School: Baile an Chaisleáin
- Location:
- Castletownshend, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Seán Ó Donnabháin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0298, Page 207
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- (continued from previous page)to know its origin but Admiral Somerville believed it had no historical significance, that it was probably placed there for ornament by some one of the Townshends before the wood grew. At present it is hidden from view by a wilderness of scrub briars, and saplings or succers from cut down trees.
The Castletownshend Wood opposite Leacha Riabhác extends from the village for over half a mile along the water's edge, and the two wooded hills sloping down to the sheltered creek present a very beautiful prospect with the rugged hills of Fórnocht (anglicised Forenaught) in the background. On a height over the wood is erected a crude arch known as PÉICÍN NELSON. The hill itself, the highest in the Castletownshend demesne was a famous landmark for fishermen approaching the harbour. The PÉICÍN was evidently the original name of the hill.
The rustic arch was errected by a body of British Sailors who entered the harbour after the Battle of Trafalgar, but it was thrown down one night during the Anglo Irish war. When I came to this parish in 1923 the Péicín was strewn with stones from the Nelson monument, some of them were thrown down the side of an adjoining precipice. In 1924 Colonel Somerville asked a number of local men to give their services freely for the re-erection of the monument and the arch again stands reproduced from a photograph of the original. Most people think it is not as high.
There are two lakes in the wood. The larger called "Lake Bean Uasal" in the Ordinance Survay map is scarcely deserving of the name "lake" as it is gradually filling with rushes, the(continues on next page)
