A visit to Mulranny
Talking in the pub one night about the interesting place names in Ireland, I found everyone had their favourite. It all started with me telling the story about a friend who came to stay and wanted to go Ballydehob. She laughed every time she said Ballydehob and it almost came like a password between us. I could not understand her fascination with the name, I thought the place she came from much funnier, Ballybunion.
As the night wore on and we all became a little light headed someone suggested we all put a name into the hat and at the next bank holiday we would all go to our selected place and report back.
I picked Mulranny.
Looking at the map, I decided to take two days to get there stopping over night at Ballynahinch as this happened to be my favourite hotel in Connemara. I first learned about Ballynahinch from a friend who read a book about Ranjitsingh the one time owner of the house and knowing I had spent time in India told me about the Hotel. I of course knew the name as my family were great followers of cricket and as children if a good stroke was made you were likened to Rangy as we called him. The story of how he acquired wealth, fame and fortune is so typically Indian. He was adopted by the Maharaja of Baroda and designated to be his heir. He was educated in England, first at Eton then at Oxford where his prowess as a cricketer gained him a place on the England team. He visited Dublin on a diplomatic mission and fell in love with the country, eventually buying the estate at Ballynahinch where he improved the way of life there building roads
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And bringing the railways to the far west of Ireland. He was never out of debt inspire of his title in Baroda but this did not deter him from continuing to spend money.
The next day I took the route north via Clifden, Westport and Newport arriving in Mulranny at three o’clock. I found a B and B near the start of the Atlantic drive; it was set in a garden teaming with giant fuchsias and all manor of exotic looking plants I had never seen before. I asked the owner about a castle I could see in the distance and was told it was Rossturk castle, one time home of Grace O’Malley a notorious pirate queen.
Grace O’Malley was a legend in her own lifetime and has gone down in history as one of Irelands most colourful characters Born in1530 the daughter of a sea captain Owen O’Malley she was determined from a very early age to go to sea, tricking her father into taking her by dressing as a boy, he gave up the struggle and allowed her to go with him on his voyages.
She married twice, both were political marriages, the first at the age of 16 to Donal O’Flaherty the son of a sea faring family and secondly after his death to Richard Burke.
The O’Flaherty Clan refused to give her a decent share of her husband’s wealth after his death so she gathered her followers and went back to sea. Returning home she moved with her followers back to the O’Malley clan and became a chieftain in her own rite. By this time she had built herself an empire of five castles and several islands in Clew Bay. Because of harassment from the English she needed Rockfleet Castle to defend the North corner of her empire so she married the owner Richard Burke.
Twice she presented herself at the court of Queen Elizabeth the 1st to ask favours but was looked upon with scepticism, returning to Ireland empty handed. The second time to ask
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for the release of her property taken by Sir Richard Bingham after her capture at sea by the English fleet. She escaped execution but was harassed by him for the rest of her life.
After listening to Graces life story I felt it was too late to take the Atlantic drive and decided to take a walk on the beach. The sun was setting over Clare Island and the last few surfers were packing up for the day. The scene was breath takingly beautiful.
Tired out I looked for a pub to get my dinner and afterwards was entertained to traditional music and dancing until the early hours of the morning. There was magic in the air and I could not leave the next day and began to wonder if I would ever leave.
I arrived home with more than a story to tell about Mulranny, I also brought my bride.
Ann Hall 2010 Copyright
31 Streetgate Lane
Sunnyside.
March 14th 1957
Dear Mr Weaver
I have been given your name and address by Sandra Holliday who told me that you held dog training classes occasionally. I have an uncontrollable young Labrador and I am desperate for some help.
Yours sincerely,
Betty Close
The Old Stables,
Willington
March 20th 1957
Dear Miss Close,
I’m sorry your dog is causing trouble. Usually, I find it’s the owners who need instruction and I would be very pleased to help you. The next class begins on the 4th of April and lasts twelve weeks. Please let me know if you are able to come. There is a charge of 2/- per session and we try to begin at 7pm.
Yours sincerely
Ralf Weaver
31 Streetgate Lane
Sunnyside
March 22nd 1957
Dear Mr Weaver,
Thank you for your prompt reply. I would love to join the class on 4th April. I enclose a postal order for 2/-.
Looking forward to meeting you,
Yours sincerely
Betty Close.
The Old stables
Willington
7th April 1957
Dear Betty,
I am so sorry that things didn’t turn out well at your first class. I hope your leg mends quickly and that you are out of hospital very soon. Perhaps I could come to visit you? I feel I was partly responsible for you injuries
Regards,
Ralf.
St Mary’s Hospital
Ward 4,
Cauldfield
April 9t 1957
Dear Ralf,
I would be delighted to have a visit from you. However, you were in no way to blame for the incident. My dog had already proved too strong for me to control and meeting a lady friend was just too much for him.
I shall be here for another week and hope to see you soon.
Cheerio,
Betty
Ward 7
April 14th 1957
Dear Ralf,
Thank you for the wonderful flowers you brought me. I have been transferred to another ward and as you said you would visit me again, I wanted you to know.
Thank you for looking after Major for me while I’m in here, I know he’ll be a better behaved dog when I come home.
Looking forward to seeing you again,
Best Wishes,
Betty
The Old Stables
Willington.
19th April 1957
Dear Betty,
I’m pleased that you are at home and able to get about a little. It’s very brave of you to come to the class this week even though you are not taking part but you’ll be able to see Major and see the change in him
Love,
Ralf.
31, Streetgate Lane,
Sunnyside.
April 28th 1957
Dear Ralf,
I’ve just heard that I have a hospital appointment on 2nd May and if you are free I would like to accept your offer to take me there. Thank you for looking after Major, it would have been impossible for me to take care of him at this stage.
Love Betty
Dear Betty,
I can’t believe how much I’m looking forward to seeing you. Would you like me to bring Major in the car, after all he was responsible for bringing us together.
All my love,
Ralf
The Old Stables
Willington
8th June 1957
Darling,
Call me an old romantic if you like but I’ve been reading the letters from when we first met and felt I had to put my feelings in writing to-day of all days. You have changed my life and I hope our happiness continues as long as we live.
By the way, last night major became a father for the first time. He now has three sons and two daughters.
Will it be our turn next?
You loving husband to be,
Ralf
Raymond born 8th march 1958
Elizabeth born 14th March 1960
Jane born 14th February 1961
William born 2nd June 1963
The Surprise
15 seconds later his mouth slowly closed. The shock was so great that no sound came out of his mouth. He stood quivering uncontrollably until someone had the presence of mind to slap his face. Then the tears rolled down, dripping off the end of his nose and soaking the front of his tee shirt. Slowly he began to move forward towards the exit and out into the street.
Tom met Jan one cold January day while jogging in the park. She had been walking her dog when it got into a fight with a stray dog and trying to separate them had herself been pulled to the ground. The only damage was a scraped knee. Tom insisted that they both went to the nearest café to warm up and get over the debacle. Romance was in the air and three weeks later they moved in together. Life was good for Tom and Jan, they both had jobs in the city and both owned their own property. She liked walking and badminton and he liked jogging and rugby so there leisure time was equally split between their sports. Valentines day was their first celebration only days after moving in together followed by week-ends in the country and exotic holidays. Marriage was talked about but neither were able to fit it comfortably in to their busy scedules. Excuses such as looking for a house cropped up and it was not until Jan became pregnant that any sustained serious discussions took place. Each week-end was spent house hunting until one day a serious problem occurred with the pregnancy and Jan was rushed into hospital. An ectopic pregnancy led to her loosing one of her fallopian tubes and although she was assured that it would not stop her getting pregnant again, no pregnancy resulted in spite of all their efforts. Meanwhile they bought their dream house in the country, got married and settled into a new way of life, working from home. Jan became a journalist, reporting on their new life for one of the Sunday Broadsheets. One of her slants on village life was to go to the local pub and gather the village gossip. She had no desire to return to the city.
Her snippets about gardening led to yet more work and then the inevitable happened, she once again became pregnant resulting in the birth of twins, a boy and a girl. Jan was so excited by her journalistic work that she did not want to give it up, instead employing a nanny. Vivian was a very lively energetic girl, just the type to cope with the twins and life in the household was very well ordered. His friends told him there was no such thing as a plutonic friendship between a man and a woman living in such close proximity, but he ignored their advice.
The inevitable happened and one evening when Jan was in the pub collecting the local gossip, he was sitting on the sofa with Vivian when he found himself drawn to her and once the ball started rolling he found he could not control himself and they ended up in bed. Six weeks later she told him that she suspected she was pregnant.
The next few weeks became a nightmare as he was still in love with Jan but on the other hand did not want to let the girl down. Vivian was made of stronger stuff and announced she was leaving to go to look after her mother who had just had a heart attack. No one could argue with that excuse.
Fate can be very cruel and one day in London Tom bumped into Vivian. He asked her for a contact number so that he could see her after the baby was born. At first she refused saying it was better that they had no further contact for both their sakes but relented and said she would send a message through a girl she had known when working for them.
Tom breathed a sigh of relief but went away feeling miserable that he had put his entire life and that of his family in jeopardy.
The news was given to Tom by text. Vivian had gone into labour at a friends house while on a visit and by the time she reached a hospital complications had set in, the baby was born but only lived a few minutes. Unfortuneately it was too late to save the mother.
SUMMER NIGHTS
