The parish of Causeway in common with other seaboard
districts. was the focus of human habitation long before the dawn of recorded
history. The successive invaders of old did not initially penetrate deep
into the land but instead remained close to the sea- board, living as nomads
within restricted areas, and in time settling down to a simple form of community
life. By sheer hard work and with the use of primitive implements which we
now find difficult to appreciate in full they provided themselves with those
weird dwelling places in locations which we now know as ring forts. Quite
a number of these are still to be found throughout the parish, but many have
disappeared with the passage of time, and the introduction of mechanised
farming has accelerated this process in recent times. Outstanding among those
that still survive is Ballinglanna, or Baile an Rath as it was known in times
gone by. It is said that on a clear day portions of six counties may be seen
from the Ballinglanna fort, viz: Galway, Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Cork, and
Waterford. It is also said that during the most 'repressive enforcement of
the penal laws a crude chapel was erected within the fort, and there people
gathered in secret during the celebration of Mass. There is also a faint
tradition that close by a spot still known as 'The Street' was the location
of a church long years before the present building was erected in the village.
Another proof of early habitation was the discovery
in 1973 of the remains of a Fulacht Fladh at the southern end of the
farm owned by Mr Sonny McEnery of Dromkeen East, and in close proximity the
remains of a souterrain. Fulachta Fiadha were ancient cooking places,
land in our era of sophisticated cooking devices we will not be easily convinced
that a joint of beef could be boiled or even roasted in such places with
no more elaborate cooking equipment than a fire, heated stones, and boiling
water. With present-day building techniques we wonder how underground passages,
creepways, an apartments cut through the subsoil and often totally unpropped
and unsupported could still survive after thousands of years.
And in the Ballinclemesig district in recent times the
late Michael Dillane discovered the foundations of a very ancient roadway
under the bog surface and beside it the remains of an old canoe fashioned
from one large oak tree. This was the first of its kind to be found in Kerry,
but unfortunately it fell to pieces when efforts were made to retrieve it.
A bronze dagger, dating back to about 2,000 B.C. was also discovered in that
locality as well as a number of strange stones all connected with our ancient
civilisation.
A very significant find was made in 1975 by Sean Egan
on his father's farm in Ballinclemesig. It is a gold box, cylindrical in
shape, 6.5 mm. in diameter and made from three thins sheets of gold bound
together by narrow binding strips. The lid and base are decorated with a
pattern of concentric circles each with a central conical boss. It belongs
to the late bronze age and dates from around 700 to 800 B.C. A description
of it appears in the 1981 issue of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical
Journal.
And still another pointer to antiquity and to very early
habitation was the existence of a primitive kind of road or passageway known
as the 'Cliath Rua'. This was a raised highway about eight feet wide unning
from Kerryhead along the Causeway coastline, across the Cashen river, thence
into County Limerick in the vicinity of Athea, onward through the midlands
where it linked up with the 'Cliath Dubh' and finally reaching Tara. It was
said to be one of the five great highways of ancient Ireland. Traces of it
were still to be found along the Shannonside townlands within living memory,
but like the ring forts it has become the victim of mechanised farming.
There seems to be no tradition of any great pioneering activity here in the early Christian period. We are assured - though some question it that Saint Patrick did not come this way, and by way of explanation it is said that the district was already Christianised and so there was greater need elsewhere for Patrick's missionary zeal. Instead he stood on Knockpatrick near Foynes and looking westwards blessed the region thus: 'Bheannaim uaim siar sibh, a mhuintir Chiarrai'. Saint Bridget, however, is said to have traversed this countryside on her journey from Tobar Leighis near the mouth of the Cashen river to visit Christian foundations at Glendahalin and Cill Mhic a'Dha in Kerryhead. The parish, however, cannot boast of such hallowed spots as are found in Ballyheigue, Ardfert, Abbeydorney, Rattoo, and Derrico, although the townland name Ballinscreena (Baile na Scrine) - the place of the shrine - would indicate the existence of some kind of religious foundation there in ancient times.
The DANES
The Danes, however, sailed along the coastline here, and at the mouth of the Cashen destroyed Innis Labhrann a Christian settlement, and afterwards availed of the waterway for their incursions into the hinterland.
THE NORMANS
The Normans paid special attention to this locality. Soon after their arrival in Lixnaw tinder the leadership of Raymond Le Gros where they humiliated the once proud McCarthy Clan, they moved westwards towards the sea. The claim is made that through him the townland of Ballincrossig derives its name, Baile an Chrosaigh - the townland of Le Gros. Another of the Norman leaders named Cantillon or Canltolon, established a stronghold in Ballyheigue and another at Rathmorrell. The latter stood on the hillside in the farmyard now occupied by the Driscoll family, and traces of it were still visible until very recently. Part of the roadway here twisting and winding for a few hundred yards is known locally as 'Cuinne Cam' where we are told strange eerie noises and ghostly appearances were heard and seen at night-time in days gone by. The name of the surrounding townland Rathmorrell - Rath an Mharthaill - The Fort of Confusion - may in some way stem from this phenomenon whether real or imagined.
PENAL TIMES
Beginning with the year 1704 when priests had to be registered pursuant to a clause in an Act of Parliament entitled 'An Act for Registering the Popish Clergy' the parish priests mentioned are: Rev.Thomas Dowling (1704- ), ordained in France in 1664. He was a child or a growing boy during the Cromwellian campaign (1649) and a middle-aged man at the time of the Battle of the Boyne ( 1690) and the Treaty of Limerick (1692). His place of residence is given as Ballyno. Rev. Domnic Moriarty: parish priest from 1715 Rev. Jarnes Hurley: No dates. In the old graveyard in Ballyheigue there is a tombstone bearing the inscription: 'Rev. James Hurley, parish priest of Oireacht Ui Chonch6ir'. If this is the priest mentioned here it points to the fact that parochial structures were not then fully established. Rev. John Malone: born 1710., ordained at Douai; Dean of the diocese in 1772; parish priest of Killury from 1774; died 1781. The four priests named here (Frs Dowling, Moriarty, Hurley, Malone) were pastors in this parish during the greater part of the eighteenth century, the century of the penal laws. However, these laws may not have operated locally as strictly as they did elsewhere.Tralee was the nearest garrison town, and remembering that military forces then travelled on foot and on roads no better than cattle tracks,the journey to Causeway would have taken about four hours, and so military visitations were rare. Housing conditions in those times were appallingly bad by any standards. The ordinary people lived in small, dark, damp, mud-walled and mud-floored cabins, grossly overcrowded in many instances. Disease was endemic and the death rate among infants and young people was abnormally high. For light at night they used the pith of rushes soaked in fat or a splinter of bogdeal stuck in the 'hob' beside the fire. A primitive type of homemade candle (Padog or Paideog) was also in use. Potatoes were the stable diet. At night the unfortunate inhabitants sat in those smokey, damp, unhealthy cabins. Here they recounted the stories and legends of old, deeds of valour old and new, they learned the poetry of the past and made a study of traditional music and song. A man named Lyons, one of the family which still survives in the parish was a student of the Rattoo school of harpers. This school is said to have been visited by Carolan. The atmosphere in which these people did these things had an adverse effect on their eyes. Many contracted weak sight and even total blindness. The blind piper and the blind fiddler were common spectacles then and later. They survived in many places until the early years of the present century.
My Thanks to Maura Allman for permission to reprint this from her husband`s book "Causeway Co. Kerry it`s Location Lore and Legend" by Jerry Allman (known as The Master)