Introduction:
In every place, there is a thread that runs through time – one that connects those who came before, those who live now, and those who will follow. In Charleville (County Cork), that thread is woven from the land, the river, and the words that survived even when speaking them was dangerous.
This Poem brings together two parts of our story: the secret learning of the hedge-schools, and the legacy of Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill the great poet of the Maigue, who rests within the walls of Holy cross. He wrote and taught when our language and faith (Roman Catholic Church) were pushed into hiding, keeping the flame alive for those who came after.
As someone who grew up on those same streets, who walked the same hill, and who writes simply because the words feel rooted in me – I see this line unbroken. It passed from bard to teacher, from page to heart, and from one generation of “covies” to the next.
Although I am not a member of The Roman Catholic Church, Nor have I been one for many years, This has been embedded in me and should be understood by every living Irish person. For to be denied the right to speak one’s own language or denied the right to own any property, including Cattle and Including the chosen faith of the day in Ireland, that of the Roman Catholic Church. This was the profound fact that people in Ireland of the 17th and 18th centuries had to endure. This also was the Ireland of the time for Poets like “Seán Clárach MacDomhnaill“.
Many risked their own lives to practise their religion in secret locations. Schools were also held in secret, which became known as “Hedge Schools” one such school was taught by “Seán Clárach MacDomhnaill“, who taught Irish, Latin and Maths also teaching many how to read and write. This was a huge step and must have been a massive surprise that Many young people from extreme poverty, to speak their own language and latin and write, read etc. We owe these people, especially those in hedge schools, so much and so much gratitude for the risks people did when colonial masters dictated lives.
This Poem is dedicated to “Seán Clárach MacDomhnaill” and others like him for their deeds and for Seán Clarach’s poetry which is found in some places today.
Glossary:
For anyone unfamiliar with the terms and places:
Fold – A Sheltered hollow or slope in the land; the familiar ground of home.
Shell – The roofless, ruined remains of the old church at Holy Cross.
Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill – Born near Charleville c. 1690 chief poet of the Maigue Poets, leader of the local Gaelic tradition; buried inside Holy Cross graveyard.
Hedge-Schools – Secret, informal schools that operated during Penal Times, when official education for Catholics was banned; held outdoors, in barns or ditches, they kept language and learning alive.
Penal Times – Period from the 17th to early 19th century, when laws restricted Catholic worship, education, and property rights.
River Maigue – The river that flows through Charleville and the Golden Vale; central to the landscape and the poetry of the region.
Covie – Local term for someone born and bred in Charleville and the surrounding area, rooted in its ways and stories.
The Line Unbroken
Between the fold and the fond cross ground,
where ivy veils the roofless shell,
two lights burn still through wind and years -
the verse, the learning; both dwell there.
He taught when schools were made a crime,
sang when our tongue was forced to hide;
Clárach kept the thread through time,
from hedge-shade to the riverside.
No hall, no bell, no formal sign -
just fern-roofed nook and whispering reed;
where wisdom flowed like Maigue's own line,
where freedom's words took root from seed.
What walls forbade, the wild gave space:
wind carried verse, stone held the word;
a quiet, fierce, unbroken line
of speech no harsh law ever blurred.
He sleeps within this same old place,
where my first steps began to climb;
his breath still lingers in the space
between what was and what is mine.
The river hums, the hawthorn bends,
the grass grows soft where poets rest;
the line runs on from voice to voice -
from his voice into my own.
Copyright © 2026 Pat Fitzgerald
All Rights Reserved
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