Letter from Dermot MacIntyre

A letter from Dermot MacIntyre to Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. referring to the history of the former Stewart-Bam residence in Ards. An extract from the letter reads: 'In regard to Ards and Ards House, I have just found an old notebook of my father’s. He used to jot down bits and pieces on anything to hand and in this old notebook he has an entry dated, Friday, December 30, 1910. He writes: "Was at a dance in Ards House last night given by Sir Pieter Bam. Charlie Coll and I played for them. Bam c

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Item
Date
17 Oct. 1986
Reference
16
Extent and medium
9 pp; Typescript
Scope and content
A letter from Dermot MacIntyre to Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. referring to the history of the former Stewart-Bam residence in Ards. An extract from the letter reads: 'In regard to Ards and Ards House, I have just found an old notebook of my father’s. He used to jot down bits and pieces on anything to hand and in this old notebook he has an entry dated, Friday, December 30, 1910. He writes: "Was at a dance in Ards House last night given by Sir Pieter Bam. Charlie Coll and I played for them. Bam came in about 9 o’clock. I did not like it all but would rather be in the poorest thatch house in Doe, with the Gaelic sounding round me, than in the midst of it all. Bam does his best to unbend, but it is plainly an effort and he seems to know himself that it won’t be successful. His wife is outrageously proud. She sat all the time like an incarnate goddess and noticed no one. Such pride is a sin against Heaven. You would think the ordinary people were less than dogs to her. Her sister is not one whit better"'. Further extracts from his father’s journal refer to the landlord’s relationships with the workers and tenants on the Ards estate, to the histories of various local churches, to a Feis at Doe Castle in 1910, and to the building of the Lough Swilly railway in Donegal.
Repository
Irish Capuchin Archives
Context
Irish Capuchin Archives > Papers of Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary, County Donegal > Historical Research

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Full Transcript (OCR, 9 pages)

Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.

Page 1

Dear Father, (David) I'm just writing to you about a few random thoughts that occurred to me after reading your letter. First, the cut stones from the front of the tunnel are lying across the road from the entrance, covered in grass. Many a time I had thought of taking them away because there's nothing surer than they're stealing, or being smashed by a lorry going off the road. However, it would take a digger to lift them and they would need to be handled carefully. It would be a charity if someone was to put them away for safe keeping, particularly now that something may be done about the tunnel. As for the history of the tunnel, I'm afraid there would be no written history as to its origin. However, my great grandfather worked on the new line and, according to my father, he often spoke about why the road and tunnel were being built. I shall endeavour to investigate further and if I come up with something more concrete, I will send it on and you can pass it on to Leslie Lucas. In regard to Ards and Ards House, I have just found an old notebook of my father's. He used jot down bits and pieces on anything to hand and in this notebook he has an entry dated, Friday December 30, 1910. He writes: "Was at a dance in Ards House last night given by Sir Pieter Bam. Charlie Coll and I played for them. Bam came in about 9 o'clock.

Page 2

2. I did not like it at all but would rather be in the poorest thatch house in Doe, with the Gaelic sounding round me, than in the midst of it all. Bam does his best to unbend, but it is plainly an effort and he seems to know himself that it won't be successful. His wife is outrageously proud. She sat there all the time like an incarnate goddess and noticed no one. Such pride is a sin against Heaven. You would think the ordinary people were less than dogs to her. Her sister is not one whit better. Saw one of the Townshends of Dublin there too. He is a tall lanky fellow, a lieutenant or something in the Navy". My father often played the violin at the balls in Ards House and Marble Hill House when the latter was occupied by Hugh Law, M.P., and there he met and became lifelong friends of G.K. Chesterton, George Russell (A.E.), Percy French, Frank Cousins, and all the artists and literati of the time. While he does not say it in the above excerpt, the dance must have been for workers and tenants which would explain why Sir Pieter needed to "unbend" and his wife noticing no one. His haughty hosts did not meet much with his approval! However, it is does create a picture of the dance and the attitude of the Bams. My father also wrote a poem about the coming of the Railway and in the same notebook he jotted down verses. The poem has been lost and only little snippets were extant but and it was a great surprise to me to find a lot of it here. The verses are not in order and obviously he was making changes in the text as he went along.

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