THE GAP OF DUNLOE The story of The Gap of Dunloe captured in book form

The history of The Gap of Dunloe area is best told in Mary Coghlan’s excellently researched book ‘Echoes of Dunloe’.

Published in 2019, it traces the history of The Gap of Dunloe from its people, geology, mythology and legends.

Mary spent her working life as a teacher in Macroom but returned to her childhood home while recovering from a serious illness and that is when she decided to write the first comprehensive book on the area. Her family are steeped in the history and tradition of The Gap area; her great-greatgrandfather built Kate Kearney’s Cottage and her nephew Sean Coffey now runs the famous tourist tavern.

The book runs at over 300 pages; it tells the story of the region from when the mountains in the area were first formed right up to the modern day.

The red sandstone in the area is said to be over 360 million years old – making the MacGillicuddy’s Reeks older than the Alps!

The famous gap in the rocks was formed 20,000 years ago and there is evidence that the first farmers fished in the area some 6,000 years ago.

Nearly 900 years ago the first castle – a timber-framed building - was built in 1206, before a stone castle was built in 1215.

However, the castle was razed during the Desmond Rebellion of 1568 to 1573 and 1579 to 1583 and all that remains are three walls – still visible today on the grounds of the Dunloe Castle Hotel and Gardens.

The Liebherr family, owners of the container crane factory in nearby Fossa, bought the castle in 1960 and built a five-star hotel on its grounds.

Britain’s Oliver Cromwell confiscated lands in the area in 1652.

By 1800, the first attempts at building a road through The Gap had begun.

Donal Moore Moriarty built, in 1849, what is today known as Kate Kearney’s Cottage.

The first motor cars to cross The Gap road did so in 1901. British racing driver Charles Jarrott and two of his racing friends, Harvey Du Cros and Roger Fuller took part in the Irish Automobile Club’s 1901 Tour of Ireland.

They said that Moll’s Gap did not present enough of a challenge and went in search of something more exciting.

While staying in Killarney they decided to have a crack at The Gap of Dunloe road and despite a number of incidents along the way, including driving through a lake, Du Cros’s Panhard’s radiator overheating and a local using a stone to scrawl his name in the expensive paintwork of the same car, they made it to the top alive.

There is a plaque on the south-facing gable of Kate Kearney’s Cottage commemorating the brave motorists’ historic achievements. Ironically, the area was both one of the first and last to get electricity in Ireland.

The rural electrification scheme ran from 1948 to 1965 and homes close to Kate Kearney’s were connected to the national grid by 1956.

However, residents deeper into the Black Valley had to wait until 1978 to get electricity – the last part of Ireland to get electrified. The book costs €25 with all proceeds going to the Cork-based Marymount Hospice. It is available locally in O’Connor’s Newsagents, Beech Road, The Dungeon Bookshop, College Street and Kate Kearney’s Cottage, Gap of Dunloe.

Alternatively, it is available directly from Mary (plus post and packaging) by emailing: mccoghlan@hotmail.com.