John Palliser

 John Palliser was a landlord who lived at Comragh House, just south of the Comeragh Mountains a large swathe of which was part of his property and  where he was known to have hunted and hiked. 

Taken in Rome

He was an 'adventurer' and his large extended family lived, not only on their Irish estates, but also in Dublin, London and Rome and were widely travelled in Europe. 

In 1847/8 he undertook an 11 month long hunting trip to Missouri Country in the United Sates and overwintered there with the native peoples.

However, it is his later exploits in North America that are of interest here.  This became known as the Palliser Expedition, or more formally 'The British North American Exploring Expedition' that took place from 1857-60.  Palliser's plan for the expedition was put before the Royal Geographical Society (RGS).  The RGS was interested , extended the plan and laid it before the Colonial Office of the Westminster Parliament, with a request for funding.  

It was supported by the under-secretary of state for the colonies, John Ball ( mountaineer and friend of Palliser's - more about him later), and two members were recommended by Sir Edward Sabine (born in Dublin) and Dr Edward Purcell (of Royal Naval College Greenwich, born in Cork) - Thomas W Blakiston and John W Sullivan respectively.

Purcell Range

The expedition had a number of aims but that of greatest interest here is the investigation of possible passes through the Rocky Mountains in British territory.  In the three seasons of work, the explorers had,  along with much else, traversed six passes through the southern Rockies.  Although no attempts were made to climb summits many months were spent exploring and travelling through the mountains of western Canada.

(see Mountaineering Ireland. IMEHS Journal, Vol 1, 2002;  From Comeragh to Calgary)

Although not 'mountaineering' in a modern sense the expedition left its mark on the Rocky Mountains. The expedition members were among the first Europeans to venture into these regions of the Rockies and as such they provided many topographical features with the English names they still bear (e.g. Mounts Ball, Rundle, Bourgeau and Murchison; Cascade and Grotto Mountains; Palliser and  Fairholme Ranges, Purcell Range, Palliser River and Lake, along with many others).

To John Palliser, the expedition was not only a matter of serious exploration but also a journey 'in search of adventure and heavy game'.  A niece of his wrote, many years later, 'the months he spent in the wilds... were among the happiest of his life'.

This Irishman led an expedition that had long lasting effects on the region and a distant cousin of his (A.O Wheeler) greatly influenced mountaineering in that part of North America.

Furthermore, he was not the first, nor the earliest Irishman to explore the mountain regions of North America.  Some of these were the 'Mountain Men' of the American west.

More about all these to follow.

Map detail

Expedition Map

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Climbing for Pleasure in Ireland

 Poets such as Brian Merriman or Mary Tighe may have mentioned their enjoyment of Irish mountains in their writing but it seems that the earliest account of climbing or hiking in the Irish mountains was published in 1849. 

A Waterford man, a member of the prominent Mackesy family, wrote about 'The Comeragh Mountains, their lakes and legends'.   This was an account of a multi-day hike/climb in the Comeraghs in which he describes his route, the terrain and the various lakes and the coums (cwms) and the folklore and legends attached to them.

A brief extract gives a flavour of the account:

Coumshingaun - Winter

We have reached the foot of the mountain under Coumshingaun ; high above, you see a dark, circular, hollow - that is our goal - the Coum, in which lies the lake, and it seems to you much nearer now than you will find it to be in reality. 

Let us ascend. Aye, it is very steep, and the day is bright and hot ; but take it quietly—you have only a two-mile walk before you. For a part of the way the grass is pleasant, and we can go straight onwards. But ever as we climb, the heath and ling become tougher and taller, the grass thinner, the stones more numerous, the dried-up channels of the winter floods more deep and frequent ; so that we can no longer hold a direct course, but must deviate into many a zig-zag; and still, as we surmount each swelling knoll, the dark Coum above seems to recede, and the way to lengthen before us. 

Now the ground shelves downwards ; we descend amid coarse herbage, heath, and stones, and now we are in the actual Coum, this deep, stern, and solitary hollow! and there lies the lake, that dark, oval tarn, embosomed in cliffs; but such cliffs! so steep, so gigantic, so magnificent—could we ever attempt to describe them!.......

Mahon Falls

But though Crotty might have had his out-offices here for his live stock, yet for his own proper residence he honoured with his preference a cavern near a lake, called after him," Crotty's Lake," about a mile north from this place. ......

And now the summary of what we have seen is, that of all the lakes and hollows, Coumshingaun is the grandest, Coumfea the mildest, Stillogue More the loveliest, Coumgorra the most savage. The mountains are seen to most advantage when the heath is in full bloom, and after a continuance of dry weather: late in the year they look bare, sombre, and dreary; and after rain the deep moss is so soaked, that you feel as if treading on supersaturated sponges; besides, the frequent mists, the treacherous bogs, and suddenly-swelling torrents, render the excursion dangerous after the commencement of autumn.

Crotty's Lake

 But if advantage be taken of bright, warm days, late in August, or early in September, no real lover of nature will return disappointed from a ramble in the Commeragh Mountains.

Iska Solas

A number of things are to be noted in the account; 

first of all the date of publication - 1849;

and also the writer is addressing an audience  of like minded people who apparently are accustomed to such activity.

(Of course the images were not part of the original article).

Mary Burtchaell, a resident of Graiguenamanagh, kept a diary in which she recorded a number of walks and hikes including, on two occasions, a climb of Brandon Hill. (16th Aug 1845 & 9th Sep 1850.)  Even if this is of no great mountaineering significance it does indicate that such people were enjoying these activities at this time. (NLI Ms 7800-11).

John Palliser, a landlord whose property included large swathes of the Comeragh Mountains is known to have hunted and hiked in those hills and he plays a greater role in this story - more to follow.

Are there similar accounts of such activities from other parts of the country?

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