Cavan Museum

Cavan has a museum that was a delightful surprise to us.  It was an old convent that an enterprising businessman bought with the view of a museum being set up in it.  We didn't have time to do it full justice, so the top two floors remain unseen (maybe next time!).                        
 

Howard's far-reaching contacts managed to get us in for half price and his friend, the supervisor, gave us a cup of tea for free, after closing time....            
 
We walked through the World War One trenches that have been built as a tribute to all those who fought in the war.  

Over 200,000 Irishmen fought in the war and 49,400 died - 649 of them were Cavan men.  In 1916, supporters of Irish independence from Great Britain took the opportunity of the ongoing war to proclaim an Irish Republic  - it seemed the thought of 'strike while they are weak' was their mandate.  This became the beginnings of Independence for Ireland and Britain's attempt to impose conscription was withstood and failed in Ireland.  

Neither the first nor second world wars were recognised by Ireland, therefore those who fought came home to no recognition at all.

A replica GPO facade hides an exhibition of the Easter Rising of 1916 and gives one the experience of a young person and the choices they faced during those times.  

The museum has worked extensively to promote peace and reconciliation across the borders.

I found the trenches very interesting 

                                           This was the Casualty + Clearing Station

The way they had been set up gave  a very clear impression of what life would have been like for the soldiers who spent so much time standing and sleeping in the trenches.

They didn't sleep in the Hilton

                                               The soldiers named the sleeping holes 'Funk Holes'. 

A firing hole for the soldiers to shoot from

 

This is how the soldiers kept an eye on the enemy - they crawled out under 'no man's land' and listened for sounds of tunnelling

 No man's land 

 Some self explanatory signage 

The kitchen

There were some illuminating stories concerning the issues the men faced - wet feet, unsanitary conditions, food and poor diet, the  cold -  some of which may change our expressions.

'Chatting' was the name soldiers gave to the practice of killing lice or 'chats'  - this was usually done sitting down in groups and may be where the meaning to sit and talk came from!  Puts a new tilt on catching up for a coffee....

Another issue was rats!  The female brown rat takes just 35 days to reach sexual maturity and carries its young for only 21 days.  Litters usually contain seven pups but can number as many as fourteen.  This means that in ideal conditions, where there is a ready supply of food and few predators, the female rat population can increase over threefold in just eight weeks.  A rat population containing 100 females can become over 7,000 rats in just two months!!!!

While we chatted over tea, I quickly checked out a quilt exhibition based on the war.

Our next tea stop was Crover House, Lord Farnham's summer residence, which sits on Lough Sheelin.

   The grounds are beautifully maintained.

This is truly a beautiful house which is now a hotel and golf resort

We supped on tea and scones here

before moving onto Barbara and Rodney's place. We came to Ireland in 2009 for Barbara and Rodney's wedding.  They now have three gorgeous children -

 George

Robbie 

 Victoria. 

The boys enjoyed kicking the ball with Allan and were disappointed when they asked if Allan had brought his pyjamas with him and found that he had not.  This was our third tea stop for the afternoon!

After tea Rodney took us to Rassan, to see their new home that is in the final stages of construction.  And a beautiful house it is!

This is the back view of the house 

And the garage.

The formal lounge room 

Their energetic boys will have plenty of space to run around on a wet day.

I loved the detail around the Windows in the garage     

We returned to the house for supper and caught up with George and Doreen, Rodney's parents.  Sat on chatting until late AGAIN!  We will need to return to Australia to catch up on some sleep!!