Georgina Chatterton was born Henrietta Georgina Marcia Lascelles, the only child of the Rev Lascelles Iremonger. On her second marriage, she followed the example of her husband and converted to Catholicism. She was a prolific writer, catering mostly for the growing tourist market, which may explain her detached and matter of fact style of reporting. Here again (see Margaret Dickson report on observing a funeral at Quin Abbey) we get a very good description of the attire adopted by the locals in Quin for a solemn occasion.
“On Monday we came here, making a detour to visit the ruins of Quin Abbey. It stands in a green plain near the clear river. The cloisters resemble those of Askeaton, and are in as good preservation; indeed the whole building, except the roof, is entire. Most of the chimney-pieces remain; and a peasant woman, who came up to speak to me as I was examining an old monument, said that her grandmother remembered when it was all perfect. I looked on these cloisters with great interest, as the place where the monk who composed those beautiful lines to Lady O’Brien, was wont to meditate and pray.
While we were in the abbey, the funeral procession a young girl entered the ruined building, and, as is always the case in Ireland, several groups dispersed themselves in various directions, each to weep over the grave of their own friends. . .
Photo of the O’Halloran family, from nearby Bodyke following their eviction, shows the typical male and female attire of the period.
And a beautiful and strange scene it was to see this crowd – the men in their sober attire, and the women in the brilliant coloured dresses they wear in this part of the country, scattered over the green sward before the venerable ruins of the old abbey. Not one bonnet was there: all the women wore either their own dark hair dressed in the simple Grecian fashion, or the head covered with a sort of white linen veil, or bright coloured handkerchief, or the hood of the red or blue cloak, which forms an invariable part of their costume.”
Georgina Chatterton finishes her report on Quin with the following very interesting observation (presumable spotted over the door of Crowe’s, the boot-maker, who lived opposite The Monk’s Well):
“At a cottage, in the village of Quin, we were amused at seeing the following sign over the door.
‘Here lives a man who don’t refuse
To make or mend both boots and shoes;
His leather’s good, his work is quick,
His profits small- so can’t give tick.’. . .”
This visitor report provides yet another small insight into the way the people of Quin lived in bygone days. We are lucky that the abbey was such an attraction to tourist and antiquarian alike, leaving records that may not in available to such extent in other areas of the county.
The Kavanagh family, photographed following their eviction in Kilkenny, also shows the attire typical of the period reported on by Ms Chatterton.
