BY JOHN FITZGERALD
Part 1
A little piece of Heave fell from out the sky one day…so went the old song that warmed many an Irish heart.
A sizable chunk of that piece must have fallen in the part of our county now occupied by the village of Windgap and its bucolic hinterland.
It has some of the loveliest loop-walks to be found in Ireland, or anywhere else. Haunting relics of the past confront you at every turn…a well that served the community before taps were heard of in those parts, an old forge, specially commissioned statues symbolizing or recalling aspects of local heritage, and, even if you haven’t a religious bone in your body, you’ll be riveted by the spectacle of a grotto considered to be the largest of its kind in Europe.
There’s a lot of what used to be in Windgap that you won’t find there. You’ll have to visit the National Museum to view the array of priceless artifacts unearthed in the district over the decades and thankfully now preserved for all to see.
On Saturday, I accompanied the Kilkenny Heritage Walkers on a journey into Windgap’s past, one that is steeped in all the dizzying twists and turns of Ireland’s long story, stretching back millennia.
Guide for the day was local man Noel Ryan, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of his native area
Though I’d been on other walks this one had a kind of “lost in time” feel to it, thanks to the impeccable and heart-felt attention that locals have given to conserving their culture and antiquities.
At the starting point of the walk, just a few yards from Windgap’s renowned Community Centre, we could look across the road at the old schoolhouse, still standing mutely, empty now of pupils or teachers; all its windows replaced by artwork displaying the cultural highlights of the area.
We were guided to the League House, one of the finest buildings of its kind in Ireland; a potent monument to the Land War, the titanic 19th century struggle of tenants against the tyranny of landlordism.
The impetus for its construction was the shocking eviction of the Brophy family from their lands. A local curate, Fr James Brennan, rallied the people in support of the Brophys and the result was the League House, built in just five days by thirty-seven masons, a little miracle in itself. The Brophys remained in the dwelling until their triumphal return to the paternal family residence in 1890.
Entering a dense forest humming with birdsong we descended a stone stairway. This led to a little plaque denoting Feehan’s well, named in honour of Patrick and James Feehan who occupied a little roadside cabin beside the League House.
The well played a pivotal, life-enhancing role in the life of the community. A laneway extended from the Feehans’ humble abode to the well and up that hilly path the village folk daily dragged their buckets of water, a tradition that persisted until the arrival of the Village Pump, a day of great liberation and celebration for Windgap that ended the toil and drudgery of the “bucket traffic.”
Not quite for everyone though…The well continued to serve the old schoolhouse and the teacher’s residence, and teachers gleefully sent pupils to fetch water in buckets to keep the school supplied…from 1848 all the way up to 1964.
To be continued…
