Moville.Records
Other.Information
Old photographs Old photos of Moville and the surrounding areas.
Maps Old maps of the two parishes in Moville.
Books Read a history of Moville, and see other references to the area.
Lewis' Topographical Dictionary Extracts from the Topographical Dictionary published in 1837
FHC Records Family History Centre (LDS) film references for Moville records
Moville.books
Moville.inishowen summer 1827
Notes of a journey in the north of Ireland in the summer of 1827.
Although this extract does not refer specifically to Moville, it gives a good description of life in pre-famine Ireland. It will give readers a sense of the hardships and tribulations endured by Inishowen families, and the deep divisions in society at the time.
ALTHOUGH the weather was not very favourable this morning, we drove ten miles into the country to see the ruins of Birt Castle. On our way, we overtook a small detachment of soldiers, employed in the preventive service for the detection and suppression of the illicit distillation of whiskey, or, as it is here called, "Mountain Dew." A Lieutenant and four men were on horseback, the remainder on foot.
They told us they were going to seize some stills in the Inishowen Mountains, of which they had just received private intelligence. They were well armed; and it was evident, from the determined and pitiless expression of their hard-favoured features, they had not this day to learn the peril of encountering an enraged mob of reckless mountaineers, rendered furious by being deprived of a property, which habit and fancied security had vainly confirmed as their right.
The soldiers' manner of proceeding was thus explained to us. They go on quietly together, occasionally relieving each other by taking it in turn to ride, until they arrive so near the place as to be within view of its inhabitants: then there is no time to lose, and the mounted party ride at their utmost speed; for if they were discerned, and furnished opportunity by delay, their visit would be anticipated by a deeper concealment of the cause of offence ; and the soldiers would not only risk the loss of their labour, but - what to them is probably - of still greater importance - the loss also of half the whiskey found in the possession of these luckless rebels to the law, that portion being allotted to them, at once to stimulate their exertions and to reward their toil.
No doubt they find it a comfortable evening ingredient in a plaster for a broken head. It rarely happens that resistance is not attempted; and if the strife become desperate, and the soldiers are in danger of being overpowered by numbers, a signal is given, and the party on foot hasten to their assistance. We passed them; and as they stole along in grim and noiseless serenity, they reminded me of that fearful calm, which is so generally the harbinger of a still more fearful storm.
Presently we heard the clang of their horses' hoofs, and they passed us like arrows from a bow. How they rode! Fast, faster - a turn in the road, and we saw them no more! I looked towards the mountains, and my heart ached. The scene was new, and painful in proportion to its novelty. I love my country and respect its laws; but I could not at that moment subdue the wish that these poor people were beneath its cognizance; for (God help them !) they had need have something to keep them warm and in heart amidst these rugged mountains.
In our excursion to-day, we advanced a few miles into the mountainous district of Inishowen, a peninsula in the county of Donegal, situated between the Loughs Foyle and Swilly, commencing at Culmore Fort, four miles from Londonderry, on the western bank of the Foyle.
Through this bleak and barren tract of country, there are no towns or villages of considerable magnitude. It abounds in grand natural curiosities, pleasing to an eye delighting to survey nature in its rude and boldest features. This district is conspicuously distinguished for its illicit distillation of whiskey.
This practice was formerly carried on to a very great extent, owing in some measure, perhaps, to the difficulty of access to these mountains, which at that time were less cultivated, consequently less explored. So successful, however, have been the means adopted for its suppression that at present there are comparatively few who choose to venture upon so hazardous a speculation.
The proprietors of the land, it is said, have done more for the law in this particular, than the law has been able to achieve for itself, by making the disuse of illicit stills a primary article in their agreement with their tenantry, who, notwithstanding the hardness of their fare, have an invincible objection to being turned out of their meagre possessions.
The local attachments of the peasantry here appear to be much stronger than those of the same class in England: they cling to the spot where they and their forefathers were born, and have no ambition beyond it. There their relations dwell ; for in many instances, as their young families grow up, and marry, which is generally at much too early a period, they rear a row of little miserable cabins for their dwellings, some with chimneys, but almost as many without; and when the number amounts to ten or a dozen, they call it a town ; and there, unhosed and unshod, they scramble through life, existing principally upon potatoes and butter-milk : and when they die, they leave their shoes to their children, and sometimes to their more favoured grand-children. As shoes are seldom worn but upon great occasions, especially by the females, instances have been known of their doing "some service" to three generations; and these dainty and tenderly-treated shoes not unfrequently form the most ostensible part of their patrimony.
Birt is almost surrounded by water; it was entirely so formerly. The castle is situated upon an eminence, and has a commanding appearance; yet it is one of the numerous class of objects that look the best at a distance. There is no tradition descriptive of its former state, and at present it is reduced to one solitary tower. The piles of stones around its base, many of which have recently fallen, make it appear unpromising of much longer duration.
It began to rain while we were looking at the castle, and we were glad to find shelter in the squalid interior of an Irish cabin. It’s inmates were a young woman apparently under thirty years of age, and four fine children, all very ill clothed; yet there was a gentleness and modesty in the woman's deportment that gave an indescribable interest and decency to her appearance, even in the midst of penury and rags.
A suffocating puff of smoke met us at the door; but the house had a chimney, or rather an outlet for the smoke, about a foot high, the common standard. When the wind is in a particular quarter, the chimney answers its purpose; at other times, what the house will not contain, finds exit at the door. What a providential assistance is the turf of this island to these poor people: they could not exist in this terrible smoke, if it proceeded from coal. The fire was made upon the hearth; a few rough stones placed in front prevented its encroaching too far upon the floor, which however was imperishable enough, being the solid rock. A pot of potatoes hung over the fire; and the children were devouring oysters fresh from the Swilly.
I took an inventory of the furniture, which I shall insert here, as a help to memory: viz. A stool, a broken chair, a nice little dresser, a porringer, a kettle, a salt-cellar, a few broken plates, the pot on the fire, a pewter washing dish, a black dish upon the floor, and a cradle, containing a straw bed, chaff pillow, and miserable blanket.
Then there was the parlour to be looked at — the parlour! — think of the sound. This select apartment contained even more smoke than did the house. A bedstead, with appendages corresponding with those of the cradle, was its only furniture. Nothing could exceed the forlornness of the habitation, unless it was the quiet and easy hospitality of its mistress, who opened oysters for us with much good will; and when she had done her best to make us comfortable, she washed her feet in the pewter dish before us. This may be considered a rather indecent action; and in that enlightened and prosperous land, where unshod feet are deemed disgraceful, it would be an unpardonable breach of decorum; but here it is as simple and natural a movement, as that of placing a pot of potatoes upon the fire, or any other every-day affair; consequently custom renders it not only blameless, but proper: and, in my opinion, nothing so fully develops the native good breeding of a female in the lower ranks of life, as the being able to go on without bustle or perplexity with the common employments of her station, particularly if, at the same time, she is not unmindful of those little attentions which are in every one's power, however poor, to make a transient guest comfortable. It was not without some difficulty this poor woman was prevailed upon to receive a trifling pecuniary reward for her hospitality. This trait, however, is by no means general in the character of the Irish peasantry.
On our return, we visited another cabin, still more forlorn, in which lived an aged man and his two unmarried daughters. He told us he was nearly ninety years old. His eyes were dim, his strength was sinking into weakness, and the lamp of life seemed waning in its socket: still no disease preyed upon his vitals; the "silver cord" was loosening by the hand of Time alone: —
"Strange, that a harp of thousand strings
Should keep in tune so long!"
The information is for your personal use. You may link to any page on this site, but please do not copy any pages without the prior permission of the webmaster.