Tarbert

Aerial view of Tarbert and Tarbert House

This aerial photograph shows MacGreevy's house(last house on left of photograph) and Tarbert House and woodland on top left. The photograph captures the village and hinterland which feature in MacGreevy's poems. The stone building in the bottom left is the Tarbert Bridewell now converted into a Museum which includes artefacts relating to MacGreevy.

Aerial view of Tarbert and Tarbert House

Aerial view of Tarbert and Tarbert House

This aerial photograph shows MacGreevy's house(last house on left of photograph) and Tarbert House and woodland on top left. The photograph captures the village and hinterland which feature in MacGreevy's poems. The stone building in the bottom left is the Tarbert Bridewell now converted into a Museum which includes artefacts relating to MacGreevy.

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Aerial view of Tarbert House And woods

Tarbert Houseis the home of the Leslie family since the early 18th century and close to MacGreevy's family home.Both the Leslie estate and the back garden of the MacGreevy house end at the Shannon estuary.

Aerial view of Tarbert House And woods

Aerial view of Tarbert House And woods

Tarbert Houseis the home of the Leslie family since the early 18th century and close to MacGreevy's family home.Both the Leslie estate and the back garden of the MacGreevy house end at the Shannon estuary.

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Although he was to spend much of his life away from his home-town, the Tarbert of his childhood left a benign and indelible mark. Many of his poems were to testify to that. His friend and fellow writer Dr. Bryan MacMahon observed that "his scholarship was most certainly of Paris.....but his smile was indubitably Kerry and seemed illuminated by the sunset of Shannon outside his Tarbert home".

Tarbert itself is described 'as a small town on the north coast of Kerry in the parish of Kilnaughtin'. It was a prosperous town during the 19th and early part of the 20th century but the railways affected its main source of revenue - the importation and shipment of goods through Tarbert Island.

Thomas MacCreevy would have been familiar with this topographical description of Tarbert in the late 19th century.

 

"The bay of Tarbert extending between the town and an island of the same name, is capable of affording a safe and commodious roadstead for vessels of the largest class, and is much frequented by H.M.'s ships and yachts. Tarbert island is connected by means of a causeway to the mainland; it has an area of 50 acres and a population of 200. On the island is Tarbert Rock lighthouse, a tower, and Massey's redoubt. Many regiments undergo their annual training here during the summer months. The land is in general good, and there is a considerable portion of bog; stone and flag quarries. The shores of the bay, and the small river flowing into it, are prettily wooded, and the vicinity is embellished with several handsome seats, most of which command fine views of the Shannon and the opposite coast of Clare. The seigniory of Tarbert, including the island, was granted by James I to Patrick Crosbie, on condition of his keeping on the lands several Irish families brought hither from King's Co., which condition was fulfilled by him and the subsequent proprietors; at the revolution, the seigniory was granted to the family of Leslie"