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Did You Know?
Eileen
Aroon
In the 1640's, Sir Morgan Kavanagh's daughter, Eleanor Kavanagh,
eloped with her lover, Cormac O'Daly. Such at least, is the
legend, which gave rise to the song Eleanor (or Eileen) Aroon,
better known in Scotland as Robin Adair, after a later proponent
of the tune. Its fame even reached France, where Francois Boieldieu
used it in the final act of his masterpiece, the opera La Dame
Blanche in 1825. |
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Mrs Cecil Francis Alexander
Francis Alexander began writing verse in her childhood and by
the 1840s she was already known as a prolific writer of hymns
with over 400 coming from her busy pen. She wrote many narrative
poems and Tennyson the poet said he would have been proud to
have written her poem "The Burial of Moses". All the
profits from the publications of her hymns were given to help
an institution for Irish mutes.
Her book, Hymns for Little Children reached its 69th edition
before the close of the nineteenth century and some of her hymns,
e.g. All Things Bright and Beautiful, There is a Green Hill
Far Away and the Christmas carol, Once in Royal David's City,
are known by many millions of Christians the world over, as
is her translation of Saint Patrick's Breastplate.
Her
son
married Eva Kavanagh a daughter of Arthur Kavanagh, and she
donated an organ to the Chapel on the grounds. This organ
is still in use today. In fact it is often presumed that she
may well have written All Things Bright and Beautiful during
one of her many stays at Borris as some of the verses describe
Borris exactly.
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| Tallest
Broadleaf Tree in Ireland |
| Borris
is home to many beautiful trees but has one champion among champions
with the tallest Broadleaf tree in Ireland. This tree is an
American Poplar and is quite unremarkable to look at but is
situated down by the Barrow Line majestically overlooking the
peaceful river. |
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| The
Ladies of Llangollen |
In
the 1700's Thomas Kavanagh married Lady Susan Butler, daughter
of the 16th Earl of Ormond and in 1778, the Kavanaghs took charge
of Susan's sister, Lady Eleanor Butler, after she had made what
would have been considered at the time a scandalous attempt
to elope with Sarah Ponsonby. After three weeks of confinement,
she managed to escape and walked 12 miles southwest to Woodstock,
the Ponsonby family home in Instigoe, Co Kilkenny. Sarah hid
Eleanor in her room until Lady Eleanor's father, Lord Ormonde,
conceded defeat and the pair were allowed to go to Wales, via
Waterford, in pursuit of the Gothic Pastoral Ideal.
They spent the next 50 year living together in what may, or
may not, have been a lesbian relationship. Certainly, they never
spent a night apart again and died within two years of each
other. They became objects of curiosity, visited in their home,
PlasNewydd, by the Duke of Wellington, Sir Walter Scott, William
Wilberforce and William Wordsworth, who wrote a poem in their
honour, and they were known as "the Ladies of Llangollen"
after the local village. A contemporary account described what
they did to their originally modest cottage ornee as 'fantastical,
rather than tasteful, and shows more of the eccentricity than
of sentiment. |
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