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From Ardfield to Santiago de Compostella/Finisterre

A journey in pilgrim footsteps of over 1000 years

by

Traolach Ó Donnabháinin

The Parish Centre, Clonakilty

on Thursday 28th February at 8pm

 

 

Pilgrims from West Cork have been travelling to Santiago de Compostella since the 10th century AD, either by ship to La Corunna, or on foot across England, France and Spain to Santiago, braving attacks by bandits and wolves along the way.

 

Traolach Ó Donnabháin had been intrigued by this tradition for some time and between 2007 and 2011, sometimes alone, sometimes with colleagues, he undertook the Camino Frances/Camino de Santiago, from Le Puy-en-Velay in France to Santiago de Compostella, and onwards to Finisterre on the west coast of Spain, having initially walked from St James Well in Ardfield to Cork Airport – a total distance of 2,000km. His reasons for undertaking the Camino were twofold: to experience, at first hand, this spiritual and historical tradition and secondly to undergo the physical challenge of 500km sections of continuous walking, carrying one’s worldly possessions on one’s back!

 

An important step in commemorating this tradition of pilgrimage between Ardfield and Santiago de Compostella was taken in 2009, when Traolach purchased a locally carved, wooden statue of Naomh Séamus/Santiago/St James, in Santiago de Compostela, which was later positioned in a specially constructed grotto at St James’ Well. In this lecture, Traolach will give an account of his experiences on the Camino.

Documentary: Historic Coastal Village of Timoleague

As part of Heritage Week 2022, Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage visited the historic coastal village of Timoleague which is situated at the mouth of the Argideen river estuary.  To take us back over the centuries our guides are Diarmuid Kingston and Michael O’Mahony.

Documentary: Three Local Stories

Produced as part of Heritage Week 2021, this documentary tells three stories. The first part is the history of Lisselane Estate and in particular two of its owners – the infamous landlord William Bence Jones and in more modern times, C. O. Stanley. The second section concentrates on Kilgarriffe old cemetery and some of the many important individuals and families interred there over the last three hundred years or so. The final section of the video highlights Ring Village and the nearby Ballintemple Graveyard, detailing the importance of Ring as a port and the 800-year history of the cemetery wherein lay the remains of Tadhg an Asna among other notable names.