De Valera's Cottage

De Valera's Cottage
Teachín De Valera
General information
Status Museum
Type cottage
Architectural style Vernacular
Location Knockmore
Town or city Bruree
Country Ireland
Coordinates 52°26′01″N 8°39′26″W / 52.433639°N 8.657111°W / 52.433639; -8.657111Coordinates: 52°26′01″N 8°39′26″W / 52.433639°N 8.657111°W / 52.433639; -8.657111
Elevation 54 m (177 ft)
Construction started 1885
Owner Office of Public Works
Technical details
Material cast iron, timber, slate, concrete, limestone
Floor count 1
Designations
Official name De Valera's Cottage
Reference no. 576
Known for Childhood home of Éamon de Valera

De Valera's Cottage is a cottage and National Monument located in County Limerick, Ireland. It was the childhood home of Irish rebel leader, and later President of Dáil Éireann, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera (1882–1975).

Location

De Valera's Cottage is located 1 km (0.6 mi) north of Bruree, on the road to Athlacca.

History

The house is a labourer's cottage, built in 1885 by Kilmallock Poor Law Union.[1]

Born in New York City in 1882, de Valera (then known as George, and later Edward or Eddie) was brought to Ireland by his uncle Ned in 1885, following the death of his father Juan Vivion de Valera, and lived at this cottage. Even after his mother remarried, de Valera remained in Ireland, living at this cottage outside Bruree with his grandmother Elizabeth Coll, her son Patrick and her daughter Hannie. De Valera worked hard on the family farm, a mere half acre;[2] they also used "the long farm", grazing cattle on the roadside grass. This was illegal, so de Valera kept watch for Royal Irish Constabulary policemen and had to pretend to be moving the cattle across the road if the police saw him.[3]

As a teenager he walked from there to C.B.S. Charleville every day, a distance of 11 km (7 miles) each morning and evening (the family could not afford a bicycle).[4][5]

De Valera regularly visited the cottage in later life.[6] It is today a museum containing de Valera memorabilia, including the trunk he brought back from New York.[7][8]

Description

The house is a detached three-bay single-storey house.[9]

In culture

Poet Thomas McCarthy wrote, in 1984, "Returning to De Valera's Cottage", about the strange shadow the cottage cast over the village.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Travers, Pauric (1 January 1994). "Éamon de Valera". Historical Association of Ireland – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ The 25-inch OS map gives its area as 0.567 acre (0.23 ha)
  3. ↑ Dwyer, T. Ryle (19 November 1998). "Big Fellow, Long Fellow. A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera: A Joint Biography of Irish politicians Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera". Gill & Macmillan Ltd – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Clare People: Eamon De Valera". www.clarelibrary.ie.
  5. ↑ "The Boy from Bruree". www.irishidentity.com.
  6. ↑ "Myers On De Valera".
  7. ↑ Hudson, Kenneth; Nicholls, Ann (18 June 1985). "The Directory of Museums & Living Displays". Springer – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ Greenwood, Margaret; Connolly, Mark; Wallis, Geoff (1 January 2003). "Ireland". Rough Guides – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "Additional Images: Buildings of Ireland: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage". www.buildingsofireland.ie.
  10. ↑ http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3054&context=iowareview
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