Exploring Kinsale Ireland – Part II

It was a beautiful day in Kinsale.  Following a very nice lunch, we just wandered around this old historic seaside village…

The temperance movement waxed and waned in Ireland over the years, with the Victorian style Kinsale Temperance Hall being constructed in 1885.  Today, this building is owned by the residents of Kinsale and it serves as a community space for various events, ranging from dancing, to a drumming circle, Tae Kwan Do sessions, craft fairs, etc., as well as District Court Service.  The cost of using this venue is listed as 10E/$12.00 U.S. per hour…

 This is the Kinsale Methodist Church.  This Gothic revival structure was completed in 1873.  It’s the third Methodist Church in the town.  It’s in the center of town and it replaced 2 earlier Methodist Churches that were located at Compass Hill at the ‘top of the town’.

Methodism was introduced to Kinsale in 1748 by Charles Wesley, the younger brother of the founder of Methodism, John Wesley.  John first arrived in County Cork (where Kinsale is located) in 1749.  He was advised not to stop in Cork due to the “Anti-Methodist” riots.  He continued to visit the area over the years, with his final trip to Country Cork in 1789 at the age of 84.   Today, there are only about 50,000 Methodists in Ireland…

Kinsale’s colorful and attractive town center is a popular place to stroll, explore, shop, drink and dine… Second only to the waterfront, this is a great place to wander and people watch.

The building at the far left with that “Tudor look” is the Lord Kingsale Bar and Guesthouse. (Kingsale is the medieval English spelling of Kinsale) The Kingsale has been serving ale in town for about 250 years!  To learn more, including a look at the Kingsale’s menu, go to www.lordkingsale.com/home.

While the first building on the left is a real estate/rental office, the second building (blue) is home to a rare type of specialty store, especially here in the USA.  It’s “hAttitude”, a millinery operated by Celeste McCoy.  For the younger set who might be reading, a millinery is a women’s hat shop.  Check it out at http://www.hattitude.ie/index.html.  The building between The Lord Kingsale and “hAttitude” is Angel’s Secrets Beauty Salon.  See: http://www.kinsaleangelssecrets.com/.

This large yellow building with blue signs is right across the square from the buildings/businesses in the previous photo.  This is Jim Edwards Gastropub…offering a restaurant, bar, as well as rooms.  Room rates are pretty reasonable at 50 – 60E off season and 60 – 80E in season…or a high of $72.00 US off season to $96.00 US in season.  For photos and more information, go to http://www.jimedwardskinsale.com/.

If you continued on up the street in the previous photo, you’d be wandering up this narrow thoroughfare…probably the way most streets were in Kinsale 150 years or so ago…

There is commerce up this narrow street too, including accommodation, a bar and shops.  The blue building on the right houses Studio One, a retailer that specializes in picture framing, digital printing and which carries a wide range of art supplies. (http://www.studio1kinsale.com/)

Right next door is Coughlan’s Armada Bar/Bed and Breakfast.  This colorful bar serves food and they have 5 guest rooms available as well. (http://www.armadabar.ie/index.htm) The next building down on the same side of the street is an Aunty Nellie’s Sweet Shop…with an amazing selection of candy for those with a sweet tooth. (http://www.auntynellies.ie/)

We finally spotted a larger grocery store!  Outside of Dublin, it was the only ‘large’ store that we noted on our trip.  Centra is a convenience store chain that operates throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.  The chain is run by Musgrave, an Irish food wholesaler, but the stores are all owned by individual franchisees.  Centra operates in 3 different formats, quick stop types, mid-size food markets and larger supermarkets.  I’m guessing that this one is mid-size. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centra)

It was very nice to visit a small town in both Scotland and Ireland that weren’t dominated and ‘ruined’ by the likes of Wal-Mart!

I love the look of this colorful small town post office!  It fit right into the complete picture that is the town of Kinsale…

An Post or “The Post” as literally translated into English, is the government owned postal service in Ireland.  With about 10,000 employees, An Post is one of Ireland’s largest employers despite considerable downsizing.  Amazingly, in contrast with the US Postal Service, in 2014, all part of An Post managed to make a profit as recently as 2014.

I 'had' to take one more photo of Kinsale’s harbor, this one from the upper portion right against the town center.

We could have spent at least 2 more full days in Kinsale.  First of all, it is a lovely town with lots of shopping, bars and fine dining.  In addition to walking tours and the harbor cruise, there a number of historical attractions:

·         As I mentioned in a previous posting, 17^th century star-shaped Charles Fort is the best-known historical attraction.  It’s open all year and regular guided tours are available.

 

·         The Church of St. John the Baptist is a Catholic Church that was built in 1839.

·         Desmond Castle is a tower house that was built in 1500 to serve as a Customs House.  In 1641 it was converted into a naval prison.  In 1747, 54 of its prisoners were killed in a fire.  In 1791 it became the local jail and it later was used as a workhouse during the Irish Famine.  It is open for tours and it also houses a wine museum…

·         The ruins of James Fort are directly across the harbor mouth from Charles Fort.  This fort was completed in 1607.

·         The Old Head Signal Tower was built in 1805 in response to the threat of invasion by Napoleon.  It has been restored and is open to the public as a Lusitania Museum.  That museum exhibits artifacts recovered from the wreck of the ship.  The Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine of Old Head at Kinsale in May of 1915.  A total of 1,198 civilians lost their lives… 

·         The Kinsale Garden of Remembrance is dedicated to the memory of Father Mychal Judge, Chaplain in the New York Fire Department, and to the 343 brave firefighters who so courageously lost their lives in New York City on September 11, 2001.

·         St. Multose Church was built in 1190…and it’s been in continuous use ever since.  It was in this church that Prince Rupert proclaimed Charles II as King of England after hearing that King Charles I had been executed by Cromwell in London.  Several victims of the Lusitania sinking are buried in the church’s graveyard.

Due to our time constraints we had to confine ourselves to the town center…and there was still plenty to look at. 

The Perryville House is a boutique hotel located right in the center of Kinsale overlooking the harbor.  It was built in 1810 by Captain Adam Warren Perry for his family.  They continued to live here until the 1950s.  It is now a very well rated guest house/small hotel.  The photos on their website will give you a ‘feel’ of this place… Another hint is that they state that the hotel is ‘not suitable for children under the age of 13’.  Website: http://www.perryvillehouse.com/. 

This was a popular place to take a break.  This scene is outside of the Greyhound Pub on Kinsale’s Market Square…where we did indeed stop and ‘have a pint’!  The sign on the front of the building states, “Estbl. in 1690”!  They are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GreyhoundAndMarketBar/.

…another store front that caught my eye!  That black on yellow really gets your attention… The Kinsale Bookshop is a family owned business that is open 7 days a week.  Bookshops like this are as rare as hen’s teeth in the USA and my wife and I miss them!  I guess that not enough of us felt the same way… The website for the Kinsale Bookshop is at http://kinsalebookshop.com/.

…and one last historic building in Kinsale!  The Market House, later Court House Kinsale, was built ca. 1600.  Trading took place under the arches on the ground floor.  Later, as a courthouse, it’s where an inquest was held into the sinking of the Lusitania.  The building now serves as the Kinsale Regional Museum.  Website: http://homepage.eircom.net/~kinsalemuseum/.

The unique Dutch style resulted from the changed state of Ireland following the Battle of the Boyne.  FYI…The Battle of the Boyne in 1690 was between the forces of King James II of England and those of Dutch Prince William of Orange, who with his wife Mary II, had acceded to the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1688.  William won…hence that Dutch architecture! 

That’s all for now.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for the tour!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave