I was able to see, though indistinctly, the Cathedral, where Strongbow, Ireland’s first English master, lies buried. This arch-enemy of Ireland is surely well buried as he has also a tomb in Dublin. Strongbow married the daughter of Dermot McMurragh on the battle field near Waterford where he defeated the Irish.
Lord Roberts has a home in Waterford, and it was here he grew up and developed those fighting qualities which have made him England’s foremost soldier today.
Waterford was founded by the Danes in the ninth century. The antique iron bridge across the river, and the docks, a mile long, are notable features of the modern city.
There is one interesting relic of the Danish period still standing near the docks. It is a large round tower, about 50 feet high, which was built by Reginald, the Dane, in 1003. At present it is a police cell.
We left Waterford with the rain still falling, and went up along the banks of the Suir to Portlaw, a small manufacturing town. Near here we flew over Curraghmore, the stately mansion of the Marquis of Waterford. The desmesne covers 5000 acres, and is a beautiful natural park, with many slopes, and dells. There is an ancient castle beside the modern mansion.
In this part of Ireland Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spencer lived. We soon saw Youghal, on the coast, where Raleigh lived, and where his old house still stands.
Edmund Spencer was a close friend of Raleigh’s. He was an English poet but became associated with Ireland because he wrote the “Fairy Queen in the Emerald Isle” in 1589 and 1590. He would be more popular in Ireland today only, unfortunately, the Maiden Queen Elizabeth gave him a present of some 3028 acres of Irish land. The Queen’s title to this piece of real estate was not considered very good by the Irish, and they have never forgiven Spencer for accepting it.
Sir Walter Raleigh also accepted a big farm of over 40,000 acres in Ireland from this same Maiden Queen, whose real estate transactions in Ireland were considerable, but Raleigh has been partly forgiven because he gave Ireland the potato.
It was nearly nine when we whizzed over Youghal, and circled around it twice. We dipped, as we flew over the harbor, until we were within thirty feet of the water, and aroused excited cheering from the crowd watching us on the docks, as we turned and rose high again over the city.
I discovered Myrtle Lodge, Raleigh’s old home in Youghal. It was ivy clad, and well preserved, and the grounds around it neatly kept. I was delighted to see the garden of Myrtle Lodge. It is almost as sacred to the Irishman as the Garden of Eden. In this garden in 1586 Sir Walter Raleigh planted the first potato ever grown in the Emerald Isle. He brought the seed from the West Indies, where they had been carried by the Spanish from Peru, the potato’s native home.