School: Gortloney (roll number 11978)
- Location:
- Gortloney, Co. Meath
- Teacher: Eoghan de Buitléir
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0716, Page 248
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- (continued from previous page)Co. Wicklow in January, 1839. On January 7th he wrote a letter from the village of Rathdrum to Thomas A. Larcom of the Royal Engineers residing at the headquarters of the Survey in Dublin. As the account of the storm is a vivid one and O'Donovan was a close observer, his letter, which is preserved among the Ordinance Survey Papers in Dublin, is worth quoting here. A hundred years ago Co. Wicklow had few good roads, and O'Donovan's letter shows that a good part of the journey over the bleak mountains had to be made on foot. The letter proceeds as follows:-
Rathdrum,
January 7, 1839.Dear Sir,We left Baltinglass on Friday and travelled by car to Blessington, expecting to get a car there to Glendalough, but the hotelkeeper would not send a car thither at the usual price per mile.............On the next morning, which promised to become a fine hard day, we set out for Glendalough, on foot, across the mountains thinking nothing of the distance which is only sixteen miles around the road. We came on in a very good humour for seven miles...............but when we reached the side of what(continues on next page)
