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Paul O’Brien’s Shelley
and Revolutionary Ireland (Redwords,
2002) asserts that Shelley stayed on an
island. Since the only island is Ross
Island, most people assumed that Ross
Cottage was the site, QED. It’s Ross
in the guidebooks, and it is certainly well
situated for tourism, sitting perfectly on
a tourist walking trail on public lands.
Unfortunately for the tourist trade, Ross
Cottage simply can’t be the place:
Kenmare Estate maps of the time do not
indicate permanent housing on Ross Island
until the 1830s, and old photos of Ross
Cottage show architecture of a type built
in the 1850s.
Fortunately, however, a Shelley
scholar/sleuth by the name of Brian
O’Connor currently lives in
Killarney. Thanks to his bulldog
persistence, he has uncovered a tremendous
amount of useful information. Working with
local historians, he determined that
Shelley probably stayed at Reen Cottage
(not so easily reached and on private
property). Old Estate maps indicate that
the Reen Cottage of the period was located
on a narrow peninsula jutting out into the
lake called Reen Point. Interestingly, Reen
Point is cut off during heavy rain and
becomes a temporary island. Aha.
But the mystery thickens! There
currently is a Reen Cottage, but it is not
the one Shelley stayed in—indeed, the
present cottage is not even on the same
site. Shelley’s cottage was on Reen
Point.
Unlike most of the Shelley sites, this
one has not been the object of renewal or
replacement. O’Connor tells us,
“The area has not been used since
Shelley’s time and the view from
there is exactly the same now as
then.”
O’Connor notes that “Reen
Point is a stunning location for a cottage.
It has super views over Lough Leane to
Innisfallen island and the mountains
beyond. It is isolated but is still only a
short walk from Killarney town. . . .
Certainly, if one was prone to a bit of
poetry, this spot would do
nicely.”
As for the cottage itself,
O’Connor recalls that “. . .
across a small stream, I could clearly make
out the ruins of a very old stone cottage.
If Shelley stayed in Reen Cottage, this is
it. It certainly wasn’t a peasant's
cottage as it was made of stone, [was]
inside the walls of the main estate and had
a cobbled entrance.”
On a wet day it is easy to see why the
older cottage was abandoned. Simply, it was
badly located and at best it was damp, at
worst flooded.
N.B. The view includes a small
island known, now and then, as
“Darby’s Garden.”
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