NO KISSES AT BLARNEY CASTLE!

Regal Princess/Port of Ringaskiddy for Cork
Tuesday, September 26, 2024
Cloudy, 47F      

TK and Janie at Blarney Castle

This morning we joined 50 other people for a tour of Blarney Castle and the Blarney Woolen Mills’ shop filled with Irish items.  The brisk cold was not going to stop us.

Ringaskiddy is a commercial port, but the usual port, Cobh, was already taken. Cobh is pronounced like Cove.  We are in County Cork, which is one place my long long ago ancestors lived, I believe.

Cork (Irish: Corcaigh) is the third largest city in Ireland, the county town of County Cork. The city’s population is about 224,004.

Founded in the 6th century by St. Fin Barre, the region around Cork is also home to one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric monuments in Western Europe.  Our tour guide, Ben, gave us another history lesson, starting with the Vikings who invaded the area of Cork in about 606 A.D., mostly because they liked the gold and other valuables in the monasteries.  The Danes arrived in 900 A.D., then the Anglo Normans. Ben said Ireland was never invaded by the Romans.  The Irish language is 1000 years older than English, and it is one of the oldest written languages after Greek and Latin.

Few Irish speak Gaelic Irish today—I would love to hear this language. Street signs and other signs seem to be written in Gaelic Irish too.  I am very interested in language, but I don’t really have the circumstance to dig deeper right now.

Other info I was interested in:

• Cork is famous for Kerry Gold Butter, which we do use at home! There is good farmland – we saw lots of cows!
• Their preferred beer in this area is Murphy’s. Cork is in a fierce rivalry with Dublin, where Guinness is made.
•  Cork’s city flag is red and white—for the white lime and the red sandstone in the county.
• 
• The first motor car company overseas was Ford Motor company—they were making tractors for WWI. Henry Ford’s father was from Cork, thus the interest.  The company closed in Ireland in 1984.
• Apple Computers is one of the largest employers in Cork, with 7500 employees and growing.
• We saw Pfizer's huge factory near our ship at the port
• Cobh was the single most important port of emigration from Ireland.
• Ben mentioned the 1840-1850 famine when the potato crop failed. Two million people left Ireland during that time.
•  Hurling is their national game, then soccer, then rugby union. 

Blarney Castle

One of Ireland's greatest treasures

Built 0ver 600 years ago

Blarney Castle

TK and Blarney Castle

The purpose of this tour was to visit Blarney Castle. Several people wanted to kiss the Blarney Stone, but that was not on our bucket list. We wanted to see the fabulous castle which stands so proudly despite its ruins.  A bagpiper greeted us at the castle, a pleasant surprise. I did not realize the castle was built upon huge rocks, as solid as it could be. The nearby cave would be a great place to play if the castle was not under siege. It turned out that the wait to kiss the Blarney Stone was 2 hours!

Cave and rocks the castle is built on

Blarney Castle is a medieval stronghold in Blarney, a town in Cork, Ireland. Though earlier fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty, a cadet branch of the Kings of Desmond, and dates from 1446. 

Blarney Woolen Mill shop is very close to the castle, and guess who really wanted to visit this shop, full of colorful merino wool sweaters.  Merino wool sweaters are gorgeous and of great quality. We may have purchased a few.  TK found Butler’s chocolate, supposedly the best in the land.

A couple of weaving/knitting machines were on the second floor. Much is done by machine now. A lady was demonstrating making a sweater.

Skeins of Merino Wool Yarn

This lady is working on a sweater

Another view in the mill demonstration area

Baskets of wool!

More skeins

A display in the Blarney Woolen Shop

A display in the Blarney Woolen Shop

As I write, it is only 3 p.m. in Ireland, but this is the highlight of the day.  Yesterday was a sea day, and we did not really do anything of note.  Tomorrow (Friday), Dublin!!

By the way, this is back to our roots for both of us.

• TK:    2% Welsh, 5% Scottish, 23% English according to Ancestry
• JK:    11% Welsh, 10% Scottish, 38% English, 13% Irish/Ancestry—both sides of my family were in America as far back as the Mayflower, the Revolutionary War, and the rest in the early 1800s.  I have not traced back yet to the “Old Country.”

Despite the cold, this was  a good tour. Seeing the Blarney Castle in person was terrific.  Nephew B and his wife K kissed the Blarney Stone a few years ago. 

Note: Someone dear to us is 41% Irish, 15% Scottish, 11% Welsh, and 10% English. Roots in County Connacht—you would love Ireland!!

TK’s Takes: Ben, our tour guide was one of the funniest—telling Irish jokes. He could be a stand up comedian.

Ben

TK's contribution

He did not purchase these socks