all started here in Dunmanway.
Plaque 4: Famous Artist & Space Explorers
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Plaque 4: From Dunmanway to the Stars
School:
St Mary’s Senior Girls School
Characters:
- Aoife
- Ciara
- Niamh
Setting:
School corridor in Dunmanway, outside a classroom with a big NASA poster on the door.
Aoife: Look at that poster – rockets, planets, everything. Hard to believe people from around here are actually part of that story.
Ciara: Remember – the time you told the teacher we should rename Dunmanway “Spaceway”?
Niamh: Hey, it kind of fits! We’ve got two NASA legends with Dunmanway roots: Eileen Collins and Michael Collins.
Aoife: Different Collins families, same idea – straight from West Cork to outer space.
Ciara: So remind me, what’s the story with Eileen again?
Niamh: Eileen Marie Collins was born in New York in 1956, but her great‑great‑grandad Jeremiah Collins came from the Lisbealad/Drinagh side of Dunmanway. His wife was probably from Kinneigh. They emigrated to America in the mid‑1800s.
Aoife: Their great‑great‑granddaughter ends up flying the Space Shuttle. I bet when they left famine Ireland, “space pilot” wasn’t on the family plan.
Ciara: Didn’t she actually visit Cork?
Niamh: Yeah, and members of the Dunmanway Historical Society met her. Imagine being the person who says, “Welcome home, Commander.”
Aoife: And she really had to graft. Her family struggled for money, so she paid for her own flying lessons at first.
Ciara: She went to Syracuse and Stanford universities , became a maths instructor at the Air Force Academy, and a test pilot also.
Niamh: NASA picked her in 1990 to be an astronaut. In 1995 she became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, and was honoured by President Clinton at the White House. In 1999 she commanded the Columbia mission STS‑93 – making history as the first woman ever to command a shuttle.
Aoife: Five days in space, taking ultraviolet pictures of Earth, the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, and checking how plants grow up there.
Ciara: I love what she said: “I want to do well because I know I’m representing other women, other pilots.”
Niamh: And she’s loaded with awards – Distinguished Flying Cross, NASA medals, even the French Legion of Honor.
Aoife: Okay, your turn, the other Collins.
Ciara: Michael Collins, Apollo 11. Born in Rome in 1930, piloted the command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon.
Niamh: His grandfather, Jeremiah Bernard Collins, came from Droumdrastill near Dunmanway and left as a boy in the 1860s. He ended up in Ohio, then fought in the American Civil War as a drummer boy and later drove horses to Texas.
Aoife: He ended up in New Orleans, working for a grocer called James Lawton, he married the boss’s daughter Kate, and together they ran a shop with a pub in the back. Eleven kids – a big Irish family!
Ciara: One of those kids was James Lawton Collins, who became a Major General in the U.S. Army, served in both World Wars, and was stationed in Rome when Michael was born.
Niamh: So: from post famine‑era Dunmanway, to astronaut Michael Collins, piloting the first Moon landing -that’s not bad for a “small place in West Cork.”
Aoife: Between Eileen and Michael- I’m starting to think Dunmanway’s real export wasn’t linen or leather – it’s astronauts !!
Ciara: Grand plans so. I’ll be the first girl from Dunmanway on Mars.
Niamh: I’ll design your mission patch.
Aoife: And I’ll write the history talk. The Dunmanway space connections.
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Plaque 4: Thomas Hovenden -The Famine Orphan Who Painted America-Dunmanway’s Unsung Artist
School:
St Mary’s Senior Girls School
Characters:
- Aoife
- Kate
- Mia
Setting:
Art room in a Dunmanway school. The children are working on drawings while chatting.
Aoife: My hand is wrecked from all this shading. Our teacher says, “The more you shade, the more you see.”
Kate: That’s because of the new hero artist we learned about, what’s-his-name… Thomas Hovenden?
Mia: Yeah, the famine orphan from Dunmanway who became a famous painter in America. I still can’t believe he started out right here in Dunmanway!
Aoife: He was born on 28 December 1840, just down the road, in the old Bridewell on Main Street. His dad, Robert, was the gaolkeeper and his mam, Ellen Bryan, was the daughter of a Methodist minister.
Kate: So, he literally grew up in a prison?
Mia: Well Kind of. The building still looks like a Victorian gaol, with that carved stone front. Imagine playing hide-and-seek there.
Aoife: Not very cosy, especially during the famine. In 1846–47 both his parents died from famine illnesses, and he and his brother John and sister Elizabeth were sent to an orphanage in Cork City.
Kate: That’s awful. So how did he go from being in an orphanage to becoming one of America’s most famous artists?
Mia: In Cork, the teachers spotted he was great at drawing. He was apprenticed to a gilder called Tolerton. Tolerton helped him get into the Cork School of Design around 1860, maybe because of this amazing drawing he did of the Venus de Milo.
Aoife: Some of his early watercolours and that Venus drawing turned up in exhibition catalogues later, even in the Smithsonian, while he was living in New York.
Kate: Our teacher said he was known for his shading technique, hiding little details in the dark bits so the more you look, the more you see. That’s why she’s making us shade till our hands fall off.
Mia: Then he emigrated in 1863, from Queenstown—Cobh now—on a ship called the City of Baltimore. He lived in Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York, and studied art in Paris under a big-name painter, Alexandre Cabanel.
Aoife: He even lived near the famous Louvre. In 1875 he met another artist, Helen Corson, in Brittany. They married, had a son and a daughter, and he became a professor of painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was made an American citizen in 1887.
Kate: From a Famine orphan to a professor in America. That’s some change.
Mia: He painted over a hundred works about everyday life and especially African American people. In “Chloe and Sam” he showed coloured domestic life with real tenderness and respect, which was unusual at the time.
Aoife: And “The Last Moments of John Brown” shows the abolitionist , Brown , on his way to be executed. It is in in The Met Art Gallery in New York.
Kate: My favourite painting is the one he called “Breaking Home Ties” – the one with the boy leaving his family farm. It was voted the most popular painting at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
Mia: Hovenden’s death notice in a Cleveland paper called him a “hero artist.” They said no one should be surprised that he died trying to save a child, because he’d always been a compassionate and “obscure” hero of people.
Aoife: That’s how he died in 1895 – hit by a train while trying to save a young girl.
Kate: He sounds brave.
Mia: His fame faded for a while, but during the Civil Rights era people got interested again in how kindly he painted African Americans and our teacher has got interested in his work.
Kate: It’s a great story but my hand is sore from shading
Mia: Oh well – if Thomas could draw in an orphanage and a gaol, we can survive double art on a Monday.
Plaque 5: John Duffy & Sons Circus Depot
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Plaque 5: Duffy’s Circus
School:
Scoil Phadraig National School
Characters:
- Narrator
- Brian
- Tom
- Jack
Setting:
Dialogue about Amazing Circus Acts in a Poster from the late 1930s or 1940s. Three boys from Scoil Phadraig National School have gathered in the school yard to discuss an old colourful poster dating between the late 1930s and 1940s.
Narrator –
It is lunch break at Scoil Phadraig National School and some of the boys have gathered in the school yard to discuss an old colourful poster dating between the late 1930s and 1940s. It details all the headline acts that performed at the John Duffy & Sons Circus also known as Ireland’s National Circus and travelling Zoo. The poster mentions the new Big Top designed on the continental style and the amazing artists many of whom were international acts from across the globe, from Switzerland, Belgium, London, America, Czech Republic, France and Asia with Irish acts also. The boys are excited to learn that the circus depot was very close to their school field. It was located at Galvin’s Service Station.
Brian:
Look at all those acts on the old John Duffy and Sons’ Circus poster! It must have been a very exciting show. I still can’t believe they stayed in Dunmanway during the Winter. It looks like this poster is dated in October . This was one of their last performances of each season before they Wintered here. My great grand dad told me they called the off -season – Wintering in Dunmanway.
Tom:
I can’t believe that there was a circus behind the school field. I wonder if the young boys of the circus families went to school here when they Wintered in Dunmanway ?
Jack:
I like that the directors, John and James Duffy, are pictured at the top. That makes it feel like they were the big bosses of the whole circus- do you see where it says it was Ireland’s Mightiest Circus as well ?
Brian:
And what a list of acts! There was Gentleman Jack with his pickpocket speciality and that season was his first time in Ireland- some Gentleman he was if he took your wallet or watch !!
Tom:
Ben Hur sounds dramatic too — the Whirlwind Roman Gladiator.
Jack:
My favourite is Clem Merk’s lions. He was called “Superman” Merk, and he worked with performing lions. The town must have been very noisy with lions roaring all through the winter nights.
Brian:
Imagine seeing all that in a circus ring in Dunmanway! not to mind having them live here too .
Tom:
And there were trained dogs too — Cilla’s Dogs, the famous footballing dogs.
Jack:
That’s funny. I can just picture them kicking a ball around.
Brian:
There were so many other acts as well. Europe’s most daring high wire act of the time was the Truxa Troupe, and the Riding Cossacks with their double bar act.
Tom:
Don’t forget the Trapeze! The Evrene Sisters were doing daring trapeze acts.
Jack:
And the Great Andoras did that “Slide for Life” act – they say- that was terrifying.
Brian:
The Great Kerfino and Partner were a Dutch balancing act, and the Pontenellas were acrobatic gymnasts.
Tom:
There were elephants and miniature ponies, liberty horses, and even Minoru, the educated pony with the million-dollar brain – ah how odd was that ! Theres a rumour I heard that the elephant is buried in the next field. Some of the Elephants were called Salt and Pepper and Lilli Marlene – my Nan said she heard that before when she was young.
Jack:
Plus, the Fabulous Glissons, the man who jumps on his head! That must have made everyone laugh.
Brian:
It wasn’t all serious though — the clowns were there too, and international clowns called the Trio Colletti – and the poster calls them “Prize Eejits Every One.”
Tom:
And the Silver Circus Band would have made the whole place feel lively and grand.
Jack:
Living in Dunmanway back then, especially if you lived in this side of town must have felt like living in a Circus all the time- except when they were on tour! So, this wasn’t just a one-day visit — it was part of local life.
Brian:
That poster feels like a little window into history.
Tom:
Yes — a whole world of lions, horses, dogs, clowns, and acrobats!
Jack:
Dunmanway must have been buzzing back then.
Plaque 6: Education, Revolution & Politics
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Plaque 6: The Religious Crossroads and the End of an Era
School:
St Mary’s Girls Senior School NS
Characters:
- Katie
- Molly
Setting:
Two girls from St Mary’s, standing near the plaque at the crossroads after school.
Katie: Hard to believe this is our last year as an all‑girls school. Next year we’ll be in the new mixed school with the boys from Scoil Phadraig.
Molly: I know. It feels strange… but kind of exciting too. Miss said it’s “the end of an era.”
Katie: Yeah. And look where we’re standing – the crossroads of Dunmanway.
Main Street, Wesley Place, Church Street and Sackville Street all meet here. She called it the “religious crossroads” of the town.
Molly: Because everything is around us. There’s St Patrick’s Hall, St Mary’s Church of Ireland, the old convent is behind St Patrick’s Hall, the boys’ school at Sackville Street, the Methodist church, now known as Atkins Hall is all nearby.
Katie: St Patrick’s Parochial Hall was built in the 1880s. People used to call it the Town Hall. It had dances, concerts, plays – all sorts of events were held there.
Molly: And right beside it are the old convent gates – where the nuns lived. The Daughters of Charity, isn’t that what they’re called?
Katie: They started in Paris in 1633. They came to Ireland to help the poor – teaching, looking after sick people, and helping families. In 1887 Canon Lane, the parish priest, asked them to come to Dunmanway to run the Catholic school.
Molly: At first they didn’t even have a convent. They rented Brookpark House up on Quarry Road and taught in a tiny, whitewashed school beside St Patrick’s Church – where the Nun’s Plot is now.
Katie: They were busy! They taught children by day, visited the workhouse, and even did night classes for grown‑ups. Sister Mary Blundell started a boarding school called St Vincent’s High School. Some of the first girls came all the way from Lanark in Scotland.
Molly: The convent here was copied from their convent in Lanark too. It was built on land called the “Turret” or “Forest,” from a solicitor, Francis Fitzmaurice. Miss said he lived in Carbery House and was caught up in the revolutionary history of 1922.
Katie: By 1889 the convent was built, and a new primary school on the sloping ground behind St Patrick’s Hall. Later, the De La Salle Brothers opened the boys’ school in the 1890s. That’s how Dunmanway became known for its schools.
Molly: And the nuns were great for music – choirs, little orchestras, piano lessons. And don’t forget the Home Economics! People still talk about their amazing Christmas cakes with fancy icing.
Katie: So, when our schools join together in 2026, it’s like another crossroads moment. Things are changing again,
Molly: But the history is still here – the halls, the churches, the convent – and now our new school will be part of the story too.
Katie: Exactly. Different school – a new era but the same crossroads – steeped in history.
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Plaque 6:Dark Days and New Beginnings
School:
St Mary’s Girls Senior School NS
Characters:
- Aoife
- Una
- Niamh
Setting:
Three friends from school are standing near St Patrick’s Hall after a history walk.
Una: That tour was kind of scary. Our town had a lot of fighting back then in the 1920s.
Aoife: It did, but it’s important we know about it. See over there, beside St Patrick’s Hall? That used to be the RIC barracks – the old police station.
Niamh: RIC? What ??
Aoife: Royal – Irish – Constabulary. They were the police force in Ireland before the Gardaí. Their barracks here was built so they could see all four streets – Main Street, Sackville Street, Church Street and Wesley Place – like a lookout crossroads.
Una: Miss said that people were told to stay away from the RIC, and later new men came from Britain to act like the police they were called the Black and Tans because of the colours of their uniforms.
Niamh: They were mostly based in the Workhouse, weren’t they?
Aoife: Yeah. But they were very cruel and even sent the patients away or rather threw them out whether they were sick or not. People were afraid of them.
Families had to cover their windows at night so no light showed through, or the Tans might think there was a secret meeting and raid the house.
Una: And then that awful event in 1920…
Niamh: When Canon Magner, the priest, and a young man, Tadhg Crowley, were shot by an Auxiliary officer on the road outside town. They weren’t armed at all. So sad!
Aoife: There’s a monument at Canon Magner’s grave in St Patrick’s churchyard, and another at the place where they were shot. People still visit there.
Una: And the Dunmanway massacre? What’s that about ?
Aoife: In April 1922, during a shaky peace, fourteen Protestant men were killed around here and in the Bandon Valley. No one ever took responsibility. Historians still argue over why it happened, but everyone agrees it was a terrible time.
Niamh: Three of them were from – right here in town – Mr Fitzmaurice at Carbery House, and Mr Gray and Mr Buttimer on Sackville Street. They all had shops and were well known locally.
Una: It’s really sad thinking neighbours could be killed like that.
Aoife: It is. That’s why we remember it carefully, so we don’t repeat it.
Niamh: But the story doesn’t end there. After all that, people started to rebuild. Do you remember T. J. Murphy from the classroom display?
Una: The man with the glasses in the photo?
Aoife: Yes. He moved to Dunmanway and became a TD for Cork West in 1923. Later he was was Minister for Local Government. He helped rebuild the burned Workhouse into Dunmanway Cottage Hospital, with wards and a maternity unit, and pushed for new council houses so families had better homes, not just here in town but all over Ireland.
Niamh: That’s why there’s a T. J. Murphy Place near here – named after him.
Una: So – the town went from dark days to new houses and a hospital.
Aoife: Exactly. Our history has both sad and hopeful parts. And we’re the ones telling the next chapter.
Plaque 7: Railway History - Larry O’Brien - The White House
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Plaque 7: The Lost Railway of Dunmanway
School:
Derrinacahara National School
Characters:
- Tom
- Aoife
Setting:
A path along where the old railway once ran – near Parkway Hotel
Tom : Did you know there wasn’t always a railway in Dunmanway?
Aoife: Really? But how did people get around?
Tom: They didn’t easily. Back in the 1820s, railways in Ireland were only planned for big cities. West Cork was really hard to reach.
Aoife: Why?
Tom: The land was rough and hilly. And the roads we use now didn’t exist yet—some were only built during the famine. People sometimes travelled by sea instead. It was easier!
Aoife: So when did the trains come?
Tom: It took years. From 1836, committees were formed. They built tunnels, viaducts, and laid tracks. Then in 1863, Lord Carbery turned the first sod for the West Cork Railway—with a silver spade and a special engraved wheelbarrow – or so the story goes!
Aoife: That sounds like something out of Thomas the Tank Engine! Fancy tools and important people.
Tom: Yeah—but real engines came soon after. By May 1866, trains reached Dunmanway. The official opening was in June, with little fuss. At first, they even had a temporary station.
Aoife: What were the trains like? Were they like Thomas?
Tom: Not exactly—but they had great names: Patience and Perseverance. They were olive green with red and black lines, built in Lancashire, and worked for about thirty years.
Aoife: I love those names. Did the railway go far?
Tom: It did. Three parts—Bandon to Ballineen, Ballineen to Dunmanway, and then to Skibbereen. The last part opened in 1877 after lots of trouble, especially at Gloundha where they had to break through rock.
Aoife: That must have been really hard work.
Tom: It was. But it helped the town grow. Mills, tanneries, and factories could send goods all over the country and the world.
Aoife : Is anything still left?
Tom: The Railway Hotel is now the Parkway Hotel. The old station house and water crane are at Brookpark Veterinary Clinic. And there’s part of a bridge in Milleenananig.
Aoife: That’s amazing… but I heard something sad too.
Tom : Yeah. It was also where people said goodbye before leaving for America.
Aoife: When did it all end?
Tom: The last train left on March 31st, 1961. After nearly 100 years.
Aoife: I wish we could have seen it.
Tom: Me too… but we can still follow where the tracks used to be.
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Plaque 7: Larry O’Brien and the White House Connection
School:
Derrinacahara National School
Setting:
Three children chat about a recent school project
Child 1:
For our project we did the “Dunmanway to America” story, and it was so cool! We started with the old railway, from the area around Brewery Lane, now Park Road, and the Clonakilty Road.
Child 2:
Yeah, that was where people used to say goodbye. Families would stand on the platform at Dunmanway Station, waving as the train left for Cork. The line closed in 1961 with the last train ever leaving here.
Child 3:
Now the site has the Brookpark Veterinary Clinic, the Parkway Hotel, and houses built along the old track. It’s like the railway turned into a road leading to new stories.
Child 1:
Across from the hotel, the area became a mini factory zone in the 1960s and 70s—a German steel factory, a hat factory, and a carpet factory.
Child 2:
And guess what? That carpet factory made a special rug for President John F. Kennedy, ordered by his friend Larry O’Brien—who was a Dunmanway man in the White House, even though he was born in America. He visited his aunt Julia in Dunmanway a few times.
Child 3:
Larry’s mother, Myra Sweeney, came from Dunmanway in 1903, and she was one of about ten siblings! Only her sister Julia stayed behind, looking after their parents Denis and Anne Sweeney of Direens, Dunmanway. They’re all buried in St. Patrick’s Churchyard.
Child 1:
In America, Larry grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the Kennedys lived too. He became a top campaigner and right‑hand man to JFK.
Child 2:
When Kennedy came to Cork in 1963, Larry’s aunt Julia met him. He was in the next car when JFK was shot and later wrote about flying back on Air Force One with the body—so sad, but such an important moment in history.
Child 3:
After that, Larry worked for President Johnson, then became Postmaster General of the United States, he must have had a huge stamp collection, and then became the head of the Democratic National Committee. His name was mentioned even in the messy Watergate story under President Nixon.
Child 1:
Then he switched to sports! A lover of Basketball – he became NBA Commissioner in 1975, promoted basketball , and got named Sportsman of the Year in 1976.
Child 2:
In 1984 the NBA’s big trophy – that’s like the All Ireland for basketball- only in America 1, was named after him—the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Child 3:
And that’s the link—both the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the Sam Maguire Cup connect giants of sport back to this tiny town in West Cork.
Child 1:
So, from goodbye trains to American presidents to basketball, our project showed that Dunmanway’s story doesn’t end here—it goes all the way to America and beyond.
Plaque 8: School Heroes: Sam Maguire & the Flying Beamishes
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Plaque 8: The Legendary Sam Maguire
School:
The Model School
Characters:
- Aoife
- Cian
- Jack
- Narrator
Setting:
The narrator and three pupils having a chat about the history of the Model School and the famous Sam Maguire who attended the Model School
Narrator : Let me tell you a little about the history of the Model School. Then we will hear from pupils Aoife, Cian and Jack who were having a chat about the legendary Sam Maguire who attended their school.
The Model School, located on the Bantry Road, has a very interesting history, it was built in 1848 in the later years of the Irish Famine by the Commissioners of National Education. It is an impressive building built in a neo- Tudor & Victorian style with a few additions over the centuries. When it opened it was a literary school, and it had an agricultural department and an adjoining Model farm. Boys and girls attended, with a headmaster and headmistress and a number of teachers. Many of the teachers lived on site. An agricultural superintendent gave agricultural classes daily to the older students. It also had boarding students. By the end of its first month in operation, it had 164 pupils. Within five years the school was overcrowded with over 260 pupils. It can boast a few famous past pupils. One in particular is the legendary GAA sportsman and political activist, Sam Maguire who’s name and trophy honours his contribution to Ireland’s National Game of Gaelic Football.
Cian:
Aoife, what famous person are you doing your history project on ?
Aoife:
I am doing mine on the Legendary Sam Maguire, one of Dunmanway’s famous sons.
Cian :
The one they named the All-Ireland football trophy after.
Aoife
Yes , That’s the man! Sam Maguire was born in 1877 in the townland of Mallabraca, up north of the town. He was the son of John Maguire and Jane Kingston, and he had six brothers and sisters, so his house must have been very noisy!
Jack
What did his parents do ?
Aoife :
They were tenant farmers, working on land owned by Colonel Shuldham, who lived at Coolkellure House.
Cian:
So- did he just spend his days milking cows and playing football? I suppose he learned farming here when they had the agricultural department and model farm here in the olden days.
Aoife:
They say that he was an excellent student – his teachers said he’d be perfect for the British Civil Service. Back then, that was a big opportunity. Students from the area even prepared for the exams in a special school at Ardfield.
Jack :
Did he pass those exams and what happened then ?
Aoife:
Yes! He joined the Civil Service in London and that’s where he really felt his identity as an Irishman. He started playing Gaelic football in London, joined GAA clubs, and helped organise them. But guess what—he played in many finals and never won an All‑Ireland medal!
Cian:
Talk about unlucky!
Aoife:
Politically, he became very active. It’s said that Sam introduced Michael Collins to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He had great organisational skills, though some parts of his life are still a bit of a mystery.
Cian:
This sounds a bit like a secret agent with a football in his hand!
Aoife:
After the Treaty of 1922, he joined the Irish Civil Service in Dublin. But he argued so much with his bosses that he was dismissed and returned to Mallabraca in 1924.
Jack :
What happened then ?
Aoife:
He returned to his home and died in 1927 at just 49 years old- it’s a bit of a sad story. He’s buried in Saint Mary’s Church of Ireland Graveyard on Main Street.
Cian:
Is that the church with the Cox family vault and Henry Cox’s name over the door?
Aoife:
Exactly. The church was founded in 1821 by Henry Cox. Sam and his family were regular worshippers there. In 1949, people put a Celtic Cross on his grave to honour his work for the GAA and Irish nationalism. In 1974, they opened Sam Maguire Memorial Park in town.
Jack
Where does the Sam Maguire Cup come into the story?
Aoife:
His friends commissioned the Sam Maguire Cup, inspired by the Ardagh Chalice, and made from silver. It was first awarded in 1928 to County Kildare. In 2002 his statue in the Square was unveiled.
Cian:
And what about the bells- why are they called the Sam Maguire Community Bells?
Aoife:
In 2017, the community paid for eight new Sam Maguire Community Bells in St Mary’s Church. Two of them are inscribed “Sam Maguire 1877–1927”, and each of the 8 bells reflect themes of Dunmanway’s heritage—Sport, War and Revolution, Agriculture, People, Migration, Religion, Education and Arts, and Industry and Commerce.
Jack:
So, every time those bells ring, it’s like Dunmanway is saying, “Don’t forget Sam!”
Cian:
Thanks for telling us the story of Dunmanway’s Giant of sport and history!
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Plaque 8: Headmaster Beamish and his Sporting Family – Rugby Legends
School:
The Model School
Characters:
- Narrator
- Pupil 1
- Pupil 2
Narrator – The Children of the Model School were given an old article from a newspaper which is today known as the Southern Star. The article is all about what Sports Day at the Model School was like in 1911. At that time Francis Beamish of Acres, was headmaster of the Model School. He was appointed in 1903. He was a farmer’s son, a fine scholar, a sports lover, and even an expert beekeeper. Their teacher has told them all about the headmaster and his family’s love of sport and also his children’s amazing contribution to Irish Rugby and their military careers in World War 2
Pupil 1: That was an amazing article we learned about earlier ?
Pupil 2: Yes , did you hear how the headmasters’ children George and Charles also won some of the sport’s day games and they also had a sort of fancy dress competition also at the Sports Day. I didn’t think they had sports days in school over a century ago.
Pupil 1: It seems like they did. Did you notice that he had a hobby as a beekeeper and wrote articles about bees? That’s amazing!
Pupil 2: It is! Can you remember what happened after he left Dunmanway with his family. They were an amazing family, teacher told us so many amazing facts.
Pupil 1: in 1912 the headmaster Francis Beamish was promoted to School Inspector, so he and his family moved to the north and later settled in Coleraine. During the revolutionary years in the 1920s, they were separated from Dunmanway for a long time.
Pupil 2: How many children did he have?
Pupil 1: I think teacher said it was Six: Victor, Charles, George, Cecil, Kathleen, and Eileen. Some were born in the headmaster’s residence next door to our school- before their father’s promotion. They all became famous too?
Pupil 2: I love rugby and it was great to hear that all four boys played rugby at different levels, and George and Charles made the biggest headlines in the rugby world before the Second World War.
Pupil 1: George was capped 25 times for Ireland and toured New Zealand with the Lions in 1930, playing at number eight. While Charles scored Ireland’s first-ever try against New Zealand on 7 December 1935 at Lansdowne Road. The next year he toured Argentina with the Lions in 1936 and was capped 12 times for Ireland.
Pupil 2: That’s so cool!
Pupil 1 – Cecil and the sisters were excellent golfers too, and they won many competitions. The Beamish family also had strong links with Portrush Golf Club. Wow – they were a sports family and a brave family.
Pupil 2: I remember one cool detail the teacher told us – George helped persuade the Lions management in 1930 to add a touch of green to the socks, because Ireland had not been properly represented in the team kit ! How mad is that? George helped bring a bit of Ireland into the Lions strip.
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Plaque 8: The Flying Beamishes of World War Two
School:
The Model School
Characters:
- Teacher
- Pupil 1
- Pupil 2
Setting:
A teacher and two pupils are having a chat about the famous Flying Beamishes who were born at and attended the Model School.
Child 1:
Sir, you said the Beamish brothers were famous in rugby, but they were also heroes in the Second World war?
Teacher:
Yes, they weren’t just rugby stars—they were “Flying Beamishes” in the sky! Group Captain Victor Beamish served with great courage in the Second World War. He was a fighter pilot and flight trainer, even on loan to the Canadian Air Force before the war.
Child 2:
Did he get any medals?
Teacher:
He got many! In 1940, King George VI gave him the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his bravery during the Battle of Britain. Later, he was awarded a Bar to his DSO, which means he earned a second DSO medal.
Child 1:
Wow! He must have been a top pilot.
Teacher:
He was. He was shot down in 1942 by a German Fw 190 over the English Channel near Calais. A street in Kenley in England, near the Aerodrome is named Victor Beamish Avenue to remember him. He was a spectacular aviator.
Child 2:
What about his brother George?
Teacher:
Air Marshal Sir George Beamish survived the war and had a very distinguished career. He served in the Battle of Crete in 1941 and was senior RAF officer there in Crete. After the war he became Director of Weapons at the Air Ministry and then Commandant at RAF Cranwell in 1949.
Child 1:
Did he get any special awards too?
Teacher:
Yes he got lots of medals, they both did. General Eisenhower gave him the American Legion of Merit before the end of the war. His brother Charles Beamish also got the same medal, later presented by President Harry Truman in 1946.
Child 2:
And what did Charles do in the war?
Teacher:
Group Captain Charles Beamish flew over the beaches of Normandy during the D‑Day landings in 1944. They both flew many types of aircraft including the famous Spitfires and he had a very interesting military career.
Child 1:
What about Cecil and the sisters, the other children – you said there were six children?
Teacher:
Cecil was a dentist with the RAF medical unit. He helped wounded soldiers with facial reconstruction and dentistry. He was a close friend of Archibald McIndoe, who pioneered plastic surgery and helped wounded airmen in the Guinea Pig Club.
Child 2:
The sisters too?
Teacher:
Yes! Sisters Eileen and Kathleen both served in the RAF medical side and became Flight Lieutenants. In fact, the Beamish family gave the Second World War two Group Captains, one Air Marshal, one Vice‑Air Marshal, and two Flight Lieutenants.
Child 1:
So , on the rugby field—and in the sky—what a legacy from one Dunmanway family!
Teacher:
Exactly. From the old headmaster of the Model School to his brave sons and daughters, the Beamish family’s story of sport and courage may never be matched again.
The class is on a walking tour near the Lakeside, Dunmanway.
Plaque 9: Castles - Horse Fairs & Races
Plaque 10: 19th Century Visitors & Residents
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Plaque 10: History Tales from the Lakeside
School:
Scoil Padraig
Dunmanway Lake a picturesque lake side picnic area that is it surrounded by nature and it is the backdrop to a rich history of personalities who worked, lived and visited in the area. On a sunny day, the lake is alive with ducks, swans and fish jumping including the notorious pike. Fed by streams that tumble down the northern hills beside Saint Patrick’s Church, the Lake itself in turn feeds a small stream that the drains into the Bandon River at the Longbridge. The Longbridge and the Lake have a history with the Cox family who founded the town of Dunmanway in 1693 and built the multiple arched bridge across the Bandon River. In the mid-1800s a priest Fr Buckley a priest who served in Enniskeane and Drimoleague composed a ballad singing the praises of Dunmanway town, a verse of which showcases the lake :
“tis there a lake is where with the duck and drake is,
And the crane can take his sweet feast of frogs ,
But when night comes round it, the spirits surround it,
Since in it was drowned Sir Richard Cox”
Tales of the lake are often spoken about locally. Local Lore claims that various members of the Cox family– not necessarily Richard, had tragic accidents at the lake, from spooked horses and carriages entering the water to boating accidents.
As regards famous visitors to the area of Chapel Street – let the pupils of Scoil Phadraig tell you more in the next audio segments.
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Plaque 10: Father Doheny’s Arrival
School:
Scoil Phadraig
Characters:
- Patrick
- Seán
- James
- Mr Creedon (Teacher)
Setting:
The class is on a walking tour near the Lakeside, Dunmanway.
Teacher:
Come on, everyone! Today we’re going to hear about some very special people from Dunmanway’s past.
Patrick:
Mr Creedon, you said we’re going to talk about Father Doheny?
Teacher:
Yes. Father James Doheny was the parish priest here from 1818 for 30 years. He was born in Tipperary in 1786 and he was hardworking and outspoken.
Seán:
So – was he like the first priest of St Patrick’s Church?
Teacher: No, there was a small thatched earlier church already. The Penal Laws in the 1600s had stopped Catholics from building churches, but by the 1790s they were relaxed a bit.
James:
Penal Laws? What were they?
Teacher: They were harsh rules that stopped Catholics from owning land, voting, or even holding public office. Here, the local priest Father Coghlan used to say Mass in that tiny, thatched cabin near the long bridge.
Patrick:
So how did they all fit into the small cabin?
Teacher:
They didn’t – The story goes that Henry Hamilton Cox, a descendant of Sir Richard Cox who founded Dunmanway, saw lots of people kneeling near the bridge. He felt sorry for them as these were his tenants, so he gave Father Coghlan land nearby for a proper church in 1793.
Seán:
That’s kind of him!
Teacher:
Then In 1834, Father Doheny replaced that little church with the beautiful St Patrick’s Church we see today. He also built Togher and Ballinacarriga Churches. He was very hardworking. He was very popular in the community, but he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. He didn’t like violent political groups. He believed in changing things the peaceful way, like Daniel O’Connell did.
Patrick: that O’Connell – known as the Liberator?
Teacher:
Yes! Father Doheny has some famous friends like O’Connell, Father Mathew- the temperance priest, and William Joseph O’Neill Daunt. Fr Doheny even held a huge “Great Repeal and Tithe Meeting” in 1832 in the church grounds, with thousands of people attending.
James:
Where did he live? Did he live in the presbytery where the priests live today?
Teacher:
In the 1830s he lived in a house in Gurteenasowna with his sister Alice, and later his brother Thomas and his family joined him. Thomas’s daughter Mary became his housekeeper a few years later and inherited the property. Local stories say it was Mary who hosted Daniel O’Connell and Father Mathew when they visited Dunmanway. Father Doheny later leased land on Doheny’s Lane for his brothers and himself as the family faced hardship.
Seán: When did he retire?
Teacher: He retired in 1848 and moved to Lakelands, where lived until he died there at 80 years of age. Nobody knows exactly where he is buried. Only his family lies in the Doheny Plot near the church.
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Plaque 10: Visitors to the Area- William Daunt O’Neill, Daniel O’Connell & Father Mathew
School:
Scoil Phadraig
Characters:
- Patrick
- Seán
- James
- Mr Creedon (Teacher)
Teacher:
Near the Doheny Family plot is William Joseph O’Neill Daunt.He was a Protestant gentleman who converted to Catholicism in the presence of Father Mathew.
Patrick:
He sounds important.
Teacher: He was. He inherited Kilcascan Castle near Ballineen when he was only 19 – after his father died in a duel in 1826. That duel, with Daniel Connor, is one of the last fatal duels in Ireland.
Seán:
A duel? Like with swords?
Teacher: With pistols, actually. After that, William Joseph entered politics, became MP for Mallow in 1832, and supported the Repeal of the Act of Union. Daniel O’Connell chose him as his secretary and they founded the Repeal Association together.
James:
So, he was like O’Connell’s helper?
Teacher:
Exactly. He was director of the Repeal Association for Leinster and stayed a lifelong friend. He even wrote “Personal Recollections of the Late Daniel O’Connell” and a diary called “A Life Spent for Ireland.”
Patrick:
Did he write stories?
Teacher:
Yes, he wrote novels under the pen name – a fake name – Denis Ignatius Moriarty. A new plaque put on his grave in 2025 remembers him as one of O’Connell’s staunchest supporters.
Seán:
And then there’s Catholic Emancipation.
Teacher:
Yes, and it’s linked to O’Connell. Catholic Emancipation removed many old laws stopping Catholics from voting or sitting in Parliament. The 1829 Relief Act made it possible.
James:
So, O’Connell was already a big deal when he came to West Cork?
Teacher: He was. In 1841 he was elected MP for County Cork and kept campaigning for Catholic rights .
Patrick:
When did come here?
Teacher:
In 1843. His team decided to hold a huge “Monster Repeal Meeting” in West Cork. A delegation from here, including Father Doheny, asked for a date, and Skibbereen was chosen for 22 June 1843.
Seán:
Did he stop in Dunmanway?
Teacher: Yes! On 21 June 1843, O’Connell travelled from Cork, he reached Dunmanway in the afternoon and stayed that night as a guest of Father Doheny at Lakelands.
James: How was the journey?
Teacher:
There was a little disruption in Ballineen, but O’Connell stayed calm. The soldiers were on standby in Dunmanway, but nothing serious happened.
Patrick:
Was Mary there- the housekeeper ?
Teacher:
Yes! She helped host O’Connell; she had a reputation for being a wonderful cook. In the morning, he was greeted by the townspeople and Councillor O’Sullivan from Bridgemount gave a speech. Then O’Connell, Father Doheny, and others set off for Skibbereen before noon.
Seán:
What’s the connection with Father Mathew ?
Teacher:
Father Mathew came here to preach temperance—no alcohol. Two thousand people packed the church grounds, took the pledge, and the day was so long that he finished late at night and stayed in Father Doheny’s house and started administering the pledge again the next day. Father Mathew came back during the Famine, in 1846 and 1847. His visits gave hope and support during the tough times.
Patrick:
So, in this small corner of Dunmanway, you have a priest who built churches, a fiery politician–friend, a temperance priest, and a liberator who once slept in Lakelands. That’s the Lakeside’s story in a nutshell. I think that’s the house across the lake over there , where they all stayed.
Plaque 11: The Great Famine - Earl Grey Orphan Girls
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Plaque 11: The Workhouse and the Famine in Dunmanway
School:
Ballincarriga National School
Characters:
- Mary Desmond (17- thoughtful and protective)
- Ellen Desmond (15, Mary’s younger sister)
Setting:
A Chat Between Sisters.
Mary:
Ellen, my back’s sore from that plank again. Doesn’t matter how I spread the straw, it still pokes through.
Ellen:
Mine too. I thought straw was for beasts, not girls. But at least it’s dry tonight. Remember when it was damp last week? I near froze before dawn. Did you hear that if this overcrowding continues , three of us will have to share our raised-up planks of wood as a bed?
Mary:
Yes , they say the workhouse can hold 400 paupers but now it seems it is close to 700 inmates . They are many gathering outside the gate waiting to be admitted and all for a bowl of soup that’s more water than anything else. They call it dinner, but I call it a cruel joke. Still if it keeps us alive. Can you hear the cries for help outside on the road ?
Ellen:
Still, there’s work to be done , so we’ve little time to dwell. Spinning all morning, dressmaking in the afternoon—my fingers ache by the time the Matron rings the bell.
Mary:
That department overseer watches us like a hawk in that room. Says every crooked stitch means a little less ration.
Ellen:
And after our stitching, straight to the schoolroom for lessons. Reading, writing and counting- they say it will help to prepare us for something better in the future. I wonder what “better” they mean.
Mary:
At least in the school we’re warm from the fire. Sundays aren’t so bad either, when we go to the chapel room. All the different faiths taking turns, so no fighting. Still, it’s strange hearing prayers echo from the same whitewashed walls where people sob at night. At the end of the day we are all the same poor paupers and some of us are orphans.
Ellen:
Master Burke says segregation -keeps order. Same as the uniform—we all look alike now. Gray, coarse cloth, itchy and scratchy especially at the neck. Makes me forget what my own pauper dress looked like.
Mary:
Heaven help is if we step out of line. You heard about the man last week?
Ellen:
The one sent to the black hole ? Yes,- solitary confinement, just for smoking a bit of tobacco. The Master said it was for “Moral Correction.” Poor soul.
Mary:
It frightens me, Ellen, that six-foot square room under the arch way at the rear, half exposed to the weather. You see what happens when they say you’ve broken the rules. The walls swallow you whole. Oh Ellen – if the walls could talk and all the stories of starvation they would tell.
Ellen:
Best we keep our heads down then, Mary. Do the work and pray for the day we’re free of this institution.
Mary:
We will have to hope the soup’s a little thicker tomorrow and has some more meat in it.
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Plaque 11: Fanlobbus Monastic and Famine Burial Ground
School:
Ballincarriga National School
Characters:
- Patrick (Grave digger)
- Seamus (Grave digger’s – 16 year old son)
Patrick: Come along now, Seamus. Keep close. The Master said to show you the lay of the place before you help me take the bodies of the poor paupers for burial in Fanlobbus.
Seamus: I’ve never been inside one of these workhouses before.
Patrick: The other lad that helped me died of the famine fever. So, now it’s your turn to help me as you’ve turned 16. The payment we get from the Guardians of the Workhouse will help us to survive this year, 1847 seems to be looking like it is the worst of these hungry years. Keep your eyes open. There’s rules for everything in this place, the poor inmates are told—when to rise, when to eat, when to speak. Break one, and you’ll find yourself in trouble before you know it.
Seamus:
Yes father, I suppose there are rules for us grave diggers also, I will remember to keep my head down and not look idle.
Patrick: This over here is the yard for rock breaking. Men spend hours each day smashing stone for roadwork. Hard labour. Next to it, at the rear there is a small door in the back wall, that’s where we will take the famine victims to their final resting place. There is a narrow dirt track through the countryside to the back of Fanlobbus Graveyard about a mile and a half away.
Seamus:
I didn’t know that there was a dirt track to Fanlobbus from this place. I only remember the new road being built recently under the Board of Works, it passes alongside the old ringfort with the entrance being a set of steps up and over the ditch.
Patrick: Yes, the mass burial pits are to the rear – in the hope that disease can be contained there, we must remember to spread lime in the grave pits. In 1845 we were able to lay the paupers side by side in graves but not any more. These days in 1847 we are burying them in multiples.
Seamus :
Is that the Fever Hospital over there, it’s made of wood.
Patrick :
Yes. Sick folk are kept apart to stop it spreading. Pray you don’t end up there; few that enter ever leave.
Seamus: I can smell the carbolic soap from here.
Patrick:
Sanitation’s the word they use now.
Seamus:
How old is the graveyard at Fanlobbus?
Patrick:
They say it dates back to the 6th century the century after St Patrick came to Ireland. But some say it goes back to an earlier time and there may have been a bronze age settlement there are it is made up of two circles, a type of double ring fort.
A saint called Saint Goban Corr is supposed to have set up his small monastery there. The word Corr means stooped in Irish probably from bending down to get into those small cells where they slept. I imagine years ago there was a community there of monks and ordinary people. It was there before the founding of Dunmanway town by Richard Cox in the 17th century.
Seamus:
Is St Goban’s church still there ?
Patrick:
Only the ruins of a later 9th or 10th century church survive, the roof is caving in and some burials are taking place inside the ruins now. There is an old story that some of the old folks believe that one of the Randal Og Chieftains of Ballinacarriga Castle is buried there….no one knows for sure though.
Seamus:
I suppose we better get some ration for Peggy the horse before we collect the bodies for burial. Is there any superstition attached to the ring fort father?
Patrick :
The dead won’t harm us and we are trying to be as dignified as possible during these terrible times. By the way that’s the Board of Guardians’ Meeting Room over there and also the master and matrons’ offices . Be sure they don’t see you look idle.
Seamus:
Let’s go to Fanlobbus so while there is still daylight.
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Plaque 11: The Fourteen Orphan Girls
School:
Ballincarriga National School
Characters:
- Ellen Desmond (aged 17 thoughtful and protective)
- Mary Desmond (aged 15, her younger sister , hopeful)
- Daniel Conner ( Chairman of the Board of Guardians)
- Mrs Burke (Matron in charge of the Female & children’s wards, kind but firm)
- Cornelius Driscoll : local carpenter
- Owen Evans: Captain of the Eliza Caroline
- Narrator
Narrator:
It is early December 1849. Fourteen orphan girls from Dunmanway Workhouse are chosen for the Earl Grey Assisted Passage Scheme. They are to sail for Port Phillip—now Melbourne—a world away from famine-stricken Ireland. Inside the workhouse sewing room, sisters, Mary and Ellen are stitching linen under flickering candle light.
Ellen:
Mary, is it true then? We’re really going—clear across the seas to Australia, the new world.
Mary:
Yes, Ellen. Chairman Conner read the names himself. Fourteen of us famine orphans, they call us “government immigrants.”
Ellen:
Immigrants! I’ve never stepped outside Ardcahan or Dunmanway come to think about it. How can we dream of Australia?
Mary:
Maybe it’s our chance, Ellen—no more workhouse soup, no stone floors , no more overcrowding, no more typhus and cholera- hopefully.
Narrator: the Chairman and the Matron arrive carrying a ledger
Daniel Conner:
Girls, the Guardians received word from the Poor Law Commissioners that Dunmanway Workhouse is to avail of funding from the Earl Grey Scheme. Each of the fourteen of you selected will be given a painted trunk with some boots, linen, a bonnet, new items of clothing which were ordered at Mrs. Dans together with your few belongings. Everything must be ready by December twenty-second.
Narrator:
Cornelius Driscoll enters, carrying a half painted -finished wooden trunk.
Cornelius Driscoll:
You’ll find these boxes strong and true, made from Dunmanway oak. They’ll hold what little you have—and all you’ll ever need, take a part of Dunmanway with you to the new world, I hear that you are landing at Port Philip. Arrivals there are sometimes mentioned in the Cork newspapers a few months later.
Ellen:
Thank you, sir.
Cornelius Driscoll:
Keep it safe, lass. It’ll carry your name across the world.
Matron Burke:
And remember—the rules on ship are like those here: neatness, quiet, respect for the Master and Surgeon. You’ll receive further utensils at Plymouth Emigration department and will be familiarised with the ships rules, and share the onboard duties.
Mary:
So, it is still a workhouse…… only floating.
Matron Burke:
Perhaps. Yet one with a horizon and hope for the future and the prospect of seeing far flung lands , I have heard stories of exotic birds and sea creatures along the route, amazing sights will await you as you Round the Cape of Good Hope and cross the Indian Ocean.
Narrator:
On December twenty-third, just before Christmas, the girls left Dunmanway by horse and cart—trunks piled high—bound for Penrose Quay, Cork. From there, a steamer carried them to the Plymouth Emigration Depot. A ship’s bell rings. Owen Evans, the captain, calls from the deck.
Captain Evans:
Welcome aboard the Eliza Caroline! All 831 tons, bound for Port Phillip! Anchor lifts at midnight—New Year’s Eve 1849 , ladies.
Ellen:
This ship is a Clipper Ship and supposedly she has been to Australia and back many times already. Look, Mary—see the sea! Endless blue, bigger than anything in Ireland.
Mary: Three months at sea, we will be in Australia for Easter 1850, we better follow orders, and never forget we carry the hopes of those back in Dunmanway with us.
Narrator :
Their journey begins with the girls clutching their hats and bonnets as the wind whips us at sea.
Ellen:
Do you think we’ll see home again, Mary?
Mary:
Maybe not, but we’ll make one there. That’s hope enough
Narrator:
On March 31, 1850, the Eliza Caroline reached Port Phillip. Two hundred and forty Irish orphan girls walked ashore—including the fourteen from Dunmanway. The Eliza Caroline was the last ship to bring famine orphans to the Melbourne area.
Ellen:
Look at the quayside Mary, there are lots of other women there, they must be the ladies who are to find us domestic work in the big houses here or else they are the ladies who are looking for servants and cooks to work at the goldmines.
Mary:
We came with nothing but hope. Let’s hope that life won’t split us up in this vast continent.
Narrator:
In 2025, a monument was unveiled in Dunmanway to honour those fourteen brave girls—Mary and Ellen Desmond among them. Their journey—born of hunger—became a story of endurance, courage, and unbroken spirit.
Plaque 12: Winnie-the-Pooh & Dunlops - Ballinacarriga Castle
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Plaque 12: The Adventures of Colonel Du Cros
School:
Ballinacarriga National School
Characters:
- Graveyard Guide Tommy: a cheerful storyteller showing children around the cemetery who provides historical reflections.
- Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Du Cros, OBE (Edward): the ghost or memory of Lt Col. Edward Henry Du Cros himself
- Jamie: a curious child
Setting:
Scene opens in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Cork. A group of children follow a guide called Tommy. Birds chirp softly. A ray of sunlight falls on an old headstone.
GUIDE Tommy:
All right, graveyard explorers! Here lies Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Du Cros—he was brave, clever, and maybe even a little bit of an inventor! His is a story of the battlefields of France during World War One, retirement in Dunmanway and his family was connected to one of the greatest inventions the world has ever seen!
JAMIE:
Was he a soldier or an inventor? Did he make robots? I have lots of questions.
GUIDE Tommy:
Yes, Jamie, he was a soldier , but several of the Du Cros family were mechanics and involved in the automotive industry. Edward served in the Leinster Regiment and the Engineering section of the British army in the First World War in France. After the war he was sent to Egypt.
JAMIE:
We learned in school that the Battlefields of France were unbelievably bad and back then had some of the biggest numbers of wounded the world had ever seen.
GUIDE Tommy:
Yes, the casualty numbers were huge but some of Edward’s relatives provided medical assistance for the wounded.
JAMIE:
That sounds interesting- how did his family and relations help the wounded ?
GUIDE Tommy:
It was in the early 1900s that his family helped make the tyres that go on cars and bicycles. His family created the famous tyre companies. Without them, we might still ride around on hard wheels, that go clunk, clunk!
JAMIE:
That sounds horrible! But HOW did that help the wounded ?
EDWARD:
Not horrible—just very bumpy! Hello, young adventurers! I’m Edward Du Cros, born in Yorkshire in 1896, but my father came from Dublin. My father was a mechanic—machines were in our blood.
JAMIE :
Whoa! (gives a shout )- Are you a ghost?
EDWARD:
Just a memory who loves stories. I fought in the First World War, fixing engines and helping soldiers cross rivers and battlefields. Later, I was sent to Egypt—too much sand for my liking!
But my family also helped make tyres stronger, my uncle financially supported John Dunlop’s inventions and a created a company that manufactured PNEUMATIC tyres—
JAMIE:
Pneumatic Tyres ? What are they ?
EDWARD:
They are bouncy ones filled with air! Like the ones you have today. The early tyres were hard rubber and extremely uncomfortable, every bump was felt. John Dunlop and my family’s big idea made travel smoother and faster. During the war, my cousins built the Du Cros Convoy—a fleet of ambulances fitted with the new tyres so they could rush the wounded soldiers faster and safer from battlefields and it was easier to travel over rough ground with air filled tyres.
JAMIE:
That was amazing! Back then that was like turning cars into super-care machines- I mean comfortable ambulances…
GUIDE Tommy:
And do you know who drove those ambulances? Expert mechanics from London’s taxi business! Real heroes on wheels.
EDWARD:
When I was older, I retired to Dunmanway. I spent my days with friends—the De Selincourt’s and Payne’s—and my brother who was a clergyman came to live in County Cork also. Life slowed down. I liked that.
JAMIE :
Was your family famous for anything else ?
EDWARD:
My family loved sports too! Rugby, fencing, cycling— my cousins even had a racing team called The Invincibles! We were proud of them.
JAMIE:
The Invincibles! That’s the best team name ever!
EDWARD :
Remember—just like tyres changed travel, every new idea can help someone.
GUIDE Tommy :
And that’s the legacy buried right here in St. Joseph’s—the story of courage, curiosity, and the tyre!
EDWARD:
Keep those wheels turning, young explorers. The world always needs inventors.
Read Transcript
Plaque 12: The Secret of the Pooh Bear Uncles
School:
Ballinacarriga National School
Characters:
- Historian – (girl) a curious visitor to St. Joseph’s Cemetery
- Child 1 – eager learner (girl)
- Child 2 – funny, a bit sceptical (girl)
- Guy de Selincourt– cheerful artist ghost
- Geoffrey de Selincourt – gentle painter ghost
Setting:
Scene opens in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Dunmanway. and the HISTORIAN leads two children past the old graves. Bird sounds and soft wind fill the air.
HISTORIAN:
Once upon a time, not too long ago, I came here to solve a mystery. I’d always wondered about a certain grave — its shape, its design, and its story.
CHILD 1:
Ooo! Like a treasure hunt?
HISTORIAN:
Exactly! And guess what I found? Two very special people — uncles of the real Christopher Robin!
CHILD 2 (surprised):
Wait! The Christopher Robin? Winnie the Pooh’s best friend?
HISTORIAN:
Yes! His name was Christopher Robin Milne, and his father, A. A. Milne, wrote the Winnie the Pooh stories in 1926. But these two men — Guy and Geoffrey de Selincourt — were Christopher’s uncles!
CHILD 1:
So… the people linked to Pooh Bear lived here in Dunmanway?
HISTORIAN:
They did! They retired here in the 1960s, with friends who had moved to Dunmanway.
GUY:
Did someone call our names?
GEOFFREY:
We haven’t had visitors in ages!
CHILD 2:
Whoa—uh, hi! Are you really Christopher Robin’s uncles?
GUY:
Indeed! I’m Guy de Selincourt, born in London, 1902. Illustrator, sailor, and historian at your service.
GEOFFREY:
And I’m Geoffrey — born 1900. A painter and lover of colour. Some of our family and friends were soldiers in the Great War, they retired to Dunmanway and we followed them here.
CHILD 1:
That sounds scary! About the war you mentioned
GEOFFREY:
It was — the stories of the battles of the Somme and Gallipoli were terrible. But after the war, we painted and travelled to Cyprus and Europe.
GUY:
We brought home sunshine and sea in our oil paintings!
HISTORIAN:
Your family was full of writers and artists, wasn’t it?
GEOFFREY :
Yes! Our brother Aubrey was a scholar who translated great books like The Life of Alexander the Great. And uncle Ernest taught at Oxford University; he even taught Virginia Woolf!
CHILD 2 :
Wow… So many clever people in one family!
GUY :
Our father, Martin de Selincourt, ran a fancy department store in London called Swan & Edgar. Later it became part of Debenhams! He also started The Geographical Magazine.
CHILD 1:
So your family were shop owners, writers, painters, and were Winnie the Pooh’s creator?
GUY:
Precisely! Do you know something funny about me?
CHILDREN :
What?
GUY:
I was so tall that I had to remove the front seat from my car — I drove it from the back seat!
GEOFFREY:
We found peace here in Dunmanway. People remembered us not as famous, but as ordinary neighbours and friends.
HISTORIAN:
Your family inspired joy all around the world — through a certain honey-loving bear.
CHILD 1:
Let’s celebrate with a big “Winnie the Pooh cheer”!
GEOFFREY:
Remember, young ones — curiosity uncovers magic.
CHILD 2:
I can’t wait for January 18th — National Winnie the Pooh Day! We can celebrate with honey and imagination.