Lissadell House

I went along on Tuesday (2/4/2019) to one of Dublin City Council's lunchtime lectures in City Hall. The subject was Constance Markievicz (née Gore-Booth), a lady who is having a bit of a revival in recent years, due to the Decade of Centenaries no doubt.

My impression of her over the years had been of a posh lady playing at soldiers. I think this came from the many representations of her in uniform and the scurrilous account of her trial, spread around by her enemies.

In more recent times she has emerged as a more complex and worthy person. So I was interested to hear Constance Cassidy's version.

I have to confess I also had an ulterior motive. My cousin's cousin Blondie had told me that my grand-uncle, Councillor PJ Medlar, had requested that his coffin have a glass panel in the lid in honour of Markievicz who apparently had such. However, much I have tried, including quizzing persons eminent in the field, I have not so far been able to confirm the Markievicz end of the story. Perhaps Constance Cassidy could throw some light on it.

We had a delayed start due to some computer compatibility issues, not an unknown phenomenon in this sector. No matter, we were meanwhile royally entertained by our Chairman, Lord Mayor Nial Ring, who recounted with great glee how he had many times tortured good King Billy, whose representation dominates the mayoral chain of office. He even brought him to meet the Pope. I'm sure that had more than Ian Paisley Snr turning in their grave.

Constance and her husband, Edward Walsh, bought Lissadell House, then a bit of a ruin, in 2003 and have since done a magnificent job on the restoration of not just the house but other important elements of the estate including the gardens.

This has not been without controversy. When they bought the estate, the couple shut down a number of rights of way, which they had been assured were extinct. This did not please some locals and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court which broadly found in the couple's favour. The case was distressing and must have added considerably to the stress of the restoration.

The couple's aim is "to transform the estate into a flagship for tourism in Sligo and the North West", Checking out the website suggests that they are well on the way to achieving this.

Constance gave us a rundown on the life of her namesake after whom she was christened. This was along known lines but with the added intimacy of the connection with Lissadell House and references to the many resources, including from private collections, on display there.

Constance did a great job selling the project, the importance of which in a national historical context has not been fully appreciated so far.

She also gave full credit to her sister Pamela who has been doing the heavy lifting on the historical end of the project.

Despite the late start and the imminence of the Sligo train (at 3pm!) time was made for a short Q&A.

Needless to say, I jumped straight in with my coffin question.

No, they were not aware of this claim and would look into it as far as possible.

So I'm awaiting the outcome with bated breath. Given that I likely have an article on PJ Medlar coming up in the next issue of the Dublin Historical Record, I'd better get to work on it at my own end too.

While I have never (not yet?) been to Lissadell, I do have some connections with the county. I lived briefly on the Lake Isle of Innisfree and I have great-grandparents from Sligo.