Walking History Tour

On Tuesday November 2nd, our Transition Year history class had the privilege of being taken on a walking history tour of Kinsale. A tour guide named Barry Moloney met us outside the school alongside Ms. Hay to see us off and our history teachers Ms. Fleming and Mr. Wilson toured the town with us. Our first stop was St. Multose Church, the oldest standing structure in Kinsale. Barry told us about the construction of the church briefly and then talked to us about, our personal favourite story, the victims of “The Lusitania Tragedy.”  

Two newlywed lovers were honeymooning on the Lusitania, when it was suddenly struck by a German torpedo. Within twenty minutes the whole ship had sunk, along with Mr and Mrs Shineman's dreams for their future. Margaret Shineman was found and buried in St. Multose, but her husband's body was not recovered. Several weeks later, Margaret’s husband James’s body was found and buried in County Clare. He was identified by a pocket watch found on his body that was inscribed by Margaret: “To James, love Margaret.” Officials were able to find the location of where the pocket watch was made, Wyoming, and there they were able to trace it back to Margaret. They were identified as husband and wife, but sadly, to this day, are resting 200 miles apart. 

We also learned about Anne Bonny, the female pirate who disguised herself as a man to survive life on the Caribbean Sea’s and Patrick Cotter O’Brien, The Giant of Kinsale who stood at 8 feet 3 inches tall. We stopped at the museum, which was originally the courthouse, but unfortunately the museum is still closed due to covid. Lastly, we learnt about The Battle of Kinsale a fight between the Spanish, Irish and English. 

The information we absorbed on this trip will be put into a short film being made about Kinsale. Jessie and I are doing a small project on The Kinsale Giant to be used in the documentary. The walking tour was an interesting and heart-warming experience, and an amazing opportunity for us to get fully immersed in our project and the history of our local town. We are so grateful for the opportunities put forward to us as Transition Year students in KCS. 

By Cerys Morris Coughlan and Jessie Moloney (TY)