Kinsale Harbour E-Book

John Thuillier

• Herausgeber: The Collins Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Nestling on the River Bandon, Kinsale emerged as a settlement in the sixth century and has seen many changes. Its deep, secure harbour provided a safe anchorage and prospered during the seventeenth century's 'golden age of sail', victualling ships bound for the West Indies and the American colonies, and facilitating trade with English and continental ports. Its military forts and naval base protected against the threat of foreign invasion, as well as pirates and smugglers who were rampant on the coast. Its bustling waterfront was thronged with fishermen in the nineteenth century and today is filled with tourists and yachting enthusiasts. John Thuillier tells of community suffering, seafaring under lofty masts and billowing sails and life ashore in the taverns and coffee houses, aboard ships and in 'lewd' houses. This comprehensive overview of Kinsale's seafaring tradition will be enjoyed by all who appreciate a whiff of salty spray and the adventure attached to ships voyaging to distant lands.

Leseprobe

About the author

John R. Thuillier, a retired director of Kinsale Further Education College, is steeped in Kinsale’s maritime tradition. The College evolved from projects designed to introduce the maritime environment to students and provide training in marine skills. His lifetime involvement with boats provided the opportunity to sail and cruise extensively. He has contributed to books, including the acclaimed Traditional Boats of Ireland (2008), and journals on a range of subjects and has lectured widely on the history of Kinsale.

For

Grace, Sarah, Yann, Luke, Matthew, Stephen and Emma

Contents

About the Author

Dedication

Title Page

Acknowledgements

1. On Entering Kinsale Harbour

2. The Golden Age of Shipping

3. Naval Presence – A Monitor of Rise and Fall

4. Fishing

5. Threats and Harbour Defence

6. Piracy, Smuggling and Wreck

7. Bandon River

8. Tragedy at Sea

9. Shipbuilding

10. Regattas and Water Sports

Glossary

References

Bibliography

Photographs

Copyright

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Acknowledgements

Kinsale in the 1950s and 1960s, when I was growing up, was at a low ebb economically. Many young men took the option of going to sea for a livelihood. On their return after long voyages one was treated to stories of sailing the oceans and listening to accounts of escapades ashore in foreign ports. Jack O’Driscoll, Charlie Hurley, John Alcock, Gerald Gimblett, Ted Coakley, Tommy Newman, Billy Farren, members of the Kent, Price and Lombard families and others were generous, not just in recounting their own experiences at sea, but drawing on the memories of generations of seafarers who went before them. In any case, the delight of receiving an orange ‘all the way from Australia’ helped to spark the imagination of the young listener.

My mother, whose family were involved in the fishing industry, provided detailed information on the buyers and auctioneers and records of transporting the catch to Dublin and Liverpool, and to Billingsgate market in London. On my father’s side, the family were boatbuilders, owners and through membership of various boards and public bodies were fully engaged in the affairs of the harbour. Detailed records, memoirs, financial statements and work diaries, which provide first-hand accounts of over 200 years marine activity, were invaluable to me in understanding the reality of seafaring life in Kinsale.

Dan O’Shea, the late Harbour Master, Bill Deasy and Neddy Ward of the World’s End, were willing to share their appreciation of the harbour while Francie Dempsey, Jimmy Lawton, Eugene Dennis and Jerome Lordan provided invaluable information on the Old Head of Kinsale. Thanks are also due to Captain Phil Devitt for making the harbour records available to me.

I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the Admiralty Office in London and the National Library of Ireland for permission to reproduce charts and photographs. I am grateful to Mary Hegarty, Kevin Goggin and Buddy Irwin for the use of photographs and Liam Fitzgibbon, Kevin O’Sullivan, Dermot Collins and the late John H. Thuillier (my grandfather) for providing illustrations and drawings. Particular thanks are due to Tony Bocking for his interest and knowledge of local history and his archive of photographs, which he very generously made available. Appreciation also to Mary Lombard of the Boole Library, University College Cork, for her kindness and assistance.

The professional photographic skills and technical knowledge of John Collins are in evidence in the high quality of the images reproduced in the book. The role and encouragement, from the beginning, of The Collins Press is much appreciated.

My brothers, Maurice who has spent a lifetime in boats and Joe who is a master mariner, have provided advice and critical comment. Son Bill and daughters Maeve and Jane took a keen interest in the project and were constantly available to undertake proofreading and offer assistance in the technical area. I would like to thank the copyright holders for permission to reproduce the photographs, charts and drawings in the book. Every reasonable attempt has been made to trace ownership. The publisher will be happy to hear from any copyright holders not acknowledged and undertakes to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions. Finally as ever, Margaret, my wife, has provided enormous support and encouragement and was always available with advice, love and support.

John R. Thuillier

2014

1

On Entering Kinsale Harbour

The story of Kinsale is the history of its connection with the sea. Heartbeat-like, the rhythmic ebb and flow of the tide sustains the town. For centuries the impact of the maritime environment has influenced structure and settlement patterns, as it responded to the seaborne traffic that entered the harbour. The Irish name for Kinsale says it all, Ceann tSáile, the head of the sea. The town’s fortunes over the centuries waxed and waned in response to the possibilities and potential present in its marine setting. The harbour became a focus for drifters, trawlers and hookers attracted to fish the large shoals off the coast. For centuries Kinsale was also an important hub for shipping. No method of transport could compete with the efficiency of ships capable of bearing thousands of tons of cargo over great distances. While dependent on wind and constrained by weather and tide, the sea provided the means by which communication and commercial links were established. Tall ships, square sailed to fore-and-aft rig, filled the harbour, heralding the desire for discovery and colonisation in lands beyond the horizon.

The deep water of the harbour situated on the estuary at the mouth of the Bandon River gave access to shipping at all stages of the tide and provided rest and shelter for many tired and storm-buffeted sailors. Schooners, smacks, brigs and barquentines, pitching and rolling as they came through the robust tidal race off the Old Head of Kinsale, prepared for the final approach to the harbour mouth. Giving Bream Rock a wide berth in the prevailing breeze, the incoming vessels yielded to fluky squalls from the cliffs of the tall promontory and, steering on a course a few degrees east of north, headed for the entrance. Ships arriving from the south-east, the Isles of Scilly or Cornwall picked up the light on the Old Head 30 miles out. Vessels from Bristol on a bearing due west of the Smalls Rocks off the Welsh coast approached Kinsale leaving the Sovereign Islands to starboard. The 1703 ship’s log of the vessel on which Alexander Selkirk was sailing master, and on whom Daniel Defoe based his novel Robinson Crusoe, describes them as ‘very foul’.1 Closing in on the entrance, sheets are checked as the vessel, yawing in the breaking crests, surges forward. Slowing in the trough, with helm down to counter the broach, the ship awaits the next wave coming up under the stern.

Even for the modern yachtsman approaching the entrance, there is little to compare with the sight of a gleaming smooth wake in a sparkling breeze, as the Sovereign Islands close on Frower Point and vessels enter the embracing shelter of the harbour. Passing Preghane and Eastern Points to starboard and Money Point on the western side, relieved crews with bronzed faces, whitened with drying salt from the spray, relax under the bracken-covered cliff.

Where no storm comes,

Where the green swell is in the havens dumb

And out of the swing of the sea.

Gerald Manley Hopkins (‘Heaven-Haven’).

Shelter was just one of the factors which attracted maritime activity to Kinsale. In 1666 it was described by the Earl of Orrery as ‘one of the noblest harbours in Europe’. There are numerous references to the harbour ‘teeming with ships’ and at least to the middle of the eighteenth century its importance was such that it was described as being ‘in the roads of the commerce of the world’. Kinsale had the depth of water to take ships of up to 1,000 tons, which were the ocean-going vessels of the day. In the fairway, extending from the mouth of the harbour to Murphy’s (Ringfinnan) Point, on the Bandon River, anchorage is available to a depth of two fathoms.

The port is located on a series of bends in the lower reaches of the river which, through erosion and river capture, form three linked harbours making Kinsale one of the most secure anchorages on the coast. The Old Head of Kinsale promontory, stretching 5 miles into the open sea, is a natural breakwater giving the harbour mouth protection from the prevailing south-westerly winds. The prominent headland with its lighthouse is also the ideal landfall for incoming ships.

At the time when vessels were dependent on wind as the only source of power, proximity to the open sea was important, which from the anchorage at Kinsale is approximately one nautical mile. In calm conditions it is possible to drift on an ebb tide to pick up a breeze outside the harbour. The prevailing winds generally give beam-reaching conditions for quick passages to Britain, France and Spain. Regularly voyages to Ushant, off the Brittany coast, were made in two days and in suitable conditions a trip to Bristol, Kinsale’s contact port in Britain, could be sailed in under thirty hours.

Another factor in Kinsale’s success as a port was the Bandon River and the contact it provided with the extensive agricultural hinterland, north and west of the town. The river was navigable to Colliers Quay above Shippool Castle and from there to Innishannon in flat-bottomed barges and even further to Dundaniel in lighters.

It was inevitable, with this matrix of natural attributes, that sea travellers would discover Kinsale and realise the potential of the harbour. Each wave of settler sought in various ways to improve infrastructure and put in place administrative systems for the orderly operation of the harbour. Development, over many centuries, was gradual and evolved in an ad hoc manner. The main thrust was on extending the sea frontage further into deeper water. Evidence of some early habitation exists in the surrounding area, such as the remains of a dolmen, known as ‘the Prince’s Bed’, on the high cliff at Ballymacus overlooking the Sovereign Islands. Standing stones in the fields above Charles Fort and the undulating patterns in the ground at Dún Cearma on the Old Head indicate settlement in pre-Christian Kinsale. Later, ring forts at Ballycatten near Ballinspittle, Duneen Upper on the Old Head, and Dunderrow close to the river were the sites for new arrivals from France and northern Spain in the fourth century. 2

Kinsale town itself emerged as a settlement in the sixth century, gradually evolving in identifiable but overlapping stages. Each was stimulated by a succession of newcomers and an increase in port usage. After the initial discovery as a weather bolthole, the harbour attracted mercantile and naval shipping. Fishing has been a constant activity in the harbour and it too required shore-based facilities. In modern times the harbour has developed facilities for yachting and angling. Traders, fishermen, military personnel, colonisers, adventurers, entrepreneurs and asylum seekers, such as French Protestants escaping from persecution in the seventeenth century, settled in Kinsale and each has contributed to the amalgam that makes Kinsale distinctive and quite unique among Irish towns.

Originally it was to the hills, configured like a horseshoe around the town, that the earliest settlers scrambled ashore and established habitation sites. What is now the flat urban centre consisted of mud and isolated rocky outcrops laced with meandering streams that channelled fresh water from the slopes to the harbour. Twice daily the incoming tide flooded the area lapping the higher ground at Main Street, the Back Glen, Sleveen and the rise close to St Multose at Church Square, the location of the first marketplace. Here the terraced slopes with their thatched mud huts converged. Covered at high tide were the areas which today are the town’s shops, public parks, Acton’s Hotel gardens, the site now occupied by the Shearwater apartment complex and the Trident Hotel. The physical waterfront was the link to the harbour and consisted of a series of quays and slipways separated by muddy strands. This was the interface of the town with the sea, where wealth-generating cargos were handled, victuals supplied and maritime services provided. The modern street pattern was laid down at this time in stepped linear development on the slopes around the harbour, still evident at Main Street, Fisher Street (renamed O’Connell Street in the 1960s) and the Rampart, converging at Church Square. Cork and Barrack Streets extended the settlement on the eastern side.

In October 1703, Francis Rogers, a London merchant sailing from the West Indies, put into Kinsale following a heavy-weather voyage. As his ship rode at anchor between other vessels, men-of-war and merchantmen, he expressed his relief at being safely in the harbour in terms that were typical of the many voyagers at the time: ‘This is a very good harbour secured at the entrance by a strong fort, riding [anchored] quite up to the town being near a mile. It is quite narrow in some places steep home to the rocks on the main side’. His diary goes on to describe the taverns and the pleasant hospitality he enjoyed ashore.3

Before reaching this happy position the crew of an incoming vessel would identify the natural features and man-made structures that facilitated navigation and a safe entrance. The ship’s master referred to his charts and would call for the assistance of a pilot seeking information on leading lines, the fairway, anchoring, obstructions and to be made aware of the facilities and services available while in port (see plate 2).

For the approaching vessel the first encounter with Kinsale was the cliff and seascape of the Old Head jutting south into the sea, an extension and intrinsic part of the town’s multilayered story. The landmark, ranking with the great headlands of these islands, was formed aeons ago of Devonian sand and Carboniferous limestone. The strata twisted and warped deep within the crust of the Earth and when brought to the surface was shaped by weathering and erosion. Tucked away at the western end of Bullen’s Bay is the main landing place for the headland itself. Funnel-like in shape, the bay is a deadly lee shore made treacherous by a series of jagged outcrops which are covered at high water. A safe passage is possible through the maze of rocks and inside the natural barrier, small boats are moored or drawn above the high-water mark at Duneen and An Doras Breac (The Speckled Door). Ashore, the splendour of the peninsula may also be appreciated. Looking from the high ground at Kilcolman, above the landing place, the rugged coastline of Bullen’s Bay to Black Head and west the beach at Garrylucus appear in a wide vista. There is a tradition that a light was located here, not for the purpose of warning shipping off the dangerous coast but to indicate the landfall for the followers of the earliest settlers. There are references to a light by the Spaniards when they landed at Kinsale in 1601: ‘Known to the Dane, the Saxon and Turk. Called by the Spaniard Cabo de Vela’.4

Kinsale’s Inner, Middle and Outer Harbours, looking south. Courtesy Irish Examiner

The light, however, was not a permanent feature until Charles II came to the throne in 1660, when a patent was issued to Robert Reading to build lighthouses on the Irish coast including one for the Old Head. A cottage light was constructed on gently rising ground some distance from the point itself. Still evident is the dilapidated building with a hole in the roof designed to take the brazier or iron basket in which a fire was lit, using coal or other material. While a great advance, these beacon furnaces had limitations as they were often shrouded in their own smoke and were said to ‘hurt mariners and expose them to more danger than if they did not trust them’. They also consumed copious quantities of fuel due to the ferocious draught created by the high winds and inclement weather.5 Complaints led to the suspension of the light for twenty years in 1783. Then in 1804 Thomas Forge replaced the fire with twelve lamps, fuelled by fish oil and surrounded by copper dishes, which reflected added light in the circular structure.

Advancing technology and the demands of shipping for safer navigational aids encouraged the Dublin Port Authority in 1814 to appoint George Halpin as supervisor of coast lights. He was responsible for a new lighthouse on the Old Head, which was built close to the cottage structure. It consisted of a whitewashed tower 300 feet above sea level, whose light could be seen for a distance of 25 miles and north towards the harbour mouth. The particular problem it presented, however, was that low cloud and fog frequently obscured it.6

In 1853 the lighthouse was replaced by the current structure, built so that the beam is visible from all points seaward and out of Kinsale (see plate 1). The distinctive sequence of flashes that identifies the light, two every ten seconds, is produced by a revolving optic. Originally this involved winding up a weight every forty-five minutes which, as it fell under gravity, turned the lantern at a constant speed. Electrical power replaced the manual operation in 1972. The beam, which is 236 feet above sea level, can be seen from 25 miles and in daylight the tower’s alternating black-and-white bands are its distinguishing feature. In poor visibility the warning was a sound signal generated by small explosions at five-minute intervals. For security reasons, the powder was kept in a hut near Duneen and delivered to the lighthouse as required. In 1972 an electric horn replaced the explosive, operating on a light-sensitive system which, when triggered by reduced visibility, produced three sharp ear-piercing blasts in each 45-second period. Of great assistance to navigation was the introduction of a radio direction finding signal. The transmitted OH, the Morse code for Old Head, could be received by vessels up to 25 miles off, giving an invaluable compass bearing, particularly useful when visibility was poor. Modern technology made all of this redundant and in 1987 an automated system was introduced, ending 1,500 years of manned activity on the headland. The iconic slender tower with its characteristic black-and-white bands and flashing light beam remain an essential navigational feature, a safety aid and a beacon for seafarers.

The lighthouse keepers and later the coastguard, also stationed at the Old Head, received supplies landed by tender at steps cut into the cliff on both sides of the promontory at Gunhole, inside Bream Rock on the eastern side and, depending on wind direction, at Cuas Gorm on the western side. The keepers were quite well looked after by eighteenth-century standards. It was reported that they had a constant supply of fuel and food and were provided with accommodation in stone-built whitewashed cottages, which were maintained up to naval standards of tidiness. In addition to an annual income of £12, the keeper kept a cow and grew vegetables in the surrounding land and, of course, had access to a plentiful supply of fish, caught by hand from the rocks.

Because of its prominent position on the coast, the Old Head of Kinsale was used to monitor incoming traffic and convey messages by signalling. It was an aid to navigation, and arriving vessels bound for Kinsale, Cork, Waterford and British ports could be spotted by pilots watching from the high cliffs. They had an advantage over the men in the famous Bristol pilot cutters who, to get the pilotage of ships, were required to stay at sea west of the Isles of Scilly ‘seeking’ business.7 When a strange sail was sighted, the crews scrambled down the rocks, boarded the boats and raced to the incoming vessel. Crewed by the pilot and a boy, high levels of seamanship skills were required as the small cutters, identified by the red-and-white signal flag flying from the masthead, approached under the towering lee of the vessel. In rough seas, contact with the bigger ship could be dangerous and was controlled by ‘scandalising’ the mainsail, using the peak halyard to adjust the height of the gaff to spill wind quickly. Pilots sometimes transferred to the larger ship in a well-found, sea-kindly rowing yawl. In the open sea, even when hove to, there was a constant risk of being run down or catching on the chain plates or the rubbing streaks of the larger vessel in the rise and fall of the sea. The pilot, choosing the correct moment, grabbed the rope ladder on the side of the larger vessel and scrambled over the lee rail in a precarious operation in which he risked slipping and falling between the two boats. With the pilot safely aboard, the cutter was cast off from the larger ship and accompanied her to port.

The pilot provided an essential service in assisting ships arriving and departing the harbour, often the most hazardous part of a voyage. The task was to navigate vessels through restricted shoaling harbour mouths and rock-strewn entrances, drawing on the skills and knowledge gleaned from experience passed down through generations.

For pilots it was rewarding financially. Men with good reputations were well remunerated by the ships’ owners and masters. While not regulated, piloting involved crews vying competitively to seek out and be first aboard the arriving vessel. Rivalry existed between the Kinsale and Cork harbour pilots and could be contentious as it was a ‘closed-shop’ occupation, where usurpers were warned off. As late as 1872, the Kinsale Harbour Board expressed its astonishment at the decision of the Cork Board not to allow ‘Kinsale fishermen pilots’ to take ships into Cork Harbour.8 The introduction of the telegraph in 1862 made it possible to have information on arrivals passed directly from the Old Head to Queenstown in Cork, where a pilot vessel was dispatched immediately. Efficiency and speed were increased by the arrival of the steam-powered cutter. In harbour the pilot or members of his family were often engaged in servicing the ship and a visiting captain would be directed to particular suppliers.

The competitive element remained and the garrulous reputation of the pilots was even referred to by James Joyce in his novel Ulysses. Emphasising the explosive impact of a fracas in Dublin, Joyce uses the image an umbrella flying through the air and ending up in the sand of Hole Open Bay. Here he is drawing on his father’s experience when, as a student in Cork, he had the opportunity of accompanying the Cork pilots to sea and experienced at first hand the uncompromising nature of the pilot’s character. The grandness of the Old Head may have been in Joyce’s mind when he wrote ‘a silk umbrella—embedded to the extent of one foot three inches in the sandy beach of Hole Open Bay near the Old Head of Kinsale’. It is one of very few references to places outside Dublin in the novel.9

The Kinsale pilots lived close to the harbour mouth at Lower Cove and used the Old Head, Preghane and Hangman Points as observation positions overlooking the sea to the horizon. Their importance was recognised in 1839 by Samuel Lewis who wrote that they ‘have been noted for the goodness of their boats and their excellent seamanship, their services in supplying the markets of Cork and other neighbouring towns and their skills as pilots have procured for themselves exemption from impressment during the last war’.10 The reference here was to the Napoleonic Wars when many Irish, particularly experienced seamen, were forced to sail and fight aboard English ships.

The importance of piloting remains to the present day. One of the first motions adopted by Kinsale Harbour Board, when established in 1870, was to regularise the practice in its own port. It appointed two pilots for the harbour and a separate pair for the river, which presents specific and quite different navigational challenges.

To assist the pilot, a ship approaching the harbour in poor visibility had a crewman forward with a lead line which was cast ahead of the ship and sank quickly to the bottom. As the ship moved forward, the line rising perpendicularly from the bottom gave the leadsman the opportunity to determine the depth under the vessel by reading the various leather and cloth bunting marks, which he called out or ‘sounded’. In this way, the skipper would determine the bottom contour and be aware of shoaling water and distance off land, by interpreting information already on the chart. Retrieving the lead, its tallow-filled cavity brought up an imprint of a hard bottom or a sample of mud, sand or shingle indicating the type of ‘ground’ and thus the quality of its holding for anchoring purposes could be evaluated.

One of the earliest charts, showing soundings for Kinsale, was drawn by Paul Ivye in November 1601. It was ordered by Lord Deputy Mountjoy so that he could bring in reinforcements from England to ‘invest’ and recapture the harbour after the Spaniards had landed in September. A navigable channel is indicated on the eastern side of the harbour to Scilly Point and shoal water on the western side is shown by shading. Above Rincurran Point safe anchorage is recommended ‘where great ships use to ride’,11 and marked at the entrance off Eastern Point is an unnamed dangerous rock which later came to be known as Bulman.

Another early chart was produced at the end of the English Civil War when Prince Rupert, nephew of the executed King Charles I, arrived in Kinsale in 1649. To keep the Prince confined within the harbour, the Parliamentary navy established a blockade for which a chart was prepared with sailing directions for entry to the harbour:

Steer NNE from the Old Head to the Harbour mouth you must keep to the eastern shore and keep Barry Óg’s [now Charles Fort] Castle open on the last point in your sight to go clear of the rock [now Bulman] that lies off the east point. The Castle going up in the Harbour on your starboard side and so you go clear of the rock, and then run up into the Harbour. When you are almost as far as Barry’s Castle you may anchor if you please or run up further. It is good riding all along the shore on your starboard side.

These instructions are excellent and serve well even today.12

Later in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries more accurate charts of ports in England and Ireland were prepared by the hydrographer Captain Greenville Collins aboard his survey vessel Merlin. The chart of Kinsale drawn in 1693 and dedicated to Robert Southwell (a member of the prominent 17th-century Kinsale family) names Bulman Rock, and highlights the Harbour Bar and the newly complete Charles Fort (see plate 4).

From 1750, a ship’s master could avail of a map inscribed by Charles Smith, ‘A New and Correct Map of the County Cork’, which included tidal information showing the set, drift and time lag between ebb and flood at different points on the coast. Approaching Kinsale Harbour soundings (normally given in fathoms) of 60 and 70 feet on the map provided important data for the incoming vessel.

A large scale chart was drawn by Bellin in 1764 for the French admiralty which, when discovered by the English, heightened anxiety about plans for a possible invasion. He shows Bulman Rock, the Harbour Bar, the location of the shipyard at Castlepark and Sandy Cove Island, which was then connected to the land. The natural barrier to the sea made Sandy Cove and the Pill a sheltered inlet.

With improving survey methods, charts became more accurate but still required utmost caution from navigators. Eighteenth-century map-makers, for instance Beaufort and Arrowsmith, give two latitude positions for Kinsale, which differ by more than two nautical miles and refer to positions well south of the Old Head.13 Names of features, taken from the original Irish, were spelt phonetically and were sometimes marked inaccurately. In an otherwise useful chart drawn in 1763 by Captain Murdock MacKenzie, Hangman Point is misplaced at Preghane. All provide information about anchoring positions, including the Bandon River. In the 1830s a major hydrographic survey of the coast was undertaken by the British Admiralty. The data is corrected regularly and remains a valuable source of information for seafarers.

A research report in 1900 undertaken for the Harbour Board included a survey indicating the fairway in the harbour, giving specific transits using identifiable marks ashore. The Railway Station (now the site of Kinsale Holiday Homes) in line with the Blockhouse identified the channel until opposite Sally Port. An alternative course could be held by keeping the old Summer Cove School (halfway down the hill) in line with the Fort battery. Further into the harbour, deep-water anchoring is available off the ‘Hotel’ (now a private residence on the High Road) at 37 feet, off the Pier at 51 feet and the Ferry Slip at 23 feet.14

A number of features, because of their importance to navigation in the harbour, receive particular attention, such as ‘the dangerous rock’ marked off Eastern Point. The Captain Collins chart shows only 5 feet clearance at low water over Bulman. The name most probably comes from bolmán, an old Irish name for horse mackerel,15 many of which are caught close to the rock.16 In recent centuries, the danger has been marked by a buoy which lies to the south. Provision for a bell-and-whistle attachment was made in 1908 to assist the mariner at night and in poor visibility. The motion of the water caused the bell to ring intermittently. When the whistle was fitted, air compressed by the rise and fall of the buoy in the sea created an eerie, mournful sound, particularly with the wind from the southeast. The sound could be heard in the town itself. Originally the buoy was a black floating cone shape and later the colour changed to green indicating a starboard-hand mark. The present buoy is a south cardinal IALA mark, a standard internationally recognised system for avoiding isolated dangers.

Before the rock was buoyed, it was described simply as ‘a blind rock close to east point’.17 Early directions say that the rock must be kept to starboard and that the clearing line is Charles Fort open on Eastern Point when entering the harbour from the south and the Small Sovereign Island open on Frower Point when approaching from the east. In calm weather small vessels may pass through Bulman Sound, a channel between the rock and Preghane Point. The rock itself is a deceptively innocent hazard in anything up to moderate conditions when it breaks. It draws less than a fathom on which leisure craft ignorant of the danger come to grief occasionally and in gales a violent sea over the rock shows the potential for calamity (see plate 3).

Another feature particularly noted in the Collins and Bellin charts is the Harbour Bar indicated by shoal water across the harbour from Money Point to Middle Cove. It became an issue at the end of the seventeenth century as the larger ships then being built required greater depths of water. The debate gave rise to long-term doubts about Kinsale’s viability as a port and threats to its status as a naval centre. Edward Southwell in 1703, anxious to keep the channel clear, sought: ‘permission from the High Court of Parliament sitting in this Kingdom for the cleansing of the Harbour … which would make it much spacier and advantageous’. He insisted on maintaining the practice of taking mud and sand from inside the harbour to distribute as a valuable fertiliser for the land.18 The ‘Swallow’, the name attributed to the western section of the outer harbour between the Blockhouse and Money Point, was specifically identified. Ironically this sandbank, described in 1652 ‘as a great shelf that shooted a great way off the land’, saved a vessel called the Peru. She was damaged below the waterline but managed to reach Kinsale and was gently beached, where repairs were undertaken at low tide. According to Alexander Selkirk in 1703, there was so much sand in the area that it dried out at low water.19 Despite the constant removal of sand, a valuable resource for agriculture, the build-up of silt was a problem in the harbour. Samuel Lewis in 1839 pointed to the limited depth because ‘nearly abreast of Charles Fort is a bar having only 12 feet of water at low spring tides’. Dredging operations were required intermittently when, for example, the Harbour Board in 1905 engaged the services of the steam-powered, appropriately named Sisyphus, to continue the unremitting task of removing the endless quantities of silt.

Nevertheless, Kinsale’s natural qualities as a port were promoted even though ships were increasing in size. A report of 1652 stated that ‘in Kinsale ships may ride at anchor in 8 or 9 fathom of water being defended off all winds’. In 1709 ‘mercantile vessels and privateers … put into this harbour knowing from authentic charts the good anchorage facility at all times and speedy exit to the ocean’.20

Local knowledge and experience, sailing directions and pilot guides were essential for a safe harbour entry that required clear visual sight lines of physical features to provide the transits, leading and clearing lines. Caution was required as more informal features could change, such as the colour on the gable end of a house, a tree on a headland or the removal of a telegraph pole. For example, Sprayfield House above Cuirtaphorteen, south of Sandy Cove, was a noted mark when arriving from the east. Confusion would arise if the colour changed from its traditional white.

One of the earliest aids to navigation in the harbour was a light placed at Rincurran Point close to Barry Óg’s Castle, now the site of Charles Fort. As suggested in the name Rincurran, it is derived from the Irish, meaning the point (rinn) of the reaping hook (corrán). The name comes from the configuration of the land in the surrounding area, which when viewed from above takes the shape of a sickle, with its point appropriately ending at the rock under the lighthouse, jutting into the harbour. The original light may have been housed in a cottage-type structure similar to that at the Old Head of Kinsale. When Charles Fort was completed in 1680, the light was incorporated into a diamond niche high on an internal building within the walls. In modern times the light is in a small structure on the sea-facing bastion above the White Lady turret. Described as ‘the pride and joy of the Irish Lights’ the sectored light, with its leading white beam flashing every 5 seconds, visible from the Old Head, gives a clear passage into the harbour.21

North of Charles Fort, an incoming vessel at night sailed blind until the Pier Head light was visible when clear of the Blockhouse after the 1880s. During the height of the fishing industry there were calls for a leading light on the Lower Road at Scilly. This demand, however, was eventually superseded by the introduction of flashing red top marks on the three port-hand lateral buoys, known locally as Bostoon, Spit and Scilly, which mark the approach to the upper reaches of the harbour.

When the marina was built in the 1970s other lights were put in place, which have improved pilotage in the harbour. A painting of the landing of King James II in 1689, reputed to be at the Glen, shows a building referred to as the Cuckold light. This image is of the Inner Harbour before the area was filled in to create what is now the town’s centre, and may be viewed in Kinsale Museum.

Other dangers in the harbour include Farmer Rock at Bog Hole, south of Money Point and the ‘Platters and Dishes’ southwest of the Blockhouse. For each, directions on clearing and leading lines were passed down through generations. A boat making the short passage from Sandy Cove to Kinsale must keep the tower of Ardbrack Church open (visible) on Money Point. The clearing line takes the vessel east of Farmer Rock, a deceptive hazard which shows at low-water spring tides. Anxiety about the rock forced the Harbour Board in January 1902 to request the Commissioners of Irish Lights to have it marked with a perch. The appeals were turned down. The Board felt so strongly that warnings were painted on the rocks ashore. These have long since disappeared but the danger remains.

Close to the Blockhouse are the ‘Platters and Dishes’, named for the flat plate-like shape of the rocky shoreline. These were a favourite picnic and swimming spot but under water they stretch dangerously into the harbour. To avoid them O’Brien’s farmhouse, kept in line of sight, south of the Blockhouse will take a boat clear. In other parts of the harbour, threatening seaweed-covered obstructions are no longer dangerous as they have been covered by the Pier Head, in the case of the Town Rock, and Carraig na Roan has been incorporated into the Boatyard Pier at Middle Cove.

Apart from instructions for safely navigating the harbour, numerous features and practices were identified to assist the seafarer. In the past when timekeepers or watches were rare, the ‘Half Tide’ Rock at Castlepark and other points in the harbour provided direct information on the state of the tide. By looking at the water level in relation to the rock, a fisherman or sailor could determine the time when enough water would be available for a boat to come alongside a quay wall or clear the bar on arriving or departing the harbour. This data, taken with the lunar phases, provided a predictable calendar of tidal ranges. Knowledge of the equinoxes and how they impacted on the heights of the tides that occurred at the ‘Patrick’s springs’, around 17 March, provided a timetable for particular tasks, such as the repair of quay walls, that could only be undertaken at extreme low-water levels.

A major man-made feature, built at the World’s End in the seventeenth century, was the Royal Dockyard (now the Trident Hotel). It had the capacity to repair and build ships of over 100 feet in length. After the navy left, it provided docking facilities for coastal shipping. Further upriver the remains of a gun wharf used for stepping masts, handling guns and general provisioning is still visible. The nearby double slipway was the departure point from which the cross-river ferry operated. Both these facilities were accessed by way of the ‘drang’, a steep narrow incline above the water which existed before the World’s End road was constructed. Similarly a pathway through the Folly provided the connection to the stone-faced Lobster Quay with its wide slipway and stone spiral steps curving around its sheltered corner.

The use of the term ‘drang’, which in Cornish means a lane, illustrates how the World’s End section of the town became associated with people from the southwest of England. They also brought a distinctive speech pattern that can still be heard among some of the older inhabitants. It is characterised by the practice of disregarding the letter ‘h’ at the beginning of words and ironically putting it in when a vowel is the initial letter. A humorous example of the peculiarity is remembered in a response to the whereabouts of a local man, when the enquirer was told that ‘’e’s on the Lobster Quay leathering a pair of hoars’, which was the task of attaching leather to oars to protect them from wear.

Apart from the Cornwall link with the World’s End the connection with the southwest of England is further indicated by the name Scilly, another settlement in the harbour, which had fishing and boatbuilding links to the Isles of Scilly.

On the same side of the river and a little further west are the Folly steps and Carraig Oisín, or Oisín’s Rock, which links Kinsale to the Oisianic saga of Tír na nÓg – the land of everlasting youth. In a fit of temper at the ‘people over the water’ at Castlepark, the Folly’s own giant managed to throw five large stones across the river, landing on the opposite bank. In attempting to lift the sixth stone the giant failed, and the missile remains fixed in the ground close to the steps. The story continues with Oisín arriving on his white horse and, in response to calls from the giant for assistance, dismounted, forgetting that when he stepped on the land he would lose the gift of eternal youth. Suddenly assuming the physical condition of being thousands of years of age he immediately crumbled to dust. The stone was never moved and ever since has been dedicated to Oisín. Across the river on the opposite bank draught net fishermen still refer to that stretch of bank as the Five Stones.

Fresh water was a requirement for all vessels calling to Kinsale and an abundance of spring wells provided a ready supply. Scilly Well with easy access was used most frequently. At a particular stage of a rising tide a punt loaded with empty casks was dispatched from the ship. The containers were placed upright on the aft taut and filled directly from the flowing spring. Timing was critical as the rising tide ensured that the punt, now laden with heavy water-filled barrels, would float but not so far into the duration of the flood that the fresh water from the well would mix with the incoming salt water. Other methods of loading water were also used: ‘I went down to the Cove [at the top of the Dam] and here at the upper end Alderman Hoare [Southwell’s agent] and his Men of War get their water. They have made a dam head and a spout to run into the hogs’ heads and they put the casks into the water and float them to the ships.’22

Crews of visiting ships met the people of the small communities living on the shore around the harbour and witnessed the bare subsistence levels on which they survived. At settlements, south of Charles Fort, people scavenged for a living from the sea and land. Similarly, the community on the Old Head, like the nesting shearwaters on the cliff ledges below, clung for survival, in mud and stone huts attached to the ruined walls of older structures.

Both these areas were Irish speaking where names in Irish were used for the smallest inlets and rock features. In modern times the helms of engine-powered boats rarely need to consider the tide in the harbour. Formerly, small boats, dependent on sail and oars, hugged the shore to reduce the effect of a strong countercurrent. Shelter from a sudden squall, the need for rest and landing places for nets and fish were found in little inlets known as ‘cushanna’ or, in the lee of rocky outcrops, ‘carraigheanna’. People had an intimate knowledge of the shoreline. They, together with the lobstermen, operating close inshore, became familiar with features and inevitably gave names to places they encountered frequently. Droichead na Fine off Garrettstown as its name, ‘the bridge of wine’, suggests was the wreck site of a ship spilling its cargo of wine casks into the sea, no doubt to the satisfaction and pleasure of some in the area. Viewed from the north, The Old Head peninsula takes the shape of a corpulent man facing west, supporting a belly-like feature called Cnoc a’ Bolg and on the eastern side the other physiognomical extremity, the Tóin (or Bottom) Point. Faill an Aifrinn (Mass Rock) is the location where Mass was said in penal times, hidden amid the rocks and close enough to the water for people to escape by boat if discovered by the authorities who had banned the practice of Catholicism. A number of other Mass rocks were located on the eastern side of the harbour itself, at Claidhe an Aifrinn (Mass fence) and at Preghane, both locations close to the sea. The practice was noted by Cosimo de’ Medici, a member of the Florentine banking family, influential in European affairs, when he arrived in Kinsale in 1669 after his ship was blown off course in heavy weather. He was highly critical of the prohibition on religious freedom.23 The roar of the sea crashing on the rocks is conveyed in the name Faill na nGlór. On a calm day the blueness of the deep water is well described by Cuas Gorm, just west of the tip of the Head. On the eastern side, boats sheltering crept into the corner of Hole Open to boil a kettle, which is appropriately called An Cistin (The Kitchen). Across Bullen’s Bay, Cuas Buí with its yellow-coloured sand was popular for bathing. In contrast, reflecting the tragedies that attach to seaboard life is Cuas an Duinne Bháite where, in circumstances now forgotten, the remains of a drowned sailor were washed ashore. Further towards Duneen is Oileánn Glas – the Green Island – but due to erosion of the soil the grass no longer grows. It was here for security that the explosive powder for the lighthouse fog signal was stored.24

Inside the mouth of the harbour itself on the eastern shore, Irish names were prevalent. On the stretch of shoreline from Charles Fort to Ballymacus Point, women, perhaps washing and drying clothes, gathered at Carraig na Ban (Women’s Rock) close to Cuas Lár (Middle Cove). Across the Cove there was Carraig na Rón (Rock of the Seal). Cuas Fáinleoga is further south where swallows gather in the autumn for their flight south, and close by is Ceann Chapill (the Horse’s Head Rock). Cuas Innill – ‘safe inlet’ – provided security for boats and southwest towards Eastern Point is a blowhole – Poll a’ Talaimh’ located below the Crooked Ditch, a well-known mark for fishing. Préachán or Prehane, the Crow’s Point, comes into view after rounding Eastern Point.

These are a small sample of the names in Irish spoken among the native people outside the town that were common up to the end of the nineteenth century. Ironically, the locations most associated with the use of Irish names were those surrounding British military installations, the garrison at Charles Fort and the coastguard at the Old Head. Translations, a play by Brian Friel, highlights issues where foreign military occupation impacts on the native Irish-speaking community. Lines from the play make reference to how the language impacted on the impoverished natives: ‘A rich language. A rich literature. You’ll find, Sir, that certain cultures expend on their vocabularies and syntax acquisitive energies and ostentations entirely lacking in their material lives. I suppose you could call us a spiritual people.’

A spiritual dimension was significant in the lives of people living close to the sea, where the prospect of death from drowning or shipwreck was a constant reality. The Church of the Holy Trinity was situated on Fort Hill overlooking the harbour and Charles Fort. As the proximity of the ancient church was seen as a serious defence weakness to the new fortification it was decided to move the church to a new site at Ardbrack and dedicate the rebuilt structure to Saint Catherine. Nevertheless the burial ground and the holy well, ‘Tobar an Tríonóide’ (the Well of the Trinity), on the old site continued in use. Annually on the Feast of the Holy Trinity the Pattern was celebrated. This was the practice where pilgrims gathered to pray and undertake the ‘rounds’, a spiritual exercise of walking in circles around the well. Boats full of people came from different points on the coast – Nohoval Cove, Oysterhaven, the Old Head and Sandy Cove – landing at Sallyport. Having completed the spiritual exercises the pilgrims then engaged in some riotous socialising, consisting of drinking accompanied by singing and dancing. These activities were disapproved of by the official Church which was also critical of the pre-Christian origins associated with the rituals of the Pattern. The objections eventually led to the demise of the practice in the late nineteenth century.

The close connection of the seaboard community on the eastern side of the harbour with religious practice was maintained into the early twentieth century. Twice a year a priest visited the isolated community at the Lower Cove to say the Station Mass, which was the opportunity for the Catholic clergy to conduct pastoral visitation and collect dues. Days prior to the visit were taken up with the preparation of a four-oared yawl used to ferry the priest from Kinsale and smartly row him to the remote cove. Great attention was paid to making the trip comfortable by avoiding the sea while crossing the Bar. As the bow grounded on the shingle a young lad was detailed to place a chair at the edge of the water so that the priest would remain dry when stepping ashore. Sean Keating’s painting Slán Leat, a Athair (Goodbye, Father), which depicts a similar scene on the Aran Islands, evokes the strong belief in the spiritual that pervaded seaboard communities.

Cuirtaphorteen, meaning ‘the church of the little port’, was the burial place of families in the area and the site of a harbour south of Sandy Cove before the ravages of the sea destroyed the shelter and eroded the land, exposing the skeletal remains of the monks and the people who lived in the now-deserted village nearby. The weathering of the earth under the church is a noted example of a wave-cut platform.25 While a beautiful place, a strange ominous feeling of dislocation, which many people experience while in the area, is expressed by the Kinsale poet Jerome Kiely:26

knowing the waves

ossiverous

would prospect through the buttress rocks for graves

and carry undersea the seasoned bones …

At Kinsale, the need to provide for the spiritual dimension in the lives of mariners is continued in modern times by the work of the Mission to Seamen which also provides support and practical assistance when required.

The man-made amenities that were constructed and the natural qualities of the harbour that had attracted the earliest settlers were the basis for development by each influx of subsequent inhabitants. They added more facilities, making Kinsale port a safe haven for its seafaring community and a welcoming harbour for the sailors and fishermen who entered it. As a port of growing importance the harbour required landing facilities on the waterfront and a range of services to cater for ocean-going shipping which in turn generated even further maritime activity and demands. From the beginning, Kinsale was recognised as one of Ireland’s premier harbours and inevitably its potential was realised in different ways.

Evidence of early settlement in the Kinsale area was uncovered by excavations undertaken by S.P. O’Riordan in the 1940s at Ballycatten, a ring fort near Ballinspittle, and at Garrans north of Innishannon. They indicated trade connections with southern Europe as early as the sixth and seventh centuries as shown by the discovery of beads, pottery, pins and bronze. Fragments of amphorae at Garrans suggest that oil and spices from the eastern Mediterranean were transported and that this trade came through Kinsale.27

Viking invaders from Scandinavia plied the south coast of Ireland in the ninth century and took control of the Munster rivers. They struck terror in the inhabitants as they arrived at the entrance to harbours in their 70-foot-long double-ended open vessels with carved dragons on high prows. The large single square sail bent to the timber yard was furled and with the rhythmic splash of up to seventy oars, the intrepid seafarers entered Kinsale and found a suitable place to winter, taking a respite from ravaging and plundering. Richard Caulfield, in the introduction to the Annals of Kinsale, suggests that these settlers may have given the name ‘World’s End’ to the southwestern section of the town by the edge of the river. ‘Engleworth’ instead of Kinsale was the name used on the early town arms. The term has been interpreted as meaning a ‘further harbour’ or ‘world’s end’, which it is reasonable to imply may have been the perception of the Norsemen when they arrived initially.28

Later the Vikings established small settlements, and after a period began to cooperate and integrate with the earlier inhabitants. The Scandinavian connection opened up trade from Kinsale with the Baltic and the Hanseatic League which continued to the thirteenth century. The Vikings influenced boatbuilding techniques in Ireland, by introducing the use of overlapping timber planking in construction. The system, more commonly referred to as clinker construction, required large quantities of timber which produced extremely well ‘found’ boats.29

After the Vikings, the next phase in Kinsale’s development as a port begins with the arrival of the Normans in Ireland in the twelfth century and ends with the death of the 15th Earl of Desmond in 1583. Henry II, who ordered the invasion, was the Plantagenet King not only of England but also much of western France through marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine. The connection expanded trading contacts, particularly with the Bordeaux wine-producing area. The Norman Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond, who were ambitious and entrepreneurial had their manor house at Askeaton, County Limerick and were granted a million acres of land in south Munster in the thirteenth century. As feudal overlords they made land in the Cork area available to the de Cogans who in turn granted extensive tracts of property in Kinsale to the de Courcys of Ringrone, south of the Bandon River and to the de Barrys, who received lands on the eastern side of the harbour and at Oysterhaven. They had their seat at Rincurran which is now the site of Charles Fort. Among the other Norman families in the Kinsale area were the Roches, who built tower houses on the bends of the Bandon River and the Longs of Mountlong who held lands surrounding Oysterhaven creek. In the early years of Norman occupation, residual opposition from the old native Irish was overcome. Fineen McCarthy, encouraged by his victory at the Battle of Callen near Kenmare in 1261, advanced eastwards, reclaiming land taken by the invaders. He was eventually defeated and killed by de Courcy at Ringrone. With their property taken, the native families found their ancient rights disregarded. They were identified as ‘the wild Irish’ and described as ‘cave dwellers living on rapine and pillage’.30

The Desmonds chose Kinsale as the harbour from which to trade the rich produce of the area and as an entry point for goods from abroad. Of significance in Kinsale were agricultural crops from the Bandon river basin and wool introduced by the Cistercians at nearby Tracton Abbey in the twelfth century, which was exported through the harbour to destinations as far away as Lucca and Florence in Tuscany.

Trade links between Kinsale and the southwest of France grew in the early fourteenth century. Eighteen ships in 1308 transported wine from the Garonne at a period when the Irish were seafaring merchants as distinct from shipowners. The Irish traders used vessels owned by the Bretons from Cameret and Brest in northwest France and chartered at a rate of between one fifth and a half the value of the goods. The practice continued for many centuries, becoming even more common after the imposition of the Penal Laws on the Irish in the 1700s. The ships sailed close inshore, passing through the fast-flowing seas of the Raz de Bretagne and Quessant rather than making the longer passage in the open sea. Aboard these vessels the Irish merchant adventurers, taking nothing but a sea chest, made the voyage from Kinsale to the continental ports. The destination was often determined at the last moment, being dictated by the tide and wind or reports of market demand ashore. They were known to land on obscure beaches and remote sheltered inlets. The merchants never missed an opportunity, catching fish when outward bound to augment cargos of Irish-produced friezes, mantles, hides, furs, butter, woollens and leather already aboard. Ports regularly entered were Nantes, La Rochelle and Bordeaux, where firm trading links were established. The vessels returned with wine, honey, salt, brandy, plums, prunes, corn, iron and resin. At La Rochelle in 1559, Madeira wine was exchanged for salted herring and cod, using the barter form of exchange. Couraus, a blue dye, and alum from Italy were transported from Languedoc in the southeast of France and shipped from Bordeaux to Kinsale. Later, from the 1660s, the Canal du Midi, which linked Bordeaux to Sete, gave access to the Mediterranean and an even broader trading network. In the seventeenth century, Kinsale developed contact with the Spanish port towns of Seville and later Cadiz, which under the influence of King Phillip II in the latter half of the sixteenth century, became important centres through which the Irish traded with the extensive Spanish colonies. An English ship on a voyage to Andalusia and the Algerian port of Oran called to Kinsale to recruit Irish sailors in 1481. Among the range of destinations for ships out of Kinsale are references to Bristol vessels bound for Iceland, calling to avail of services in the harbour.31

Bristol for many centuries with its wide and open channel, lying due east of Kinsale, was the port in Britain having most contact with the south coast of Ireland. After Waterford, Kinsale was recorded as being ahead of Wexford, Cork, Youghal and other harbours such as Dingle in terms of numbers and value of cargos. For the year 1504/5, of the 39 Irish-owned ships entering Bristol, 7 were from Kinsale and in the opposite direction imports to the town were carried in 7 vessels out of a total of 35 entrances. In addition, 126 English ships were involved in the Bristol trade, many calling to Kinsale. Ships were used to export quantities of hake, porpoise, salted fish, hides, corn and wood with products such as wine, alum, Breton linen and animals, including hawks and horses, landed at Kinsale and then re-exported. Ships returned with knives, aniseed, liquorice, salt, spices, iron, hemp, pitch, seeds, liquor and hops. Large quantities of fabric, cloth, dyes made from lichens, leather and silk ties for the fastening of bodices and jackets were brought into Kinsale.32

Exchequer customs returns for the sixteenth century confirm the extensive trade that took place. Unlike the ships used in trading with France, the vessels to Bristol were owned and skippered by the Kinsale merchants themselves. In 1516, The Christofur of Kinsale made at least five trips. On 8 March 1551, The John of Kinsale arrived in Bristol with porpoise, fish, train oil and meat. On 16 March, she left with silk, hops, saffron, orchil dye (a red or violet dye made from lichen) and knives. The Richard of Kinsale in 1576 returned to her home port with orchil, hemp, pitch, iron and ‘cutts’ (knives). In the same year The Margaret, captained by Richard Roche brought goods in for his brother Henry, a merchant. These accounts show the close economic ties that existed with England through Bristol, which continued until the Fitzgerald demise in Munster in the 1570s.33

Kinsale was not only a trading port but was also beginning to establish an important reputation for victualling and the provisioning of ships. In June of 1518 the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand, brother of Charles V, King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor, on a stormy eleven-day voyage from Santander bound for the Low Countries, was blown off course and arrived in Kinsale. His fleet consisted of six large ships. The chronicler reports that Ferdinand initially hid his identity by removing the Hapsburg symbol of the Golden Fleece from around his neck. He was recognised, however, and for three days was feted by the locals who, it was reported, ‘went on their knees to him’. He received the representatives of the Desmonds, who presented him with gifts. After loading with fresh water and food the fleet set sail for Antwerp in a favourable westerly. In 1555, Ferdinand succeeded to the position of Emperor, and as Spain’s control of the Netherlands was threatened and ports in Brittany were lost, it is conceivable that the hospitality received and the services available at Kinsale were remembered and initiated a pattern of contact with Spain that culminated in the Last Armada to Kinsale in 1601–2.34

The harbour was the embarkation point for many travelling abroad. Eleanor, Countess of Desmond took the route from Kinsale to Bristol, when in January 1570 she sailed to visit her husband Garrett, the 15th Earl. Because of rebellion and active resistance to Elizabeth I’s policies in Ireland he had been summoned to London. His beautiful and dutiful wife, who wished to be at his side during his imprisonment, spent a number of days in Kinsale in transit.35 Many Irish pilgrims going to Rome, the Holy Land and the Camino to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, left through Kinsale. Irish monks from the eighth century used the port on visitation to various foundations, which had been established on the continent.