20th Century - First Decades

     1900 -1910.   As we have already shown, the first decade of the 20th Century saw quite a bit of mountain activity at home in Ireland and in other places.  As Michael Fewer has indicated , the Wicklow mountains were being frequented regularly by a wide range of hikers and cyclists, if mainly of the upper and professional classes, as the visitors' book of Mc Guirk's teahouse indicates. The Brotherhood of the Lug had been founded; members of the Dublin Arts Club had been exploring Ireland's mountains and travelling to Wales for the rock clinbing organised by Geoffrey W. Young.  The Irish members of the Alpine Club held a dinner in Dublin in 1906.

About an equal number of women as of men visited Mc Guirk's on their visits into the Wicklow Hills, although the women's names were often not recorded (e.g Mr & Mrs F. Frowd and maid).  Some of the notable people people who visited were: G.A.J Cole, Director of Geological Survey of Ireland; J.M Synge; J.B. Malone (father of J.B.); Rev. W Doyle, S.J; J. Swift Joly; F.M Browne, S.J. 

    1910-1920.  This was a decade of upheaval in Ireland no less than in many other places. The following events had a significant and devastating effect on Irish society: Dublin Lockout 1913; Great War 1914-18 ; 1916 Rising.  (Follow the links for detailed accounts).  Despite such traumatic occurrances Mc Guirk's continued to be frequented throughout the decade by hikers and cyclists who were venturing into Wicklow's mountains; in 1917 J.J. Cronin beat Hart's time for the return walk from Terenure to Lugnaquilla by more than three hours.  Inevitably, however, mountaineering activities were curtailed due to the outbreak of WW 1, notably on the small group of rock climbers, members of the United Arts Club. 'Poignantly, despite O'Brien's return to Young's gatherings (in Wales) after the war, the influence of the little group on Irish climbing ceased, as Sparrow and Julian were killed during the war, while Dickenson suffered from shell shock.' (Paddy O' Leary)  Of the many notable people who wrote in Mc Guirk's visitors' book only a few are mentioned here because they feature again in this story: Dr John Healy, Alpine Club member and a founder of the IMC;      Joseph Maunsell Hone, wrote Persia in Revolution along with Page Dickinson;    Capt. Eoghan O'Brien, R.E, Alpine Club member;     Brotherhood of the Lug :     Na Sleibhteagaigh

   1920-1930.  Following the Great War Ireland was convulsed between 1919 and 1923 by the War of Independence that preceded the Irish Civil War.  Many of the hill areas that might have been frequented by hikers or mountaineers saw fighting and unrest and became guerilla refuges during the conflicts, somewhat akin to how they were used by Rapparees in earlier times. It would have been a foolhardy soul who ventured into such places for recreational activities.  With the end of hostilities in 1923 there was a gradual return to mountain activities in Ireland.  As paddy O'Leary indicates it was Claude Wall and friends who were among the earliest to venture into the Dublin and Wicklow hills.  In 1925, the 15 year old Harold Johnson began climbing on The Scalp, an area of granite boulders and cliffs near Kiltiernan.  At school in Kendal, in the English Lake District, he subsequently was involved, with Maurice Linnell, in the devlopment of the climbing at Buckbarrow Crag near his school.

Buckbarrow Crag

The Scalp (1888 Lovett)

Despite the convulsed state of Ireland during these years numbers of Irish people were active in mountains in other parts of the world, viz. Valentine Ryan, Charles Howard Bury, Mervyn Ryan,   Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean; and their exploits will be viewed in due course.

Early 20th Century

 A number of Irish people were very active in Alpine regions in the early years of the 20th Century.

Valentine Ryan and William Trench Kirkpatrick  were being recognised as leading figures among Alpinists of the era.  In Ireland members of the Dublin Arts Club such as Page Dickinson were exploring the Irish hills and mountains for their mountaineering possibilities. Such figures were the ones who were making notable achievements in the sport and remain the ones that are remembered. 

Did such an activity influence the 'ordinary man in the street' ?  Were others indulging in such a leisure-time pursuit, even if at a lower level?

Since the 1880s in a repurposed gate lodge on the Powerscourt estate the McGuirk family ran a tea-shop.  This was located in the heart of the Wicklow Hills, close to Lower Lough Bray but actually in Co Dublin.  A visitor's book was kept by the McGuirks which many of their guests signed and entered comments.  Michael Fewer has analysed this in Tales from a Wicklow Tea Room and provides evidence that the facility was being used by a great many cyclists and hikers from the end of the 19th Century, into the 20th Century up to about 1960.

Hill walkers were..frequent callers at McGuirk's.  Country walking then was a pastime mainly enjoyed by middle- and upper-class people, and ramblers' clubs such as the Sléibhteágaigh and the Brotherhood of the Lug were established in the early twentieth century. (Fewer).

The 'great and the Good' of the Arts and professional classes visited Mc Guirk's on their visits to the Wicklow Hills.  As time went on the addresses listed became more and more from working-class areaas of Dublin.  According to The Irish Times (Sep 1902), ascents of Mangerton and Carrauntoohill in Kerry were common and 'great mountain and open-air tramps were a feature of Dublin life' in the first decade of the century.

The following is a list of some of the people who visited or wrote in the guest book:

J.B Malone; Fr. Willie Doyle, SJ; J Swift Joly; Fr F.M Brown SJ; Standish O'Grady; Oliver Gogarty; J.M Synge; Hugh Lane; John Healy;  William P. Hackett, SJ; Ben Kiely; Samuel Beckett.

Clubs and Organisations

 The Alpine Club, the world's first mountaineering club was founded in London in 1857.

Its first President was Irishman, John Ball and James Bryce, another Irishman,  was President from 1899 to 1901, before being appointed Ambassador to the USA.

As we have seen, many of the pioneering Irish alpinists of the 19th C had been members of the AC.        It seems that from among those living in Ireland that the first organised 'mountaineering' event was

University Club

 held. James Bryce, as Under Secretary of State for Ireland, had led 'his panting subordinates up the steep side of Croagh Patrick'.  If this event is discounted it was the dinner held by the Irish AC members in the University Club on St Stephen's Green, Dublin, that might qualify.  Bryce had been the President of the Alpine Club, was an important figure in Ireland's administrative establishment and was soon to be appointed as British Ambassador to the USA and the event may have been organised by his AC colleagues to celebrate this.  However, there was no Irish club or organisation involved.

ALPINE CLUB DINNER IN DUBLIN.-The first dinner of members of the Alpine Club resident in Ireland was held at the University Club, Dublin, on January 26, 1906. The members of the latter Club having invited their fellow Alpinists' to meet the Right Hon. James Bryce, ex-President of the A. C., the following party assembled to welcome him to Ireland: H. de Fellenberg Montgomery (senior member), in the chair; Sir F. J. Cullinan, C.B.; Hon. G. Fitzgerald, Rev. W. S. Green, H. Warren, G. Scriven, R. M. Barrington, Rev. P. S. Whelan, H. Synnett, W. J. Kirkpatrick, G. B. Tunstall Moore.  (Courtesy: Alpine Club).

More about these to follow.

Early Brotherhood
 members

Brotherhood of the Lug                                                                                                                Somewhat earlier another event took place that could be regarded as the inaugeration of the first 'mountain' club.  This was the foundation of the 'Brotherhood of the Lug' that took place on the summit of Lugnaquilla (The Lug), the highest mountain in Wicklow and Leinster, on March 8th 1903.  Although not claiming to be 'mountaineers', they were prodigious walkers regularly walking distances of 35 km in the Wicklow hills.  The 'cradle' of the Lug, as they called it, was the Vale View Hotel in Avoca, where they stayed overnight before their annual ascent of Lugnaquilla.  The club continues to the present time and its hiking, trekking and climbing is no longer limited to Wicklow, as it was initially, but ventures much further afield.

See IMEHS Journal Vol 4:  Peter Quinn, Ireland's Oldest Walking Club for more detail.

United Arts Club, Dublin.  It came into existence in 1907 as 'a high spirited, non sectarian, non-political social club'; W. B. Yeats, George “AE” Russell, Lady Augusta Gregory -  these writers, along with Ellie Duncan, Count Casimir and Countess Constance Markievicz, founded the United Arts Club.  Despite having no obvious connection with mountaineering a number of its members were enthusiastic Rock Climbers and visited North Wales to climb with the leading British alpinists of the day.  These were such people as Conor O'Brien and Page Dickenson and others.

More about these to follow.

CHA - founded in Britain in 1891 ( by Rev. T.A. Leonard) as the Co-Operative Holiday Association.
This organisation arranged 'good value' walking holidays and established hostels in England, Scotland and Wales. with the aim of encouraging people to visit and enjoy the countryside.  In 1922, James Doyle, who had holidayed with the organisation, wanted to set up a similar association in Dublin.  On writing to the HQ in England, he was given a list of 42 names from Ireland of people who had holidayed with the group, 27 of which were in Dublin.  Following an 'ad' in the Evening Mail and after writing to some, the first meeting was held on 13 Sep 1922.  About 20 attended and the first 'Ramble' was on the 21 October 1922 when they met in Rathfarnham 'a village nestling at the foot of the Dublin Mountains'.  They continued with a programme of rambles and social events, opening a hostel in Bray that had to close in the 70s.  The 2nd WW and the lack of transport affected activities and membership but the club continues today as the Countrywide Hillwalkers Association.  See here for more details.

HF stands for Holiday Fellowship and has its origins in  Lancashire when, in 1891, the Rev T.A.
Leonard starting taking young people walking on the hills. He first formed Co-operative Holidays Association (CHA) and then in 1913 he formed the Holiday Fellowship.

Early HF hikers.

 The emphasis of the organization was on healthy outdoor exercise and temperance (long since abandoned!).   The Dublin branch of Holiday Fellowship was founded in March 1930 by a small group on the south side of Dublin, The Club grew rapidly in members, including Guinness employees and every year they went to an HF center to holiday. There were many notables in the club, like Wilfred Brambell and Dr. Sheehy Skeffington. From the early days there was a programme of rambles and hikes in the mountains of Wicklow and surroundings.                                                                                                                      The club now has  no formal link with the UK company HF Holidays,  though it occasionally holidays in one of its houses.    See here for more information.

Hostel Association:  We are An Óige, the Irish Youth Hostel Association. We were founded in 1931 and ever since it has been our mission to provide safe, affordable, comfortable accommodation and experiences to the young and young at heart. Our aim is to foster an appreciation of nature and the world around us to all, be it backpackers, school groups or families. Many of the hoistels are located in remote areas and give easy access to Ireland mountain regions.

Scouting Ireland:  Scouting Ireland has its history in two legacy Scouting organisations — the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI), formerly known as the Boy Scouts of Ireland, and the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI). The former traces its roots to 1908, and the latter was founded in 1927 – both trace their legacy to Lord Baden-Powell's Scout Movement.                                                                         By 1908, the influence of Baden-Powell's Scout Movement had spread from Great Britain to Ireland. The first recorded meeting of Scouts in Ireland took place at the home of Richard P. Fortune, a Royal Naval Volunteer Reservist, at 3 Dame Street, Dublin on 15 February 1908 where four boys were enrolled in the Wolf Patrol of the 1st Dublin Troop. The earliest known Scouting event in Ireland took place in the Phoenix Park in 1908 with members of the Dublin City Boy Scouts (later Scouting Ireland S.A.I.) taking part.                                                                                                                                           In Dublin in the 1920s, two Roman Catholic priests, Fathers Tom and Ernest Farrell, followed the progress of Scouting and in  1926 the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI) (Gasóga Catoilici na hÉireann) was created. CBSI would later become the largest Scout association on the island.

These organisations (other than the Alpine Club) are unlikely to consider themselves 'Mountaineering' clubs.  (It was even sugested that the AC was founded for 'gentlemen who enjoyed walking steeply uphill'! ) The CHA has designated itself a 'Rambling Club'.  However, all of them have facilitated the activity of climbing mountains among their members.

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