We set off early on the long drive to Corofin in County Clare, the home of the Clare Heritage & Genealogy Centre, for our meeting with the indomitable Antoinette. The day was drizzly, cold and misty so we didn’t detour (we will have to watch the sun go down on Galway Bay another time). We stopped off at Kenny’s Drinking Emporium for lunch – a unique Irish combination of bar and café and not as dissolute as it sounds.
Antoinette had done an amazing job of detective work, trawling through hundreds of documents to find out the information and, despite many seemingly dead ends, not giving up. She handed us a document about 2cm thick with birth, death and marriage certificates, census reports and details of land ownership. Realizing we needed more sustenance (a drink) to tackle this, we headed for our hotel, The Old Ground.
The Old Ground was a central point to the Republic’s tumultuous beginning. Sinn Fein used the hotel as their campaign headquarters from 1917 onwards and the IRA used the building as a meeting place. Following kidnappings and ambushes of their members, the Black and Tans and Royal Irish Constabulary ransacked the building and burned most of the furniture on the lawn. Further retaliations followed, culminating in the bombing of a pub that served British Soldiers killing a number of them. In the official reprisal Old Ground was burnt and nearly destroyed. Restored once again to a hotel (Charles Lindberg stayed there) it is now a popular place to stay. Ed says the general ambience reminds him of some of the old Queensland hotels of the sixties with old-fashioned décor but roomy and very comfortable.
With drink in hand we set out to plan our moves for the next day. I started entering everyone into the family tree so we could see how everyone linked up and Ed started on the land holding maps trying to pinpoint where everything was on today’s map. We went down to Paddy’s Bar for sustenance but it was bedlam and the wait was long so we retreated to the hotel dining room which was exactly like one of the old Queensland hotels!
Next day we headed for Killrush and Kilkee. We knew that Michal Hassett (great grandfather) grew up on a farm on the Killrush Kilkee Road owned by his father John. We managed to narrow it down to about half a mile of road. We had a description of the house and found a derelict house from about that period. Who knows, maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t but it gave us an idea of what the house and land looked like.
We drove through Kilkee where all the Hassett’s lived, married and died. It is a very pretty coastal town and now quite a holiday town
From there we went into the Kilkee Information Bureau to get some information on old cemeteries and Hassetts, Houghs and Liffeys. This led to a somewhat hilarious treasure hunt across the district with everyone being very helpful and hospitable. We were offered everything from clues, to cups of tea, to meals and, if we had asked, probably a bed. We met Hassetts, Houghs and Father Kenny and followed directions which, delivered in an Irish accent and taking into account Ed’s deafness, had us totally confused:
“You go down the road out of the village and past the cross. There is a house with a new barn door, that’s not it. A wee bit further, there are two roads. Don’t go down the bog road but look for the windmill that hasn’t been built yet and it is the second house along”.
Me: Is the cross on the right or left had side.
“But it would be on both sides”
So we set off with me looking for crosses on both sides and Ed looking for crofts. As we approached the crossroads we realised that this was the cross- no wonder she looked at me strangely when I asked if it was on both sides! . We found the house with the new barn door and a half built windmill. We avoided the deadly bog road and found Bridie Hassett in the second house along!
It was from Bridie that we got our best clue. She told us about a Joseph and Roisin Bonfield who farmed in Moneen, the area that great, great grandfather Thomas Bonfield farmed and where Bridget Bonfield grew up.
We found the farm, knocked on the door, and met Joseph, my third cousin. The farm had been in the family for 150 years. Mutual excitement and over cups of tea (and apple tart) we exchanged information about the two families and showed photos.
Their new house. The original was knocked down last year 
Ed thinks Joseph looks very like Dad and Sandra thinks he and I have very similar facial features!
The original shop that they sold produce from over a hundred years ago was still there and just down the road was the nearby cemetery where the Bonfields (Bonfils) were buried
We visited the Parish Church of Carrigaholt where Michael and Bridget were married
The next day it is on to Ireland’s most famous cooking school, Ballymaloe House, to stay the night and participate in their traditional Sunday night buffet.