Ireland day 0573. Monday 24 April 2023- Buttevant *

Ireland day 0573. Monday 24 April 2023- Buttevant

Today’s summary	Drove back from Kinsale via Buttevant and got a fantastic update on the military history of the town and its barracks. Of real significance to Val, as this is where her grandmother was born. Incredible day
Today’s weather	Mostly dry and bright with plenty of sunshine in the morning. Feeling quite cool for April still. Moderate northerly wind. Appx 9C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Last night was the second and final of our two night stay in Kinsale. Fortunately the water was back on this morning!

We didn’t have to leave the AirBnB until 11 am so had a leisurely morning and admired the view over the bay. Once we had packed up and decanted all our belongings to the car, we strolled over to the town centre and had a good look round. It’s very pretty, with lots of interesting shops of the Art Gallery-genre. There are about a million restaurants and if you like Padstow or Rock in Cornwall, then you’d love Kinsale.

From there we drove north for an hour, via Cork, to the small town of Buttevant. It’s altogether off the tourist track and a complete contrast to Kinsale. But it was of major significance to Val, as there are the ruins of a military barracks there. Her great grandfather was a soldier and he and Val’s great grandmother (both from Kilkenny) were stationed there in the early 1900s. The married quarters where they most likely lived are in the banner photo at the top of this blog.

And it was in these barracks – probably in the military hospital – that Val’s grandmother was born in 1908.

Nowadays the barracks is ruined (it was destroyed in the Civil War) and what’s left of it is a GAA sports ground. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of our visit actually happened after lunch.

We decided to pop into Lyla’s Kitchen for lunch (its absolutely brilliant by the way) and by way of a chance conversation with one of the waitresses, we were introduced to a fellow diner, Noel Coleman, who happened to have written a history of Buttevant. So we had a good chat with him, then he recommended that we went down to the Post Office and asked for Francis Trim – he is the husband of the postmistress.

We duly paid a visit and met him – he turned out to be an expert in the military history of Buttevant. He was a mine of useful information about the barracks – so he was as excited to meet a descendant of one of the residents as Val was to meet someone with inside knowledge (and photographs) of the barracks in its heyday. He was kind enough to pass on copies of some photos – and you never know Val’s great grandfather might well be on one of them. But since nobody has ever seen a photograph of him and nobody knows what he looked like, perhaps we will never be identify him.

Anyway, a fascinating end to our holiday and a brilliantly interesting day out. Back to the real world tomorrow!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


View from our bed this morning. What a great way to start the day!	Another April rose – just making its presence felt in the Scilly Glen in Kinsale

Val at the barracks – the information plaque (zoom in) is interesting	Military Road- which leads from the town centre to the barracks. A bit down at heel now but probably hasn’t changed much for a century or more

St Mary’s Church, Buttevant. Val’s grandmother was probably baptised here	In Lyla’s Kitchen, Buttevant. Quite the best meal I’ve had in ages. Two course and tea – €27. Perfect in every way.

All that remains of the Military Barracks in Buttevant. Val’s great-grandfather was a soldier and was stationed here. He was married and their fourth child – Val’s grandmother – was born here in 1908