History Is All Around Us I can still recall my grandfather telling me the tale of how returning home one night he decided to take a short cut through the locally known field of Carry-Crow (as you enter the village of Riverstown-the field on your right). Despite the walk consisting of no more than five minutes he claimed to have not escaped the field until dawn lifted the dark veil of night. This was because he walked through a fairy fort. As one speaks to people of an older generation this story is rarely never heard of. A member of everyones family seems to have undergone the hardships of this experience! While the story itself can be cast away as superstitious and fictional it nevertheless does epitomise an aspect of Irish society that is quickly evaporating-not old wives tales, they remain in quantity, but a lack of appreciation from proceeding generations of such local tales. Such stories whether true or not will be lost with the passing of the current elderly generation. Within such a story there is a wealth of history. With the modernisation of the country little thought is given to the history on our very own doorsteps. While researching the past since my first days at College dating back to 2009 a wider appreciation and greater perspective is granted one. Taking Riverstown as an example, there are several ringforts in the vicinity as well as standing stones, bridges that date back hundreds of years, ancient (and disappearing) lakes, crannogs, large burial mounds such as at Heapstown and physical monuments to men who committed controversial and courageous deeds such as John Stenson. Not many local villages can boast as large a statue as we can to John Stenson but who was the last person to gaze upon this man and how many in the area can recount his deeds? There is a statue of Bernardo OHiggins on the shore of Lough Arrow; the liberator of Chile from Spanish Colonial rule whose ancestral home was on the lake. Revered like a god in Chile there is little talk of him here. While researching the men who went to war in 1914-18 I was amazed to find that 4 brothers answered the call from the village (only a couple of hundred yards from where I live) and one was never to return. Seventy plus men from the greater Riverstown area fought in what was then the bloodiest and largest war ever waged. It was brutal, the numbers of men killed far exceeded any previous conflict and the war changed the political landscape of each country forever. For all its negatives it democratised millions. Riverstown and its hinterland played a role in this struggle and yet little is known of the characters who involved themselves in it. History is therefore all around us, record, keep and seek information from the elderly generation. Have a go at digging it up and you may be surprised what you find. cianharte
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 12:40:26 +0000
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