Lost Guide-Book Found
 

 

​Bundoran’s lost guide-book has been found and the author and its guide, The Very  Reverend T.C. Connolly, takes the ready reader on an epic, picturesque journey through the trinity of towns–Bundoran, Ballyshannon, Belleek and beyond.

 

As a native son of Bundoran with family in the three towns—I recently rediscovered Rev. T.C. Connolly’s guide-book, Bundoran and its Neighbourhood, 1895.

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My hope when I found this lost guide-book of Bundoran was that it would return to the people of Bundoran. To stay true to my word, the guide-book is offered here—free and accessible to all. 

 

​​​​​However, I cannot help but feel that the reason I have found this guide-book is because I was “standing on the shoulders of giants”—or to reimagine the phrase as Gaelige:

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"ina sheasamh ar ghuaillí na bhfathach"​

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In that respect, I dedicate finding this guide-book to three of those giants—to the local historians that have guided and inspired me: the late Bundoran historian Fr. Paddy Gallagher, Ballyshannon historian Anthony Begley, and Belleek historian Joe O’Loughlin.​

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​​​​Their fascinating history books about the trinity of towns—Bundoran, Ballyshannon and Belleek—have been a source of inspiration to me and cultivate my love and passion for poetically telling the stories of history.

 

Although I write these lines from the Gulf Coast of Texas, I was originally born and raised overlooking the Donegal coastline—in the great ring-fort townland of Rathmore between Bundoran and Ballyshannon.

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Many would know me locally as Eddie Keenaghan, the son of Bundoran native, and former architect, John Keenaghan, and artist, Jacqueline Keenaghan—who are now both practicing counsellors. My brother is Sean Keenaghan and my sister is Danielle Rapson nee Keenaghan.

 

I started looking for Connolly’s guide-book after the passing of one of my family giants—my mighty grandad Dan Keenaghan in 2007. ​Around the time of my grandad's passing—I was at a crossroads in my life, and I experienced an epiphany while ironically running past the crossroads in Rathmore.

 

I had been suffering with recurring knee and back injuries throughout my teenage years playing football. These injuries impacted my once promising football career, which ended after a couple of professional trials in England and France and a spell with Finn Harps F.C.

 

As I ran past Rathmore’s crossroads—I began to wonder what path should I take?

 

Although it was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, I left the dream of football—my idealistic boyhood ghost right there at the crossroads, and refocused on feeling comfortable in my newfound skin exploring my creative side—reading philosophy, writing poetry, researching genealogy and studying history. 

 

Football was in the blood—a Keenaghan tradition that stemmed back several generations—Pauric, John and Daniel Keenaghan in Bundoran; Sean, Danny and 'Big' Jack Keenaghan in Ballyshannon; and James, Eddie 'Cute', and Jack Keenaghan in Belleek.

 

Years later, I was all the more determined to find the guide-book after the passing of another family giant—my lovely granny and godmother, Mary Keenaghan in 2021.​

 

The Keenaghan Family is one of the old native families that remain in Bundoran with a recorded history back to the 1700’s.​ I felt compelled to find this lost guide-book—not just on behalf of my own family—but on behalf of all Bundoran families—old and new. 

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Although the Keenaghan ancestral homestead is Rathmore, my grandparents, Dan and Mary lived and ran St. Patrick's House, which was a Full-Board, Boarding House, with a shop D. Keenaghan & Sons and later a B&B in East End, Bundoran. They raised their six children Mary, Pauric, Anne, John, Daniel and Celia in Bundoran before returning in their later years to enjoy the lush meadow fruits of Rathmore. 

 

I first found this guide-book with the kind help and assistance of another Keenaghan, my first cousin, Joanne Keenaghan, a Dublin based architect. Joanne is the daughter of Bundoran native, my father’s older brother, Pauric Keenaghan, retired Local Authority Planner at Leitrim County Council, and Patricia Keenaghan.

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This guide-book is a transatlantic find—after years of searching and researching, I found a copy in the National Library of Ireland after scrolling through and examining over 500 individual manuscripts and luck struck when I found a copy through some university connections in a private collection in the U.S.

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I thank the National Library of Ireland, University of Houston, University of St. Thomas, St. Edward's University and University of Texas for their research facilities and I am extremely grateful for all their help.

 

With the guide-book in hand—I finally felt that I fulfilled that heavenly promise to my grandad and granny by finding this lost guide-book of my homeland.​​​

 

Connolly’s Bundoran and its Neighborhood encompasses the essence of its title page as “a guide and descriptive handbook to Bundoran and the surrounding district of the Northwest, including Enniskillen, Sligo, Donegal &c. Illustrated”.

 

Connolly was a native of Kinlough Parish, and thanks to biographical information provided to me by one of my mentors, Ballyshannon native and Donegal historian Anthony Begley:

 

Fr. Terence Connolly was “Baptised 5 March 1864 of Daniel Connolly and Margaret Clancy, Buckode, Kinlough; Maynooth Ordained 21 June 1891; C.C. Castletara 1891, Drug 1892, Drumlease 1895, Drumkeerin 1901, Manorhamilton 1904, Belturbet 1907, Ballintemple 1909, after which he went to the USA”.

 

Although Connolly emigrated to the U.S., he still has family members from some of the old native families that still live in the local community such as Connolly, Clancy, McGowan and Meehan—all his descendants.

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One example is Cormac Meehan of Sean Meehan & Co, which is "one of the leading independent and longest established Estate Agency and Chartered Surveyors firms in North West Ireland."

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​Cormac's grandfather, Joseph Meehan and his grandmother Margaret Meehan (nee McGowan) "had a hotel and bar in the West End called "The Gaelic". 

 

Through my research, I realized that Cormac's grandmother, Margaret was, in fact, the niece of The Very Rev. T.C. Connolly.

 

According to Cormac, she was "from Darty. It is the area on the road out of Kinlough that leads to Rossinver and skirts Lough Melvin. Her family were known as the "Cormac Dan's", to distinguish them from the many other McGowan families that were in the area. For example, Brian McGowan of BMG Hardware's family were known as the "Barney Hugh Barney's. His grandparents and mine would have been cousins".

 

An interesting parallel between this old travel guide-book by Connolly and the business success of Meehan's Travel Agency is the association to travel and how it re-channels itself through successive generations in different ways such as the great-great nephew of T.C. Connolly—Cormac Meehan and his esteemed family.

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These family connections bring the guide-book even more alive for the community especially since it has been lost to time.

 

The guide-book was out of print in 1961 as stated by Fr. Gallagher in his book, Where Erne and Drowes Meet the Sea. Fr. Gallagher claimed that Connolly’s book is “the best of the local guide-books”.

 

After reading the guide-book, Fr. Gallagher’s claim is true—it is indeed the best local guide-book from the nineteenth century. It offers the reader a treasure trove of poetic descriptions of Bundoran, Ballyshannon, Belleek and beyond.​

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It is the first and original guide-book of Bundoran and its neighbourhood that historically promotes the North West of Ireland as a tourist destination—a unique work of travel literature.

 

The guide-book's chapters stretch from the western shores of the Erne estuary to the eastern castellated edges of Enniskillen Castle, from the southern slopes of the Dartry Mountains to the northern keep of Donegal Castle. Through the whole journey—every adventuring chapter "represents one day's tour from Bundoran".

 

Bundoran and its Neighbourhood transforms into a mighty metaphor, a symbol of solace—representing how local communities in smaller neighbourhoods of Bundoran, Ballyshannon and Belleek are connected to the wider neighbourhoods of Sligo, Donegal, and Enniskillen and how that North West neighbourhood is ultimately united to the larger island-neighbourhood of Ireland.

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My sincere hope is that when readers read the guide-book—they will respectfully travel to these revered places that Connolly wrote about on their own journey and to stand where he stood—letting T.C. Connolly be their guide—through Bundoran and its Neighbourhood.​​

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Go n-éirí an bóthar leat,

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Éamon Ó Caoineachán (Eddie Keenaghan)

July 11th, 2024​​​​​​​​

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