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From: "Tot" <>
Subject: Re: McCarthy of Blarney
Date: Sat, 24 May 2003 04:32:16 +0100
References: <1ac.1536819d.2bfefc98@aol.com>


Hello Marie,
I know nothing of your family, but this may be of
interest to you. Blarney is a very tiny village, and having been there many
times to visit the castle and kiss the Blarney stone, I have read some notes
on the Mc Carthy family. They were the family that owned Blarney Castle and
were the local Chieftains. The castle stands on the sight of an older Wooden
fortress that was in the hands of the Mc Carthy's. In 1066 when the Norman's
conquered England they built Norman Square shaped castle all over the place.
However it was some years before the Norman's tuned their eye to Ireland,
but when they did there were mighty battles for the land of the local Kings
and Chieftains. In the end the Norman's won building the Norman castle you
see today on the sight at Blarney. and Ireland sadly became British.
However most of the Irish Chieftains Stayed on as overlords under British
rule in their own territory, and the Mc Carthy's were no exception. It was
in many cases a way of fighting the British rule from within. This situation
went on for hundreds of years and during the rule of Elizabeth the first,
the Mc Carthy's were still in residence at Blarney Castle but I'm not sure
without looking it up, which Mc Carthy it was, it may well have been Cormac
Mc Carthy. He lead Elizabeth such a dance whenever she gave him instructions
in matters of state, by doing as little as possible to go along with her
wishes while at the same time using his clever non committal words in
letters to her that he drove her mad. It is said that someone in England
once tried to pull the wool over her eye's and she retorted "You are talking
a lot of Blarney" making her the first to coin the phrase. The Mc Carthy's
of Blarney over the years financed the building of many Abbey's both inside
and out of their own domain. Now it is not for me to say if you may be
related to these Mc Carthy's, But Blarney today is only a very small village
as I said, and the question begs asking, "How many families of that name
would live there"???

I hope this has put some light on your research and doesn't side track you
in any way, but thought you may like to know the history.
Kind Regards Terry O'Connor

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