A beautifully-carved stone plaque attached to the wall of a single-room extension built onto the south-west end of the early 18th century St Colman’s church in Farahy, County Cork. As Charles Smith noted in his survey of the county (published 1750) this little structure served as ‘an English Protestant school, with an acre of land set apart by virtue of the statute for the education of poor children in the Protestant religion.’ Perhaps because of its diminutive size, the school does not seem to have lasted long: by the time Nicholas Carlisle produced the Topographical Dictionary of Ireland in 1810 there was no mention of it in the entry on Farahy. One longs to know why Mrs Elizabeth Bridges of the City of London had chosen to endow such an establishment in this part of Ireland in 1721. Farahy today is best-known as the parish beside which stood Bowen’s Court, ancestral home of Elizabeth Bowen which was sadly demolished soon after she sold the estate in 1959.
Dear Robert, This is so, so charming, I had to respond! “Feed my Lambs”, so simple, so poignant and who was she? We’ll never know. Margo has started her clinical drug trial in Boston this week and will be spending the next few months there with Ashton, not in sunny Palm Beach, but they are coming to Litchfield for Christmas and we hope to have a happy but quiet celebration of the season here. John and I will be in Palm Beach for most of the winter, but I will travel back and forth to Boston to visit Margo. She is in excellent spirits and enjoying the cultural opportunities of a great city. They are going to the Sargent Drawings at the MFA today. It’s on until early January and has been well reviewed. If you have any plans to be in Boston, do let us know and we can have a mini reunion. Sending love and thanks for your marvelous blog. I LOVE it… Marion xxx
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Beautiful. I wish your friend well.