When my husband, sister and I visited Ireland in 1999, we
met Michael and Brendan Mortimer, a father and son who were my cousins. Brendan took us on a tour of the area around
Killinure, County Laois, and we visited the ruins of a large old house way up
in the Slieve Bloom Mountains. Brendan
told us that his father Michael had lived in the house as a child with his
family. Over the years since I have
attempted to find out more about that place, but there is virtually nothing
online about “Bockagh Lodge”.
This week I re-visited a source I had only previously
skimmed and found a hidden gem! The Schools Collection is an attempt to digitize Ireland’s folklore
collection, and it contains scanned pages from a series of interviews, stories,
poetry and artwork from pupils in 13 counties during the 1930’s. As luck would have it, Laois is one of the 13
counties represented, and in the collection I found an item about the townland
of Bacca, submitted by pupil James Phelan in 1938.
It contains very specific information about the place we
visited in 1999- including confirmation of the Mortimer family’s residence
there at the time it was written.
Michael Mortimer, the gentleman I met in 1999, would have been a lad of
about 15 in 1938, and the ledge is described as being owned by Daniel Mortimer,
who was his father. One wonders how many
(or few) modern conveniences would have been available at that time in such a
remote place, and what life was like in the area.
Especially interesting are the references to the lodge’s
past- it was the home of the “landlord”, a man named Silcock. The description of his rather untimely demise
brings to mind similar stories- like that of landlord Major Denis Mahon who was
killed under mysterious circumstances in County Roscommon in the 1840’s. The account goes on to name those in the
townland who were over 70 years of age at the time- names like Phelan, Moore,
Ryan, Cuddy and Fitzpatrick that are still found in the area today.
Of course a discovery like this only leads to my questions:
1.
Who was
“Silcock” and is the story of his dramatic end true?
2.
When was it built and by whom?
3.
How did Daniel Mortimer come to own and occupy
the Bacca Shooting Lodge?
4.
Why was it abandoned and who owns it now?
Probably the aspect of this that’s most fascinating is that
information like this was collected and preserved, then made available
online. The lack of recorded information
and the strong oral tradition among the Irish make finding genealogical
information on one’s family fairly difficult.
Collections such as this one attempt to bridge the gap between the two
and bring another badly-needed source to those of us with Irish ancestors. The collection adds a narrative element to
what might otherwise just be dry facts and figures obtained from more
traditional sources.
