Annacarty

From Cappawhite I drove eastwards towards Annacarty. It was not on my original plan of places to visit.

I picked up the idea as I drove around the area. I was just curious to see what it was like for it was a town/area not far from Dundrum.

I found a village with a ruin and monument to a 'brave soldier' of the IRA who died in 1923. I guess this was in the period of strife with Michael Collins and others who had a different vision about what the Irish Republic should be. I must do more research on this period.

I walked to the ruined castle and with some difficulty I entered the shell. Again surprised by how little room there was for villagers to protect themselves from attack. I thought about women and children in this place scared by people outside who wanted to harm or even kill them.

What times they lived through and survived. I noticed that on the outskirts of the village a new housing development had been built. Clearly before the bank crash. New young families, children and a future for the place. That is positive and sits with the relics of foregone centuries who also survived against all odds.