Cork, Cobh and Blarney Castle

Sliney’s the name…

It’s been a busy few days and I’m looking forward to catching you up on our adventures in Cork, Cobh and Blarney Castle, including the answer to the all important question - did we or didn’t we swap spit with millions of other tourists at Blarney Castle?!!

Cork has a special relevance in my family. My paternal great-grandparents Michael Sliney (1870) and Mary Ellen Dynan (1874) were both born in County Cork. They met and married in Massachusetts. Let me tell you, there was a lot of teasing related to my last name when I was younger. I was called Slimey Sliney and Smiley Sliney, and always had to spell it several times when telling someone my name. Even here in Ireland, when asked my ancestor’s surnames I’ve heard, “That’s unusual, maybe it’s related to the river Slaney”. When we decided to come to Cork, I started looking for Sliney’s in the area and found this website that relates how this name came about.

https://www.aletterfromireland.com/like-read-irish-knights-tale/

We had a delicious meal at the Grill Room at The River Club including the best Old-Fashioned I’ve ever had (sorry Larry K, but your concoction is a close 2nd!). It might have been the Irish whiskey, but the honeycomb they put in it certainly had something to do with it.

We had a great time in Cork wandering through the shopping district and visiting the English Market (one of the oldest covered markets in Europe circa 1788).

We stayed at the Montenotte hotel where we found evidence of a U2 sighting (alas, it was in 1980!)

We had a drink at the hotel’s Glasshouse bar and captured the same background as Bono’s picture.

But we didn’t find any evidence of my great-grandparents in Cork, so we headed to the Heritage Center in Cobh to do some research with a geneologist’s assistance. We discovered that Michael Joseph was from Castlelyons, County Cork, and immigrated to the US via a ship that left Cobh in the early 1890’s (Cobh was also the last port of call of the Titanic before it’s fateful transatlantic voyage). We decided to continue our sleuthing in Castlelyons, but took in a few of the Cobh landmarks before leaving town.

“Deck of Cards” houses & St. Coleman’s Cathedral

In Castlelyons, we visited the cemetery, but no Sliney’s to be found there either. In fact, you really couldn’t read most of the headstone, but it was a grand adventure, none-the-less!

Now to Blarney Castle! Yes we did, and here’s the proof…

Now that I’ve acquired the “Gift of Gab”, there will be more eloquence to come!