We set off to see Eric Binions who lives with his niece, Barbara and his brother, Clinton. Their house "Wilmount" is well over 200 years old, is two-storied, and built of sand, lime and hair (horsehair, presumably). The walls are two feet thick. Eric and Barbara welcomed us as if we were "coming home". How can I describe Eric and Barbara? They are simple Irish folk, kind and hospitable, but not very well educated. I don't think Eric can read or write. They live in a clutter of things from the past, with their 18 cats, sever al dogs and farm animals. The house had obviously become very run-down and Eric has restored it to a degree.
Eric lives in the past, loves anything old and would not change a thing. His barn has not been changed since the time of the original James. They showed us a "rahine" (a fairy fort) a very ancient circular earthen wall. People lived inside the walls, which were used as fortifications. Eric and Barbara are still superstitious and it is considered unlucky to interfere in any way with a rahine or a rath - a larger version. Eric told us a story of William James Wallace, which we hadn't heard. He destroyed a rahine by building a barn over it, then rode into town and had a fatal accident off his horse.
We ate lunch off antique plates, then drove to the Church of Ireland at Templeshanbo, not far away. The oldest graves in the churchyard are 5 James and Wallace graves, including those of William James Wallace, Thomas James and Rev. John James. They are tabletop graves - large slabs of stone on legs. They had be e n hidden under a rhododendron bush, but Eric had pulled it away and cleaned up the graves for us. The writing is still legible, but only just. Next, we drove to Paddy Kearns' farm where the imposing gates of Ballycrystal stand. Ballycrystal originally was a large estate, but has now been divided into smaller farms. Wilmount House was originally on Ballycrystal. It was nice to know that Paddy has restored the gates and the roof of the round watchtower. Eric also took us to the schoolhouse (now restored and extended), the ruins of the circular bathing house on the river, and the ruins of the shooting lodge on Mt. Leinster - all originally part of Ballycrystal. The shooting lodge would have been quite large and people came from England for the grouse-shooting season.
It was a wonderful, exciting day, and gave us such an insight into how the James family lived. The next evening, we were invited back for supper. Several of the neighbours were there to meet us, also a cousin of Eric's, Gloria Binions, who is the area historian, as well as Ken Hemmingway, a photographer. We had to pose outside the house on antique chairs for our "official" photo! Ken is interested in the graves and has promised to restore them, at no cost, as a labour of love. As we left, Eric presented Ross with an old stone inkbottle, which could easily have been used by the ancestors. They also gave us a bottle of poteen - the illegal, highly alcoholic liquor made from barley!
What an amazing time we had, and how lucky we were to meet such people. In the following days, we visited Ballycourcy House, where Henry James Wallace was born in 1847, and also Enniscorthy Castle where Anthony Hawkins lived from 1811 to 1814 - but nothing compared with our visit to Eric & Barbara.
Judy Wallace