The Martello Tower at Ros a Mhíl, South Conamara, and its influence on the local Gaelicspeaking community of the day. Amanda Reid

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1 The Martello Tower at Ros a Mhíl, South Conamara, and its influence on the local Gaelicspeaking community of the day Amanda Reid Introduction Britain had been at war with France for much of the 18 th century. By 1803, she found herself in conflict yet again. In addition, competition in trade with the nascent United States of America was challenging her resources. American ships actively harassed and captured merchant vessels off the Irish coast. In reaction to these dual threats, the British moved to strengthen her defences and systems of communication, and drew up plans to fortify vulnerable landing spots around the coast of the United Kingdom, which included the endangered coasts of Ireland. Despite having abandoned plans for an invasion of Britain in 1805, by 1810 the French were preparing to send a large-scale expedition into Ireland, along the lines of the attempt they had made during the Irish rebellion of Recognising this threat to their Irish territories, the British hoped that the construction of a network of fifty Irish Martello towers, with supporting gun batteries and forts, would act to counter the invasion. Faulty infrastructure and erratic communication channels outside the main centres of Ireland dictated however, that some fortifications were still being completed as late as At Ros a Mhíl, 38 km west of Galway city, the local population might have had some knowledge of these developments, but they could hardly have expected to see them played out in their own yards. Until this time, the wild and rocky coasts of South Conamara had scarcely been reached by herding tracks. With no roads, communication with the outside world was of necessity maintained by sea, using hand-rowed currachs or the traditional wooden sailing boats, the Bád Mhóra. By modern standards, the tenuous living of these coastal settlers could be seen as isolated and rather brutal. Most were landless peasants who strove to carve out a few fields on the rocky hill of the peninsula; family units working together to farm, fish, and build shelter. Life was lived at subsistence level, and famine was a constant threat. It would appear that the decision by the British to place a Martello tower on their small peninsula could only have had a profound effect on the quality of their lives. There is tangible evidence to show that local populations in Ireland gained both economically and socially from the British

2 military presence. There is, however, considerable secondary evidence which demonstrates that while impoverished materially, the farmers were not entirely destitute nor without some experience of a wider world of commerce prior to the arrival of the British. This paper looks at that evidence in the context of the building of the Ros a Mhíl Martello tower, the evocative shell of which still stands in Ros a Mhíl on Casla Bay today. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, and touches on the historical background, the design and construction of the Ros a Mhíl Martello tower and what is known of its staffing, the effect of the military presence on county development, and on the lives and livelihood of the coastal peasant farmers in Ros a Mhíl around the years Aspects of social history are taken from informants descriptions of the life and times of communities local to Ros a Mhíl which were collected in Bailiúcháin na Scol, the Irish Folklore Commission s national scheme which involved schools in the collection of folklore during the years This is supplemented with articles and interviews conducted with natives of the Ros a Mhíl vicinity during the 1970s and 1980s, which reflect on the development of the area during the 19 th Century. A paucity of hard local data from the period dictates that throughout the paper statistics are used, and references are made, to activities and events which occurred later in the century, but which illustrate the historical background and demonstrate the continuance of hardship in the county well into the 20 th century. Historical Background In 1793 war broke out between the Revolutionary Forces of France and the British, who at that time occupied Ireland. France had pledged to support countries seeking independence from Britain. Accordingly, she had agreed to provide reinforcements to a bid being made by the United Irishmen to gain the independence of Ireland from British rule. This agreement was not wholly altruistic or without advantage to the French. The French General Hoche was planning an invasion of Britain, and he felt that the control of Ireland would enhance the chances of a successful assault. The French Fleet consequently made an attempt to invade Ireland at Bantry Bay in Cork in December 1796, but their endeavour failed when a severe winter storm scattered the fleet, resulting in the scheme being abandoned. While the endeavour was unsuccessful, the news of this support for their cause acted to fuel enthusiasm for insurrection in Ireland. Promising a strong local support, the United Irishmen succeeded in convincing the French of the benefit of making another venture, this time in the form of several small expeditions to isolated coasts. The first was led in 1798 by General Humbert, who landed in Kilalla, North Mayo, in late August with a thousand men. Unfortunately the Irish

3 insurrection which had been arranged to facilitate their landing had, by the time they arrived, already been attempted and suppressed. Though they initially met with little resistance, Humbert took the offensive by marching across country, out of concern for the safety of the other invasion fleets. Meeting the British at Ballinamuck, County Longford on September 8 th, his troops were subsequently defeated. A sister fleet of French ships arrived at Rathlin Island on the north-east coast of Ireland, but on hearing of the defeat of Humbert's expedition they promptly returned to France. The largest of the invasion fleets remained unaware of the failure of these previous attempts. Four of their ships reached the mouth of Lough Swilly on the northern coast of Ireland on the 10 th October. By this stage however the British were forewarned and well prepared, and quickly engaged and defeated them. For the time being, the insurrection was over. A lull in the hostilities between Britain and France occurred in 1802, but after the short truce, war again broke out in Spies sent reports to London that the French army were massing at Boulogne, preparing to invade England. Britain was in no position to fight. She had been badly affected by the growth in mercantile competition from the United States of America. Her armed services had been weakened by the exodus of sailors by capture or desertion - from the Royal Navy into the United States Merchant Navy. Britain s reactive policy of intercepting US Merchant Navy ships in order to search for deserters had outraged the Americans, and altercations were common. American naval officers and privateer captains were harassing and capturing merchant vessels not only off the Irish coast, but boldly entering into the Shannon estuary itself[i]. For the British, these events highlighted the serious lack of fortifications and early warning defences on the coasts or at key crossing points on the Shannon and, compounded by the possibility of further landings by the French, demonstrated the very real vulnerability of the Irish coasts and the Shannon estuary. This need for the coordination of the defences of the British Isles as a whole had been an influential driver in the controversial political union of Ireland with Britain, which had occurred in Accordingly, the British began to draw up plans to fortify likely landing places in Britain and along the coasts of Ireland. After much discussion and delay, a comprehensive plan for a network of coastal defences was approved under the National Defence Act of Its principle feature would be the Martello Tower.

4 The design for the Martello towers was inspired by a fortress at Mortella Point in Corsica, on top of which two 18-pounder guns made it impossible for attacking ships to enter the bay. In 1794 this tower had been attacked unsuccessfully by two British warships, and was only captured after two days of heavy fighting when land-based forces were brought in. Impressed by the effectiveness of the tower against their most modern warships, the British employed the concept in the planning of their coastal defences against the forces of Napoleon. During the process the name was recorded wrongly, with Mortella being misspelled as Martello. It is thought that confusion stemmed from reports of a string of Italian coastal watch towers known as 'Torre di Martello'.[ii] These employed a hammer ( martello ) to strike a bell and warn of the approach of pirates. The design details and the shape of the British towers were altered many times during the planning process. It was eventually agreed that the towers were to be circular, but this necessitated a revision in the number of armaments tat could be installed, due to the lack of space on the roof. This meant that the originally planned two carronades, as used at Mortella Point, were not part of the final design, and a standard British Martello tower was armed instead with only one 24-pounder rotating cannon. In Ireland, defences were initially built around Dublin, followed in by a second phase of building during which towers were constructed at Duncannon near Waterford City, at Bere Island in Cork, and on the Clare and Galway coastlines. The Shannon Estuary was protected by six gun batteries, and forts and Martello towers were built at Shannonbridge and Banagher, the most vulnerable crossing points on the Shannon, for the protection of the British Military Camp further upstream at Athlone. Close by, a Martello tower was built in Meelick, and a Fort on a central island at Keelogue. Both Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle in the north of Ireland scenes of earlier French invasion attempts - were heavily fortified with Martello towers and gun batteries.[iii] The defences were not large enough to be heavily manned and it was clear that, if the towers were to prevent a landing, they would need the assistance of a larger number of regular troops to form a line of defence than they could accommodate. Instead, their function was to provide a barrier which could delay an invader, and allow time for the defending troops to be moved into positions suitable for resisting the enemy s move inland[iv].

5 It is said that each Martello tower took about six months to build, with the cost estimated in 1817 to be a little over 3,700.[v] This would be equivalent to at least 250,000 at 2010 prices. Their isolation and poor access in emergency and dubious defensive ability caused many to regard the construction of the towers as an unnecessary extravagance. Even at the planning stages there had been reservations about the effectiveness of a coastal defencetower strategy. Over a hundred and fifty years after their construction, Commandant B M O Brien, writing in the Irish Defence Journal An Cosantóir, confirmed these reservations, claiming that the towers could never have operated as planned. He cites their lack of suitability as defence works: their lengthy construction, which meant that they were only finally completed when the invasion threat had passed; their isolation and poor channels of communication with existing defences; and the difficulties inherent in supplying and maintaining these isolated garrisons. He highlights their substantial cost, and certain design faults which would have prevented soldiers in the tower from engaging close in to the target in battle. Ultimately concluding that the Martello towers in Ireland were not worth the trouble and expense involved in constructing them, he relates how their weakness was fully demonstrated on a dark December night in 1867, when the Minning tower in Cork, then under Military Guard, was captured by a small party of Fenians, who were content to carry off the available small arms, ammunition and gunpowder. [vi] The Ros a Mhíl tower The isolation of the Ros a Mhíl Martello tower is such that it stands almost unnoticed in Ros a Mhíl to this day. From the sea it is occasionally seen by tourists as they head out from the pier on the ferry to Aran, but its situation in a hollow on the far side of a hill means that it is hidden from the view of even the nearest roads. It stands, grey and squat, blending in to the stones and bracken of the small kilometre-long promontory referred to as Tóin a Chnoic the back of the hill. The tower faces into Casla Bay, with just a narrow view out into the mouth of Galway Bay and across to the Aran Islands and County Clare. Its location is unusual, as the rise of the hill backing it obscures the line of sight to its sister towers in Clare. It appears to be only just within sight of the signal

6 tower on Inis Oirr, the most easterly of the Aran Islands, situated about twelve kilometres away across the bay. Assumedly the protected anchorage provided by Casla Bay, with a view across the entrance to Galway Bay to the Cliffs of Moher, was considered too vulnerable a spot to leave unprotected, and was instrumental in the selection of the site for the tower. The tower s elliptical shape indicates the armouring of its walls, and traces of lime leak from the stones to give a hint of its former brightness. The grey limestone of the tower was kept whitewashed in its day, rendering it highly visible to all passing ships. No obvious sign remains of the houses that once backed it, which provided supplementary housing for the garrison. Limestone was too valuable an agricultural commodity for the 19 th and much of the 20 th centuries, and it has long since been put to other uses. The stone used in the building of both houses and tower was quarried and brought across from Aran in the traditional wooden fishing boats, or bád mhóra, better known today by the generic title of húicéirí or Hookers. The stones were hauled onto shore and up to the foundations using a windlass. Lead was placed between the worked stones of the wall, with spikes inserted through the blocks to hold them together and enhance their strength. Local men were employed in the work as labourers and even as stonemasons, as is evidenced in stories from informants to Bailiúcháin na Scol. This opportunity for regular paid work no doubt made a significant contribution to the local economy. The tower can be reached by a grass-topped road which runs down to the shore from the top of the hill near the modern reservoir. This road still shows signs of its 19 th century construction: where the surrounding fields dip it retains its even level, bolstered by squared stone buttresses and drainage culverts. Locally, the tower is referred to as the Battery, which may be an echo of the common name given to it by its garrison. The date of construction seems to have been between during the second phase of building sometime between the years , though one local source claims it was not built until 1815[vii]. As hostilities with both the Americans and the French were ceasing by this date this seems unlikely, though the folk tradition may give an indication of the completion date or the date of its first occupation by a garrison. One would think that the reports received in 1810 and 1811 of further planned invasions of Ireland[viii], and memories of the 1798 French incursion into Mayo, would have hastened plans for its rapid construction, but efforts may have been restricted by the tower s isolation and a lack of available trained labour.

7 These days, a thick ship s rope hangs suspended from the door of the tower high up in the northeastern part of the wall. The door is at least two and a half metres off the ground, though the ground level underneath has changed as decades of visitors have piled stones below in order to reach up to the rope, which now facilitates the ascent into the body of the tower. There is little left of the internal construction. The wood has been used for other purposes or has rotted, the iron rusted in the salt air. Only the remaining bricks of what appears to have been the vaulted cellar, which would also have provided support to the upper rooms, is still visible. This may be carefully climbed to reach the entrance to a stone staircase, built within the walls, which leads up to the roof. The stair was formerly directly accessible from the first-floor casement rooms. On the roof or terreplein lies a massive iron cannon, dismantled in readiness for the removal that never occurred. It is one of only two still in situ on towers in Ireland. The other is to be found on the roof of the Martello tower at Finvarra Point, Co. Clare. These cannon remained unnoticed in the early literature on Irish Martellos. Enoch in his Martello Towers of Ireland (1975) failed entirely to comment on the Ros a Mhíl tower, possibly because he was following records in which the tower was not listed. As was standard, the roof-top cannon on the Ros a Mhíl tower is a 24 pounder of cast iron, weighing 52 cwt [2642 kg][ix].this cannon had a range of about 1000 metres. A rotating oak carriage allowed the gun to be moved through 360 degrees, using a block and tackle hooked onto iron rings built into the parapet wall[x]. The parapet on the narrower north-eastern side is gapped, and several stones lie on the ground beneath. Although the Ros a Mhil tower is the property of the State, there have been claims on it in the past by the owner of the adjoining land. The tower is said to have been damaged in the 1970s when this individual attempted to remove parts of the parapet in order to make use of the stone. It is said locally that the mortar proved too strong, and he relinquished the attempt after having removed only a few of the massive blocks. It is probable that this mortar was of the same recipe which was developed for the British brick-built Martello towers: a mixture of lime, ash and hot tallow, referred to as hot lime mortar, which was known for producing a bond which was phenomenally hard.

8 A block and tackle would have been provided for raising and lowering an external step ladder to the access door at the first floor level. This door, when it existed, was covered with iron sheeting [xi]. Martello towers were built to a standard design, though the size and availability of materials often dictated slight variations to the plan. They all contained a ground level magazine and stores, and living quarters on the first floor. These were built onto a wooden floor which was supported on stone corbels or parts of the cellar vaulting. Wooden dowels were used instead of nails to fix the floor boards, in order to ensure that the soldiers did not inadvertently cause sparks to fly by striking them with the hobnails in their boots. Floorboards were probably treated with quick lime to stop dry rot setting in, as it had been found in earlier towers that air vents built into the walls at ground and first floor level failed to keep the towers sufficiently dry. The use of quick lime on boards had been tested with some success in other towers. Chimneys for cooking and heating were built into the walls of the casement level, which was divided into two rooms with a fireplace in each. The vestiges of these fireplaces may still be seen, now high in the walls, though the iron fittings are long gone and only the brickwork remains. The water supply for the tower was collected in drains on the roof and channelled using a system of lead pipes through recesses in the walls, down to a basement cistern. These channels, which appear to remain in good condition in the Ros a Mhíl tower, are located beside the raised firing-step or platform which runs around the parapet. The latrines were apparently constructed outside the tower. The walls of the tower decrease in circumference from the base to the top and, unusually, straighten some two metres from the top at the terreplein level. Normally, the parapet coping was cut in a fashion that caused it to slope gradually outwards down the walls. This enabled the garrison to aim their muskets more closely at the tower base if enemy infantry should attempt to storm the walls. In addition there is no masonry string course, which is common at this position in most other towers,[xii] and which should have served to direct rainwater away from the walls. The circumference of the walls of the tower is slightly ovoid, as those facing the sea are thicker than those facing in towards the land. This was intended as extra protection against enemy cannon fire. Similar to other towers, the Ros a Mhíl Martello sits on a glacis, a surrounding 3-4 metre wide smooth, sloping, grassed area. It is sited on a slight rise of about eight to ten metres above sea level, and about fifteen metres above the shoreline. The site would not have been chosen randomly. The slight height provided added protection, as cannon fire from an attacking ship would have had to

9 travel in an upward trajectory to reach the tower, and would therefore have lost much of its velocity in the process. Conversely the cannon on the terreplein of the Martello would be firing at a downward angle, and shot from the tower would gain velocity during its trajectory toward an attacking ship.[xiii] A constant complication in the Ros a Mhíl tower must have been the damp Conamara climate. In Conamara rain can occur on more than 250 days of the year and, though more extreme in the mountainous areas, the average rainfall can still vary from between 1000mm and 3000mm per annum. Damp powder, fuses and musket cartridges would have effectively rendered the tower defenceless. To counter this and to preserve gunpowder and munitions in readiness for firing, an attempt was made to keep damp to a minimum through the use of vents in the roof which were designed to channel air down to ventilation alcoves into the magazine and underneath the wooden floor level in the garrison's quarters. No date is given in published works on Martellos, or in local recollections, on when the soldiers removed from the Ros a Mhíl tower, but there are some indications to be gleaned from the 1938 transcripts of oral history in Bailiúcháin na Scol. Soldiers were still reported as occupying the Ros a Mhíl tower in 1866, when it contained 30 men and an officer[xiv]. We are told that after the soldiers left it was maintained by people of the name of Waters, who manned the Coast Guard station two kilometres away in Baile an tsléibhe. The Baile an tsléibhe Coast Guard station seems to have been a late addition to the coastal forces, as it is said to have been built between the years of [xv]. It is known that after the Irish Coastguard Service was established in 1824, the two hundred initial employees of the service were often accommodated in Martello towers or in hulks drawn up onto shorelines, until such time as stations and houses could be built to house them.[xvi] It is probable then that the garrison either relinquished the tower to the Coast Guard, or that they stayed until the Coast Guard Station was completed, at which time the tower would have been handed over for safekeeping. In lieu of more definitive information we can postulate that soldiers are unlikely to have been occupying the tower after 1880, and had most likely left by After taking over its care, the Coast Guard were expected to inspect the Martello each day, and whitewash it once a year. When the Waters family left, possibly in 1922[xvii], the tower began to

10 deteriorate. We are told that local people removed the limestone from the soldiers houses to burn in kilns, in order to produce lime for spreading on the land. Consequently, despite the vigilance of the police, who were ordered to prevent damage to the property, no obvious trace remains today of the houses or of the internal fittings of the tower. The Military In order to understand the affect of the tower on the lives of local inhabitants, it is interesting to speculate on how the soldiers who came to this remote, damp corner of the British Isles managed their lives. What did they make of the isolation: the long hours spent hunched in the wind and rain, staring out to sea in an alien, non-english speaking country, for signs of an imminent attack? Roads to the peripheral areas of Ireland were few until 1817 when, in an attempt to create employment to alleviate poverty which had been exacerbated by severe harvest failures and the post-napoleonic agricultural depression, the government offered loans to support road building projects. In 1822 an Act of Parliament permitted the payment of direct grants from central government funds for road building in western and south-western counties, and as a result, many remote settlements were served by roads for the first time [xviii]. Sixty-three year old Máirtín Ó Conghaile of Indreabhán recalled in 1938 that There was nothing where the High Road (Bóthar an Rí) runs now but an old lane or pathway [xix]. The High Road from Spiddal to Casla Bay was not built until 1839 [xx] as part of the programme of improvements, and until this time the garrison in the Ros a Mhíl tower would have remained isolated in their stone fortress. By land, the tower could only be reached by a series of tracks. These had been in use since at least the early 17 th century for booleying (the buaile or transhumance) and

11 led from Moycullen and Uachtar Árd on the shores of Lough Corrib to grazing lands in Indreabhán, an Tullach, Doire an Fhia and Ros a Mhil. These temporary summer grazings had formed the basis for later permanent settlements around Casla Bay.[xxi] Horses, and perhaps even a sturdy cart, could be used on rough tracks communicating with the city of Galway and further afield, but access for more substantial supplies, by necessity, would have been by sea. It was not until 1848 that the road joining Moycullen to the coast at An Spidéal (Spiddal) and west to An Tullach was improved by the Board of Works, thereby finally joining the Ros a Mhíl area to the network of roads that led into the east and west of the county.[xxii] As we have seen, reports on the Ros a Mhíl tower dating from 1866 indicate that Ros a Mhíl had a complement of 30 men and an officer. Presumably, these men would have guarded the tower in three shifts of ten men per shift each day. The casement rooms in the tower, one of which was for the officer alone and the other for the men, would have provided cramped accommodation. References in Bailiúcháin na Scol indicate that the men were housed behind the tower in purposebuilt cottages made of the same stone as was used for the Martello. It is possible that these included a barracks, which perhaps contained stabling for horses. The same entry mentions the burial of an officer s child in Maoruc cemetery, indicating that the officer, at least, had his wife and family staying with him. In actuality it was not unusual for soldiers to be accompanied by their wives and families to postings during this period. During the American War of 1812 British regiments and army departments posted in Canada found need to regulate the number of soldiers families they were willing to support there. Soldiers were required to gain the permission of their commanding officer before marrying, and give the character of the woman they were to marry; vouching for her honesty, good conduct, and ability to support herself, in case she should prove a burden to the regiment. If a soldier did not get permission, his wife and children could be barred from rations, barracks accommodation, and transportation. In an area of few resources like Ros a Mhíl it would have been hard for a woman with children to survive without the confirmed support of the commanding officer. The question of rations for the families of soldiers appears to have been a difficult issue to administer and was much reviewed by army administrators. Evidence from the British army

12 stationed in Quebec shows that barracks regulations of 1807 permitted a limited four married Women per Troop or Company of 60 men, and six per Troop or Company of 100 men, though in reality this does not appear to have been enforced and was often fixed at the discretion of the resident Barracks Master and Commanding Officer. In 1808 the army allowed the issue of half rations to women and a quarter ration to children. Barracks women were employed to sweep, wash, and cook for the single soldiers, for which they received pay and accommodation, often messing in with the troops and living with them in the barracks itself[xxiii]. We don t know if relationships were established with local women, but we do know that the soldiers must have presented an enticing and colourful picture in their smart uniforms. In the 1930s, one woman at least could still recall the navy-blue trousers with a red stripe running down them, and a cap with a blue peak, and a blue crown that was topped in red [xxiv], though presumably she was a small child when she saw them. A soldier s pay was very little, but there would not have been many calls on his money. He received his board and lodging and would have few opportunities to spend in an isolated posting. To a community who existed largely by barter, the 8d to one shilling a day that the soldier received up to 7 shillings in a week! would have represented wealth and security. A soldier s food, too, was more than a Ros a Mhíl farmer or his daughter - could ever hope to receive. In Canada at the time of the War of 1812 each soldier was being allocated half a kilo of flour, half a kilo of fresh beef or 300g of pork, 43 g of pork fat or 28 g of butter, 200 ml of pease (dried peas), and 35 g of rice per diem. With Army regulation and victualling being highly standardised, there is no reason to think that the ration for the Ros a Mhíl soldier would not have been almost identical. The most one could hope for on the local farm was several potatoes a day, washed down with sheep s milk[xxv]. In Bailiúcháin na Scol we see that in even in 20 th century Ros Cathail on Lough Corrib, a more prosperous area than Ros a Mhíl, flour and meat would still only be seen at Christmas. British soldiers in Quebec were served a breakfast which consisted of bread, milk, soup, tea, or saloop (Salep, a beverage used before tea became affordable or popular), and occasionally butter. In the afternoon the soldiers would sit down to a dinner consisting of soup well thickened with meal, flour, or rice, and with the meat there must be a sufficiency of vegetables. [xxvi]

13 Soldiers could supplement their rations with privately purchased food such as cheese or pork. It is possible, but not likely, that some food supplies for the Ros a Mhíl soldiers were bought locally. Ros a Mhíl did not have sufficient land or resources to supply the burgeoning needs of a garrison especially on the scale given above - but it may have been able to sell items to individual soldiers in order to bolster their rations and the locals income. We know that there was social interaction between the local population and the soldiers garrisoned in the tower. An entry in Bailiúcháin na Scol relates how a dance was held one night in the Battery and that such a great night of entertainment had never been had since[xxvii]. For music, a garrison of soldiers would have almost certainly had a drummer and a fife player in their company. These skills held status: in 1800 a drummer and fife player received one shilling and two pence a day in pay, where a private earned only one shilling[xxviii]. A travelling piper may have been in the vicinity at the time the dance was held. Beartlaí Ó Maoileoin, speaking in the late 1970s, recalls how the people of Ros a Mhíl. would entertain themselves with games and music. In the winter pipers would come to the area and people would gather together in one of the houses for music, dancing, singing and storytelling. A piper would stay in one of the houses for around a fortnight and then move on to another village. [xxix] Locals may also have been taught the steps to new dances by the soldiers, as traditional Irish set dancing evolved in part from the country dances of the British army garrisons stationed in Ireland. Several tunes could also have been held in common, as many tunes now played as Irish traditional music are attested to be known, and to have possibly originated, in the counties of England[xxx]. The Community Contrary to popular traditions of Celtic heritage and continuity, the area around Ros a Mhíl was probably not inhabited on a permanent basis until about the 17 th century. Evidence from the oral tradition supports the premise of late settlement, and follows O Flanagan s argument that In the absence of archival material it can be possible to use local placenames and the lore associated with them, to identify some of the forces and processes which have led to change in the community, and reconstruct their expression in the landscape. [xxxi]

14 There do not appear to be many names of great antiquity in the Ros a Mhíl area, and this may confirm a late settlement date. In Bailiúcháin na Scol two elderly informants from nearby Indreabhán interviewed about The Persecution years or the years of the Penal Laws, say (in translation): I can t tell you anything about what happened around here in those years because I don t think there was anyone living here then. There is no field, rock or hill that has a name dating from those times. [xxxii] Beartlaí Ó Maoileoin, speaking at the end of the 1970s, endorses this, saying: It is said that the first resident arrived and built his house in Ros a Mhíl at the end of the 16 th century. He was known by the name of Ó Chonaire and the remains of the walls of his house in Baile Láir [were still being pointed out up to the 1950s]. However, Beartlaí also says that Ó Chonaire married in to the area, indicating that there were already other inhabitants of the locality. The next families who are said to have arrived were the Flathertys and the Ó Churraoins. They are said to have lived mainly by fishing, supplemented with a little farming in the vicinity of each house. [xxxiii] These early residents appear to have been followed by several poor, (assumedly) landless families, who built shelters and created small fields for themselves. Tim Robinson provides a picturesque description of how they would have created a maze of narrow twisting boreens [the bóithrín or walled track] branching off the wider lanes, linking the loosely clustered settlement to its seaweed-shore and its turbary and (to a very secondary degree) the neighbouring settlements. Under the rundale system. each household had a scattered selection of plots, comprising a little of every sort of land from the best to the worst, and could graze a certain agreed number of cattle, sheep, geese etc., on the commonage, the hinterland of bog and heath. [xxxiv] Fields were fertilised with seaweed ash produced from kelp stalks, gathered and dried over the

15 summer months and then burnt and mixed with the acid bog-earth to produce potatoes and oats. Despite the addition of nutrients, it seems that for a time at least, overuse ruined the good of the land. Beartlaí Ó Maoileoin tells how in folk memory the fields the early settlers had created were said to have only yielded for a couple of years before falling fallow [xxxv]. By the time of the Napoleonic wars a small but strong community would have existed in Ros a Mhíl, formed with kin-based agricultural clusters who developed the land using the meitheal or joint-labour. Beartlaí Ó Maoileoin tells us that It was a time of real community cooperation. When someone built a house or field everyone would come together to assist. The turf and potatoes would be divided amongst the whole community. The houses they built were for the most part located what came to known as Baile Láir on the eastern side of the hill, away from the excesses of the weather that blew in from the more exposed western side where the tower was later located. In a modern study, the Ros a Mhíl area is judged to be almost entirely bereft of fertile soil. What soil exists is described as shallow, poorly drained, infertile, peaty and podzolised or leached.[xxxvi] Ros a Mhíl did not provide an overly favourable environment in which to grow crops, but having established a loosely-connected village the inhabitants of would have followed the patterns of husbandry that were practised on poor land in the country in general. Whelan has written extensively of how by the mid 18 th century the Irish had begun to reject the traditional staples of wheat, barley, oats and rye in favour of the potato, a crop that could be grown abundantly in less favourable soil, and with less labour. Unfortunately, this increased reliance on a single crop left the population vulnerable to crop-failure. Marginal lands easily became overpopulated and overcropped, leading to increased soil degradation and mineral depletion, and exacerbating the population s vulnerability to famine[xxxvii]. Several agricultural disasters of this kind occurred in Galway County in the years following the Act of Union, when plans were first being drawn up for the construction of the defence towers. In 1801 a severe drought had caused starvation and scurvy among the poor. Records show that there was again great distress in the county in 1807, just previous to the building of the Ros

16 a Mhíl tower, when a severe frost in November continued late into the year. Half of the potato crop was lost through lack of growth. In 1816, shortly after the completion of the tower, the year began with a drought. This was followed by a very wet autumn and a partial failure of the potato crop. Half of the crop in the county was destroyed and famine conditions ensued in In parts of Galway County there was a typhus epidemic, some evictions, rot in the potato clamps and a total failure of the oat crop. This was not a new phenomenon. Famine had been endemic in the area throughout the previous century. By 1841 the Census of Ireland Commissioners had recorded twenty-four potato crop failures of varying severity dating back to By the time the Martello towers were being built in Co. Clare and Galway, many peasant farmers in County Galway had already died of hunger or emigrated to America. In view of this, it would seem that the opportunities that were represented by the arrival of the engineers and army in Ros a Mhíl would have been a godsend to impoverished farmers. While we have only slight evidence for the conditions in which the of the people of Ros a Mhíl itself were living in and around the years , we have ample commentaries on conditions in the surrounding area over various points throughout the century, which help us to form a picture of their lives. As these almost uniformly describe the misery of the landless peasants lives, even into the 20 th century, we can presume that conditions in Baile Láir and Tóin a Chnoic, Ros a Mhíl in the early 19 th century were at least comparable and, given the crop potential of the rough surrounding landscape, certainly no better. As Ní Bhrádaigh and Murray have pointed out in a review of the emergence of entrepreneurial activity in the area, economic life would have been one of self-sufficiency in terms of food and clothing. Subsistence would be supplemented with attempts to identify and maintain income from multiple sources typically from farming, inshore fishing, turf cutting, and the husbandry of one or two animals and some poultry per household [xxxviii]. Fish are found relatively close to the shore in Casla and Galway Bays[xxxix] and during periods of calm weather short fishing forays are possible using the currach (a type of skin or tarred-canvas canoe). Interestingly, oral history tells us that the families in Tóin a Chnoic, at the bottom of the Ros a Mhíl peninsula, appear to have been less affected during the years of famine than others in Conamara. Beartlaí Ó Maoleoin records that their potatoes survived when others withered, and they were lucky enough with their fishing to be able to supplement their meal with fish every day. Famine plagued the families of Tóin a Chnoic in other ways however. Starving stragglers would come to the peninsula and steal sheep, potatoes and oats from the smallholdings there. The locals were badly affected, as farming was their only way of surviving and despite their healthy crops, fields were small and the people had little enough to share amongst themselves[xl]. The Devon Commission, surveying County Galway in 1845, found that over fifty per cent of families in the county lived in mud cabins with only one room. Another nearly forty per cent lived in cottages built of mud, though with two to four rooms with some windows. Farm buildings along the coast were found to be insufficient to deal even with the meagre amount of tillage that was being practised. The greater number of homesteads or farms in the county

17 averaged between 1-5 acres ( hectares) of very mixed land, and even in more prosperous areas tillage was primitive. Shovels were generally made of wood, edged round and pointed with iron. Grain was threshed using a flail, and the common plough in general use in the county was of a design incapable of performing efficient work[xli]. In Ros a Mhíl it was unlikely that even these crude implements were in use, the land being too rough and rocky to benefit from ploughing or shovelling. Until recently in the area the ground was still being dug and turned using a loáí, a narrow spade-like instrument whose slender design had the ability to cut down between the ever-present stones in the rough ground. Fields were small and laid out in ridges or lazybeds sods of turf cut and turned inwards, often enclosing seaweed as a fertiliser. The abundant Ascophyllum and laminaria seaweeds were used to feed the sour pastures and potato plots. The lack of roads and the crude access tracks did not affect the Ros a Mhíl farmer unduly. Carts were too expensive for these subsistence farmers. The creel or basket was the common means of transporting a substantial weight of goods. This could be easily tied to the back of a horse or donkey or more often to the back of a man or woman. The ever present surrounding bog gave summer pasturage and, since the land was devoid of trees, provided the fuel. During the 19 th century, turf on bogs in the coastal areas was cut to such a degree that in many places the ground cover was stripped back to the underlying esker and granite. Much turf was transported across the bay by húicéirí, to be sold into Aran, Galway and the Burren. The limestone obtained in part-payment or barter was used as ballast for the return journey to Conamara, and afterwards burned in lime kilns to produce the lime used as fertiliser on the acid-rich Conamara fields. In 1822, after his appointment as engineer for improving the Western District of Ireland, Nimmo describes the inhabitants of nearby Cill Chiarán Bay: [They] are principally employed in making kelp and preparing turf for sale in Galway and the county of Clare, where on the limestone land this article is scarce and dear; some limestone is returned as ballast, and the trade thus formed occupies a great many boats, which on a favourable appearance of herrings are all employed in the fishery The transport of goods or people is therefore entirely done by water.

18 Because the local climate is strongly influenced by the Atlantic oceanic processes, the weather is relatively mild. Grass grows in this region throughout the year, though more slowly during the winter months, and animals do not need to be housed or their diets supplemented.[xlii] For this reason, haymaking was not normally practised. Dutton observed in 1824 that Cattle of all kinds remain out all the winter and very rarely taste hay, for it is a scarce article in Connemara.[xliii] The breeds of animals used by the coastal farmers were therefore hardy and likely to be in need of little attention. We have no direct descriptions of the animals kept by farmers in Ros a Mhíl, but references to those kept in adjoining areas are common in Bailiúcháin na Scol. Most homes would possess a cow and a pig. Some might have been fortunate enough to possess a horse or at least a donkey. The breed of horses belonging to farmers and cottiers in Galway County was generally described as poor, large, heavy and ill-shaped. Donkeys were common on holdings up to three acres, and persisted as a common means of farm transport in the South Conamara districts right into the late 1980s. Sheep were kept more for their wool and milk than their meat. Inland areas of the county at the time were keeping the Connaught or Galway breed, a coarse-wool crossbreed which had been bred in Ireland from the late 17 th century onwards. These were attested by Dutton when he travelled in Galway gathering material for his Statistical and Agricultural Survey of the County of Galway, published in However, in Conamara then, as now, it is more likely that the common coastal and mountain breed was the Blackfaced Lanark. The Lanark was another cross-breed, originally from Scotland as the name suggests, which had been known in Ireland since at least the 17 th century. Its fleece was shorter and rougher than the Galway sheep, but it had the advantage of surviving well on poor and mountainous land. If the farmers owned a cow, it was most probably a Moiled, one of the original native breeds common in the south and west of the country, which produced high quality beef and milk even on poor grazing. These animals consumed and digested large quantities of poorer quality forage, apparently happy to browse even on willow, ash, or ivy[xliv]. In addition to their own cows, farmers would have been familiar with the arrival of cattle from the mountain and lake-side areas during the annual buaile of the cattle down to the sea shore, a practise which was used to avoid the onset of an undefined disease to which these mountain cattle were prone, referred to as the cripple [xlv], which probably indicated an iodine deficiency.

19 Houses were seldom without their pig, as travellers to the country in the early years of the 19 th century were wont to observe[xlvi]. The Connaught pig was the prevalent breed in County Galway. These pigs ate potatoes - raw and boiled - and could live comfortably where other pigs would starve. They were said to be capable of scrambling over walls, and of running up mountains like a goat. The Connaught was described as being a long, tall and unusually spare animal; with a singularly sharp physiognomy, and remarkably keen eyes. His race is still preferred by the peasantry; for he will 'feed upon anything' - even the thin herbage of the common; and the 'rearing' costs neither trouble nor expense.. [But] as it is the pig that 'pays the rent' [it] is seldom or never bought up for home consumption. [xlvii]. Synge has pointed out that the pig (the sale of which, as stated above, was often relied on to bring in the rent-money) was dependent on the potato, so that a bad potato season meant a dearth of food for the pig, and additional pressure on the household income. It would seem, then, that the coastal fisherman-farmer did not distress himself with overwork. Their animals were almost self-sufficient, their horticulture simple and in absence of disease - effectively productive for undemanding needs. Yet long hours were required for the cutting, gathering and stacking of turf to produce the continual fire that was needed in the hearth, and for the gathering of the kelp which could provide a source of income. Synge notes that Complaints are often heard about the idleness of the natives of Connemara; yet at the present time one sees numbers of the people drying and arranging their [sea]weed until nightfall, and the bays where the weed is found are filled with boats at four or five o'clock in the morning, when the tide is favourable. Kelp was sold for use in the linen industry, and at least a limited proficiency in English is likely to have been needed by a representative of the community if trade were to be conducted in that commodity. Christopher Anderson observed of the Irish in 1818, that English [was] the language of barter, or worldly occupations; taken up solely at the market, laid aside when he returns home, a very confined vocabulary. [xlviii] The natives of Ros a Mhíl, and most of the population of Conamara in 1810, communicated in Irish Gaelic. This created a separation between the population and the administration and governance of the county. Their lives ran in parallel to national events and governance in the English language. It has been calculated that in 1911, 100 years after the Martello tower was built, the majority of Irish speakers in Conamara were monoglots and did not speak English[xlix]. Indeed, this continued to be true of some older people in the area until at least the late 1980s.

20 At the time of the building of the Martello therefore, it is unlikely that more than one or two local individuals would have been able to communicate freely with the soldiers. It is possible however that at least one person in the community would have had some fluency in English, perhaps gained when conducting trade, and possibly learned at school. While education for Catholic Ireland had been suppressed under the Penal Laws, the people did not necessarily go without schooling. Socalled hedge schools flourished, often taught by scholars who followed a peripatetic route around the county giving a few day s instruction to students every few weeks. We are told that they taught reading, writing, mathematics, religious instruction, and occasionally Latin and Irish[l]. Since it is not specifically mentioned on the list of subjects learned we are led to believe that the instruction was in English, though this may not have been the case with all teachers. Although we have no record of a hedge school in Ros a Mhíl, we do know that there were schools in the nearby areas of Na Mine, Coill Rua, An Spidéal (Spiddal), Ros Muc, Cill Bhreacáin, Ros Cíde, Camas and Muiceanach.[li] Several of these places were close enough to have accepted determined scholars from the Ros a Mhíl peninsula. Perhaps because of the cost involved, or possibly because education would lead to potential work or trading opportunities, it appears that twice as many boys as girls were sent for education[lii]. If a member of the Ros a Mhíl community acted as emissary to the soldiers, or to kelp-ash buyers and city merchants, therefore, it was most likely to have been a male from the community who, through aptitude, curiosity or necessity had polished his skills in the English language. Economics Food, purchase and barter Conamara, like many places in Ireland, did not establish a cash economy until well into the 20 th Century. Transactions were conducted using credit and barter. Quoting an example from 1892, Taidhg Ó Curraidhín relates how shops in Cois Fharraige, the Conamara coastal area, did not charge interest on money that was paid back within six months, and that debts could be cleared with eggs and turf.[liii] A shopkeeper therefore held a particularly powerful position, and debt was the norm rather than the exception.[liv]