Transcript

Sea anois, ós ag teacht thar mhuintir Iarlaithe Bhaile Bhuirne é. Treibh cháiliúil dob ea iad. Scoláirthí agus filí dob ea a bhformhór. Agus ba dheocair gabháil orthu insa, isna healaíonaibh sin. Níorbh fhéidir é. Agus bhíodar ana-líonmhar ar fuaid an bhaill. Agus filí ab ea ar fad iad, a bhformhór. Ba leo an t-eastát roimis na (Collthaisíbh) ach do chuir na Galla amach iad.

Agus chaithead-... mhaireadar ansan 'na bhfeirmeoiríbh ar fuaid an bhaill. Agus is acu a bhí... is acu a bhí aire do thabhairt don teampall ann i gcónaí. Bhíodar go léir filiúil agus scoláirthiúil. Ach do dhíscíodh amach iad i ndeireadh báire thiar thall chun nár fhan éinne acu ann ach beagán.

Chuadar siar go Ciarraí. (Malairt) siar go Ciarraí. Is mhaireadar ann cuid acu. Agus do neosfaí seóscéaltha mar gheall orthu. D'inseadh na seandaoine seóscéaltha mar gheall orthu, ar a gcuid filíochta agus ar a gcuid foghlama.

Translation

Now then, seeing as we are discussing the Herlihy people of Ballyvourney. They were a well-known people. Most of them were scholars and poets. And they were hard to compete with, in those arts. It wasn't possible. And there were many of them all over the place. And they were all poets, most of them. They owned the estate before the Colthursts(?) but the English threw them out.

And they spent-... they lived then as farmers all over the place. And it was they who... they who always took care of the church there. They were all poetic and scholarly. And they were expelled in the end until none were left but very few.

They went west to Kerry. (...) west to Kerry. And some of them lived there. And amusing stories were told about them. The old people used to tell amusing stories about them, about their poetry and their learning.

Commentary

This anecdote concerns the Herlihy family of Ballyvourney, county Cork, and is evidently part of the folk history in the area. The account appears to be verified by historical sources. There was a Herlihy family in Ballyvourney who were the hereditary keepers of St. Gobnait's church and lands, and Tomás Ó h-Iarfhlatha of this line was appointed Bishop of Ross in 1651. See Seán de Bhulbh, Sloinnte na hÉireann (Foynes, 1997), 73. After losing their ancestral lands to one Colonel John Colthurst as part of the Cromwellian confiscations, many of the Herlihys were scattered from the area, and settled in Kerry, but their fame continued as poets and scholars. See Michael C. O'Loughlin, Families of Co. Cork, Ireland (Kansas City, MO, 1996), 93.