IRELAND’S WHISKEY inheritance
UISCE BEATHA: THE WATER OF LIFE
Ireland lays claim to the earliest documented mention of
whisky. In 1405, the Annals of Clonmacnoise reported the death of a local clan
chief, Richard Magrannell, after supping on the water of life, his death
preceding an internal fire into the pit of his stomach. The water of life ironically
became the water of death for this chief.
The arrival of the “e” in whiskey which separates it
from its Scottish neighbours, was very much a late addition to the process and
was added to mark clearly the difference between the two Celtic products. The
two spirits are produced in very different ways, and it is Ireland’s more
refined distilling process that brought a Scotsman to their shores to distil
one of Ireland’s most famous whiskies!
Kilbeggan – Ireland’s Oldest Distillery and the
Ghost of a Monk
Whiskey had to be regulated, which means it could only
be officially distilled by licence. In 1608, King James I granted a licence to
Sir Thomas Phillips, who owned property and land in County Antrim -Bushmills to
be precise! This does give Bushmills the claim to fame of being the oldest
surviving grant of licence distillery anywhere in the world. They cannot
however, lay claim to being the oldest working distillery, as they did not
register to trade until the late eighteenth century.
The honour instead, goes to the Kilbeggan Distillery in
County Westmeath, which is also home to the oldest working pot still in the
world, at more than 250 years old. In 1757, Matthew McManus began the
distillation of the whiskey with his family for almost 100 years before it
passed to John Locke.
During his tenure, a vital piece of equipment was
damaged, projecting a halt to the production of Kilbeggan whiskey. John Locke
put out the word in what could be described as an early ‘Go Fund Me’ move,
which saw the people of the town of Kilbeggan make donations that enabled the
broken part to be replaced and production to be continued.
This wasn’t the only time the townsfolk got together to
protect the distillery – In 1878, a fire broke out and barrels of whiskey were
set ablaze. The community once again came to the rescue, breaking down
warehouse doors, going up against fire and smoke to rescue the ageing barrels
of whiskey, rolling them down the street to safety. While many did go up in flame,
the swift actions of the locals saved distillery once again!
Kilbeggan itself is haunted by at least two former
residents. The first is the apparition of a monk, believed to be a part of the
Cistercian order that had an Abbey founded very close to the distillery,
dissolved in the mid 16th century. Murmuring, whispering and unexplained noises
are also rife throughout the distillery.
The other is the spirit of founder Matthew McManus, who
is seen walking through the distillery, no doubt checking the process is
running as smoothly as the whiskey itself. Unfortunate circumstances would
hamper the McManus link with the distillery. Matthias’s son, John McManus, the
then manager of the distillery, was also a member of the United Irishmen who
rose in rebellion against English rule and was executed in Mullingar for his
part in the local uprising.
For some time now, locals and staff have told of close
encounters and strange noises around the grounds. But all that was just
hearsay, until the Irish distillery became so well known for its spooky
reputation that it attracted the attention of the legitimate ‘psychic’ Derek Acorah.
He said previous owners of the distillery continue to roam the grounds,
including Matthew McManus, his son John and a lady descendant of the Locke
family.
The Scottish
Freemason Who Created Irish Whiskey
To the dismay of many an Irishman, the fine Jameson
whiskey was actually created by a Scotsman! John Jameson was a Scot who married into the Haig
distillery family. On arrival in Dublin in 1774, he immediately started
networking and joined the Freemason chapter Convivial 202 in the capital city.
A few years later, ‘The Liberator,’ Daniel O’Connell would join his own Dublin
Freemason’s chapter and become pivotal in the demise of the Irish whiskey
industry. In 1780, John Jameson obtained existing distillery premises on the
legendary Bow Street site, already home to several distilleries and began the
famous Jameson whiskey legacy. Four of his sons continued in the whiskey
industry, with one continuing to run Bow Street and the others opening rival
distilleries. One such son, Andrew, moved to County Wexford and while his own
distillery didn’t achieve much, he went on to be the grandfather of Italian
aristocrat and inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi.
An American Slavery
Abolitionist, An Emancipator and a Priest
In the 1830s, a priest called Father Theobald Mathew
started the Cork Total Abstinence Society. Solicitor and politician, Daniel
O’Connell took the pledge and heightened awareness and status of the movement.
O’Connell was invited as a guest speaker in Cork, with his new friend, black
slave and advocate of the abolition of slavery, Frederick Douglass. Inspired by
Father Mathew, Douglass also took the pledge and befriended the priest.
Frederick had already whipped up a frenzy travelling
and speaking around Ireland so once again the strength of Rev Theobald Mathew’s
cause was at an all time high. The friendship between the two men was
short-lived however, as Rev Mathew visited America, only to slight Douglass by
refusing to return the favour at an abolitionist rally.
The damage was done and the demise of the Irish whiskey
industry had begun. A solicitor had raised the bar for Irish whiskey distilling
and another solicitor brought it down. The Temperance Movement peak was swiftly
followed by the Irish Great Hunger – no grain meant no whiskey. Following on
there was an ongoing battle for independence in Ireland, harsh tax levies, two
world wars and the introduction of Prohibition and The Great Depression,
plunging the Irish whiskey industry into a decline of epic proportions.
THE CURSE AND
HAUNTING OF DUNDRUM HOUSE
The Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary is where the veil between worlds is at the thinnest
in all of Ireland. Just a few miles away is Dundrum House, with a bloodied and
chequered past, that remains very much in the present – the veil lifted and the
ghostly remains of curses, insanity and haunting stepping firmly through.
Dundrum House And The
Maude Family History
The area around
Dundrum was owned by the O’Dwyers of Kilnamanagh. During Cromwellian
occupation, Phillip O’Dwyer captured Cashel with his followers in 1641 which
led to more retaliation across Munster. After a number of battles Phillip
O’Dwyer of Dundrum was sentenced to death. He cheated the gallows however, by
dying before he could be executed. His lands were taken from his kin and given
to the Maude family.
The first Maude
to gain the lands at Dundrum was Sir Anthony Maude, said to be a drummer in
Cromwell’s army, although the title suggests a much higher rank. Anthony Maude
was made High Sheriff of Tipperary and was succeeded by his only son Robert,
who was made Baron of Dundrum and Dundrum House Estate was built in 1730. He in
turn left the the estate to his eldest son, Sir Thomas Maude, who was born in
1727, and died at the age of 50. His final years were hell on Earth…
Thomas Maude maintained
a life of nobility grandeur with little time for the normal things in life. So
much so, he never married, not even to create an heir. Such was his holding
over the area he even had his own private waiting room at Dundrum station. His
wife was power and control was his mistress, stopping at nothing to retain his
hold over Tipperary as High Sheriff and to keep the common man down. The worse
his deeds, the greater his rewards. In 1768 he became a member of the Privy
Council of Ireland, who held executive power. In 1776 he was granted the
Baronetcy of Hawarden, with the title of Baron de Montalt, which meant little
to the man who was by this stage, almost completely insane.
Thomas Maude
died on 17 May 1777, unmarried and with no heirs, so the property passed
to his younger brother Cornwallis, and thereafter to his son. The family home
in County Tipperary remained until 1909 when it was sold to a religious order. Quite unsurprisingly, the Maude family spent very little time in their Irish home,
preferring the less controversial surroundings of their English estate.
The last Maude
to reside in Dundrum House was Lady Clementina Maude, Viscountess Hawarden, by
marriage. She was a recognised photographer in her own right until her unexpected
death in 1864, with works continuing to sell under auction and shown in the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Many of her photographs were of her young
daughters, taken in Dundrum House. She cleared rooms on the first floor and
created various “theatrical sets” posing her daughters and other subjects in
various “scenes.” Remarks by critics were chastising. “Hawarden’s pictures
raise significant issues of gender, motherhood, and sexuality,” said Carol
Mavor.
Could it be the
curse of Dundrum House and the lingering shade of Thomas Maude were creeping
into the very essence of Clementina, touching her with a confusion and darkness
of her own? Interestingly, it would appear that the children continue to run
around the first floor, full of frivolity in their roles as models for the
Victorian photographer.
DUNDRUM HOUSE AFTER THE
MAUDE DYNASTY
After the Maudes left, in 1909 Dundrum House was
acquired by a religious order of nuns, who later established a school which had
a strict ethos and was known as an industrial school, although it carried the
more delicate title of Domestic College. More than one nun was allegedly
removed from faculty for harsh treatment of students, tormenting and hurting them
so much that many needed therapy as a result.
It then became a hotel owned by the Crowe family. Those
who visited the hotel noticed the stained glass windows in the cocktail bar. A
room of prayer became a location for late nights and spirits of the noon
ethereal variety. While the golf resort and restaurant flourish, Dundrum House
itself has been closed to the living for several years.
FATHER NICHOLAS SHEEHY
Father Nicholas Sheehy was a local priest who was very
outspoken against Penal Laws and what was known as the Tithes. These were
extortionate taxes taken from the Catholic community and paid to the Protestant
Church. What happened to him was in essence, judicial murder at the bloody hands
of Thomas Maude.
Nicholas Sheehy was ordained in 1750 where he remained
in the parishes surrounding Dundrum. An advocate of the Catholic Community who
were being left destitute and marginalised by the Penal Laws which saw Catholic
tenants evicted from their homes and common farmland by Anglo-Irish landlords, he
spoke for the poor and the tithes taken under duress and used to bankroll the
Protestant Church. Nicholas became more active in the cause and covered legal
costs for those arrested for rioting and in particular, for the members of the
group known as The Whiteboys. These were a fraternity with sects across the
country.
Non denominatory, their aim was to cause civil unrest
and claim back the lands taken from the locals. The Whiteboys would destroy
fencing and walls to open communal lands back up, however as their notoriety
grew, so did their level of violence and fearfulness.
Father Nicholas was a thorn in the side of the local
landlords and Protestant Church, not only for his assistance and voice for The
Whiteboys, but also his connections with France and Rome. Afraid that those
with connections would bring in reinforcements and change the balance of power,
they decided Father Sheehy had to go.
TRIALS AND EXECUTION
The Tipperary priest was subjected to three trials in
total, in a bid to remove him from his position in the community and weaken the
local cause. The first trial in Dublin found him not guilty. Straight away, Sheehy
was accused of being complicit in the murder of a man called John Bridge, which
rapidly turned into a charge of High Treason. The trial would once again take
place in Dublin, where he was once again acquitted.
Thomas Maude was outraged. As High Sheriff, he plotted
with the Rector of Clogheen and local landlords to bring Nicholas Sheehy down
once and for all. In a carefully orchestrated plan, created in the Drawing Room
of his home, Maude got the trial transferred to Clonmel, rigged the jury and
had witnesses commit perjury on the stand, including Moll, a local prostitute
who claimed to have witnessed the murder.
The judge sentenced Father Nicholas Sheehy to be
hanged, drawn and quartered. Sheehy’s attorney on hearing the sentence of death
turned to the jurors and said, “If there is any justice in heaven you will die
roaring”. Nicholas Sheehy said in his final speech, after he was sentenced to
death, that he was being put to death for a crime which had never been
committed. John Bridge, the man, said to have been murdered, was seen in Cork
after the date of the alleged murder, whereupon he emigrated, oblivious to his
role in the murder of a priest.
Sheehy delivered an eloquent and well-reasoned protest
against “the shameful injustice, the gross perjury, and the deadly malice of
which we are the victims,” and concluded by declaring: “I leave it to God to
distinguish between the innocent and the guilty.”He was executed and his cousin Buck Sheehy, who appeared as a witness,
was hanged two months later, along with two others in front of their families
for the same murder.
Father Sheehy was very much respected as a local
healer. It was said he healed the sick using secret herbal cures, much like the
accused witch Biddy Early of County Clare which is fairly ironic as the
Catholic Church were responsible for her demise. To this day Father Sheehy is
regarded as a martyr. People visited his grave at Shanrahan cemetery to take
the clay that encased him, because it was said to have healing powers. The
priest was at peace and revered, his innocence never in doubt. The same cannot
be said of Thomas Maude and those complicit in his heinous crime. Father Sheehy
wasn’t entirely forgiving, and a curse was put on Maude, that he would go
insane, slowly being dragged to hell by the wronged priest and as a lunatic, he
would grow a tail so he could never sit down. In additions, the other
participants would die unnatural and unholy deaths as a punishment for the
parts they played.
Whether the priest, his legal counsel, his sister or
The Whiteboys invoked a curse, there is no doubt one was cast, as all those
responsible began to fall one by one…John Bagwell, became senile, incapable of
speech and rational thought, sensing the headless Sheehy at his elbow. William
Bagnell shot himself, while Mathew Jacob died from a violent epileptic fit.
William Barker dropped dead on the street and Shaw choked to death. Ferris, a
draper of Clonmel, went completely insane. John Dunville was kicked to death by
his horse and Alexander Hoops drowned in a stream after a manic episode. Minchin,
died a destitute beggar, ridden with disease. Osborn Tothall of Clonmel, cut
his own throat, his family prevented from burying him in the graveyard by
locals. Jonathan Willington died in agony on the toilet. Witness for the
prosecution Moll Dunlea, a prostitute, fell down into a cellar and cracked her
skull. Other prosecution witnesses died in agony of various diseases including
leprosy. After Father Sheey’s beheading, loyal parishioners dipped their hands
in his blood and used it to make the sign of the cross on the door of the
Protestant Church House. The hangman Darby Brahan was some time later stoned to
death by an outraged crowd in county Kilkenny.
Thomas Maude himself slowly spiralled into madness over
ten years, as predicted and his staff said he did indeed, produce a tail. He
was convinced Sheehy was pulling him slowly into the flames of Hades and
eventually died in his bedroom, alone. It was said that once in his coffin and
loaded onto the hearse, the horses refused to move their evil load. His corpse
was instead said to have been bricked up in a closet in his chamber, his coffin
filled with stones. A tad exaggerated perhaps, as no skeleton was ever
recovered, but his room was indeed sealed off…
BIRD OMENS AND DUNDRUM
HOUSE
When Father Sheehy was sent for execution at the hand
of Thomas Maude of Dundrum House, part of the curse was that no bird would fly
over Dundrum until Maude was dead. It is also said that for all the time the
severed head of Father Sheehy remained on a spike outside Clonmel Gaol, no bird
would go near it, while other heads were picked apart by crows and ravens. Crows
and Ravens have long been emblematic of death, made all the more foreboding by
their predisposition to feed on carrion, the decaying flesh of animals, as well
as their black plumage. These birds were purported to be chaperones, guiding
the souls of the departed into the next world as well as conduits between this
world and the spirit plain.
The belief has continued over the centuries that when a
single raven or crow has appeared at a house, tapping on the window, a death
within was looming. Thrushes flying in the window and settling and white owls
seen during the day are also signs of impending doom.
GHOSTS OF DUNDRUM HOUSE
Thomas Maude’s ghost is said to sit on a tree in the
estate, watching, beady eyed, a maniacal, crazed expression on his face. Moll
Dunlea, the prostitute who was bribed to bear false witness against Father
Sheehy remains forever tied to the Estate. She lingers on the road bridge over
the river adjacent to Dundrum House, hence its name Black Bridge. She she is
said to revisit over and over again, unable to change the fate she made for
herself.
One wonders if the darkness and madness that seep into
the stonework affected the nuns within, a battle of good versus evil. Did this
impact the behaviour of the women who treated the children in their care with
cruelty and brutality?
Once Dundrum House became a hotel, accounts of
supernatural experiences became rife. Thomas Maude’s room had to be unblocked,
and a worker felt he was enveloped in an icy chill and did not feel himself
thereafter, to this day believing something not of this world was released.
A guest was checking out of the main old building of
Dundrum House and told the receptionist she felt sorry for the woman who had
the children running up and down the hall all night long. The female guest had
been the only person staying in the main house. The daughters of Clementina
Maude perhaps?
Another guest had telephoned his girlfriend in terror
begging her to come and get him. Apparently no calls he made from his room
would go through to reception and the hotel room door just would not open. His
girlfriend called the hotel, who entered the room to find the man huddled in a
corner, crying and shaking.
A fire broke out in the hotel kitchen a few years ago,
forcing the closure of the hotel building, however this did not stop the activity.
Richard, the manager of Dundrum House, was escorting a few people from Head
Office around the property. While doing so, he playfully pressed on the ring
for service button by the fireplace in the drawing room, four times – a futile
gesture, as the power was disconnected throughout the house. When they reached
the reception, they all distinctly heard four rings in sequence from the
drawing room, too terrified to turn around and see who, or what required their
assistance
The restaurant and self catering premises as well as
the golf course remain successful, yet staff will not enter the main house
itself out of fear. The Irish Paranormal Investigations team decided to
investigate Dundrum House over a few visits, determined to find out why.
A couple of hours in and it was turning out to be one
of the creepiest locations ever investigated. Temperature drops, moaning,
footsteps, doors banging, and this was just the beginning! As Thomas Maude
lived out his final days here descending into madness, cursed by a priest he
had executed, damned to hell – it’s not surprising there was more to come.
The drawing room was full of activity – Thomas Maude
seemed to be present and not pleased to have the subject of Father Sheehy
raised under his roof, particularly as this was the place his horrors had
begun. Despite knowing the layout of the three connecting ground floor rooms
well, it took the team three attempts to get out, each time unnerving them
further, as if Maude was trying to show how he felt descending into madness.
Suddenly, the spell was broken and they could leave, a weight lifting from their
shoulders and the air around them. The picture of Dundrum was a big trigger for
activity too, the speaking of the name itself drawing a reaction on multiple
occasions.
.jpg)
