“The Moving: Bog.” Donnelly family, Co Kerry Ireland 1897"

Australian Town and Country Journal NSW

20 May 1897

The Moving Bog.

(See illustrations on this page.)

An extraordinary catastrophe was recently caused in County Kerry, at the extreme southwest corner of Ireland, by what has been variously described as a moving bog, a landslip, and a bog-slide.

It occurred at a place called Rathmore, a poor and thinly-populated district some twenty miles east of the famous Lakes of Killarney, a portion of bog-land a mile long and a quarter of a mile broad slipping suddenly from its position and sweeping away everything in its course for several miles.

The heavy rains which had fallen for several days previously are supposed to have been the immediate cause of the disaster; but for several years past the residents of the locality have been expecting that a considerable portion of the bog-land, which has been extensively cut for turf by the farmers round, would some time or other break away.

No provision was ever made for letting the surface water escape from the cut-away portion, and trembling had been noticed on the bog when walked upon which gave the idea that it was floating on the surface water which had gradually percolated underneath.

Nothing, however, was done to avert the catastrophe, and, like the careless dwellers on the slopes of Vesuvius, the inhabitants of Rathmore were overtaken without warning and without chance of escape.

The exact hour and other details of the disaster must remain a mystery, since of the unfortunate persons who were on the spot at the time it occurred, only one, a child of 10, remains to tell the tale.

The nearest inhabitants state that during the night it blew a fierce north - westerly gale, accompanied by a terrific downpour of rain.

Towards morning a sound as of distant thunder, which appeared to shake tho earth, was heard.

For a distance of two miles down the valley there was left a considerable deposit of peaty mud, and, judging from the height to which the sides of the valley were discolored with this substance, the landslip must at the outset have come down in a very considerable torrent, sweeping away as it did every obstacle which stood in its course.

Some fields were torn away by the weight and force of the moving mass, and so was a bridge on the main road to Killarney, while ' a considerable tract of land on both sides of the valley was covered to a depth of a few feet with liquid bog stuff.

A limestone quarry, belonging to the Earl of Kenmare, the largest landowner in the district, was completely filled in by the awful torrent as it rushed down the valley, and the dwelling of Cornelius Donnelly, Lord Kenmare's quarry-man and bog ranger, was overwhelmed.' Donnelly, his wife and eight children, together with their cattle and all their belongings, being swallowed up by the moving mass.

His daughter Katie, a child of 10, was the sole survivor of the unfortunate family, her portrait being shown on this page. Our other illustration shows the scene of the devastation, a small white cross marking the spot where Donnelly's cottage stood.

With the superior sagacity attributed to dumb animals, Donnelly's dog appears to have been the only creature which instinctively realised the approaching danger, and fled to save its life.

The people of the locality, ignorant and superstitious, have been thrown into a state of great terror, while no less than forty-five families have suffered in various ways as the result of the accident.

Her Majesty the Queen telegraphed to Lord Kenmare immediately on receipt of the news, asking to be supplied with further details, and a fund was promptly opened to relieve the sufferers.

It has been estimated that it will cost the country £6000 or £7000 to remove the immense accumulation of bog matter from the public road, to return the roadway, restore the destroyed bridge, and make good other damage.

The salmon fishery in the Flesk River has been ruined, and numbers of dead salmon have been found along its banks.

A number of small farmers have been practically deprived of much of their holdings, as the cost of removing a depth of several feet of bog stuff would never be compensated for by subsequent crops from the submerged laud.

The Earl of Kenmare and his agent have been visiting the scene, and have made minute inquiries as to the extent of the loss sustained by the tenantry. Twelve tenants who have been the chief sufferers estimate their losing laud and crops at £400.

Eight of these farmers have been ruined and are in absolute distress.

The closing of the quarry, too, will throw a number of men out of work". Lord Kenmare has given instructions to have twenty men employed in clearing the quarry.

Consideration has also being given to the question of how best to clear the farms of the thick covering of “bog stuff” now lying upon them.

It is probable that when dry weather sets in, it will be burned, and the ashes used for manure. It would not be remunerative to remove the refuse by any other process.

After the first slip the bog moved no less than a mile in a' single day, and a visitor to the spot few days afterwards reported that "during the-past week the entire length of the mountain has completely altered its appearance. Instead of a grassy slope, it is now a large basin, sloping up to the mountain top for about a mile, and fully half a mile across."

Some of the Irish papers-have meantime been drawing the attention of their readers to the ignorance of geography displayed in one of the London weekly papers, which remarked:

"An endeavour is being made to establish a connection between the recent earthquake and the bog-slips of Killarney. There seems to be some possibility of the past dislodgement having taken place owing to the quake rather than the rain, and the fact that some hundreds of tons of rock have fallen on the Oban Railway further points to a general looseness in the geographical condition of Ireland!"

Such a confusion of Scotch and Irish topography appears almost incredible to the average Australian, although mistakes of the kind with regard to the chief towns in Australia are by no means unknown in English writings.

The Moving- Bog in Ireland.

1.-The Sole Survivor of the Donnelly Family. 2.-The Moving- Bog (the cross indicates the spot where the Donnelly's Cottage stood).

(See letterpress on this page.)

                  An Irish Paper with the Bog story!

More Bog news