Travellers\u2019 accounts as source-material for Irish historians<\/i> by Celbridge-based Christopher J. Woods is Book Number 15 in the Maynooth Research Guides for Local History. This book is intended as an aid to Irish historians on the use of travellers\u2019 accounts as source-material. Travel narratives are an important primary source of information \u2013 on transport, landscape, the economy, society, religion, etc. \u2013 and the book consists of over 200 accounts from 1635 to 1948. The observations consist of bibliographical details, identification of the traveler, the purpose and period of his or her travel, the exact itinerary followed, his or her mode of transport, the traveller\u2019s observations, and persons encountered.<\/p>\n
Co. Kildare receives many mentions as travellers\u2019 leaving Dublin, for the west or south of Ireland, would usually have to pass through Maynooth, Naas or Sallins. Most are just passing references, but some contain detailed descriptions of the towns and people.<\/p>\n
One of the earliest traveler accounts is from Frenchman M. De La Boullaye le Gouz in 1644. Travelling south he passed through Naas, Kilcullen and Castledermot and swam across the Liffey at Kilcullen carrying his clothes on his head, \u2018the Irish having broken the bridge during the religious wars\u2019. Le Gouz also mentioned buttermilk and oaten bread for sale in south Kildare.<\/p>\n
London bookseller John Dunton arrived in Ireland in April 1698 and travelled by coach and saddle horses to the west. He passed through Maynooth, which he found \u2018a tolerable village with one or two good inns where meate is well dressed and good liquors to be had\u2019.<\/p>\n
George F. G. Mathison\u2019s religious tour to Ireland in 1835 took him to Maynooth and Clane, where he met Michael Montague, president of Maynooth, and numerous other clergy. Literary writer William Makepiece Thackeray\u2019s 1842 visit to Ireland brought him to several Kildare towns \u2013 Naas, Kilcullen, Ballitore, Castledermot, Maynooth and Leixlip. A perceptive observer of people Thackeray wrote vivid impressions of women pulling nettles for food near Kilcullen, the earnings of women and children on farms in Kildare and the \u2018look of lazy squalor\u2019 at Maynooth College.<\/p>\n
An Irish journey<\/i> by Sean O\u2019Faolain, in 1939, took the Cork writer to Sallins, Naas, Newbridge, the Curragh, the Hill of Allen and Robertstown. O\u2019Faolain travelled by train, taxi, gig, boat and foot commenting on the former economic importance of the British army for garrison towns like Newbridge to which he refers \u2018the town is gapped like an old man\u2019s mouth\u2019.<\/p>\n
This guide is invaluable to local historians as a means of identifying the travellers\u2019 accounts that refer to the places in which they are interested.<\/p>\n
by James Durney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Travellers\u2019 accounts as source-material for Irish historians by Celbridge-based Christopher J. Woods is Book Number 15 in the Maynooth Research Guides for Local History. This book is intended as an aid to Irish historians on the use of travellers\u2019 accounts as source-material. Travel narratives are an important primary source of information \u2013 on transport, landscape, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-county-kildare"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8161,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions\/8161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}