5 snapshots of life in 1600s Ireland (including a crocodile)

RTÉ News​

3 hours ago

Analysis: The quirks and complexities of Irish life in the 1600s are captured in a treasure trove of stories and documents collected by William Molyneux
Histories of the 17th century often focus on the Ulster Plantations; the 1641 rebellion; the confederate wars of the 1640s; the Cromwellian conquest and land settlement of the 1650s; and the Battle of the Boyne. Such traumatic events had a visceral impact on the historical record. Some victims of the 1641 rebellion, for example, swore testimonies that they had witnessed a ghost crying for revenge after a particularly gruesome atrocity in Portadown where it is alleged that 100 people were forcibly drowned in the River Bann.
But when we focus on conflict, we overlook other curiosities from the 1600s when subtle cultural and social revolutions were also underway. Ireland's economy evolved slowly into something recognisably modern; English Common Law became widespread; books became more widely available; the potato grew in popularity; and a quiet revolution in terms of science and scholarship took root. At the heart of this movement was William Molyneux, a Dublin-based scholar whose work with the Royal Society, the London printer Moses Pitt and the Dublin Philosophical Society left behind a treasure trove of stories.
In 1682, Molyneux sent out a questionnaire across Ireland, asking locals to describe the land and people, their customs and curiosities. Soon, stories poured in telling of crocodiles in Connaught, elephants on fire, ancient stone tombs and locals who dressed like their Norman ancestors. These were not just tall tales. They were part of a remarkable collection of documents, sometimes referred to as the Molyneux papers, that capture the quirks and complexities of Irish life in the 1600s.
The crocodile in Lough Mask
Molyneux sought input from scholars across the ethnic and religious divide. He became lifelong friends with a famous Irish scholar Roderick O'Flaherty, who responded to Molyneux's questionnaire with a claim that a crocodile lived in Lough Mask and included a dramatic account of how somebody escaped its clutches. 'Old men acquainted with the lake', wrote O'Flaherty, 'do tell there is such a beast in it.'
While it is unlikely that a crocodile ever lurked in Connaught waters, the story reflects the blend of folklore and observation that Molyneux's project captured. Irish scholars were beginning to explore the natural world in ways that echoed the scientific revolution sweeping Europe.
The Anglo-Normans of Forth, Co Wexford
One of the more elusive responses described the barony of Forth in Co. Wexford, possibly written by a Catholic priest named Sinnot. He vividly recalled the trauma of the Cromwellian conquest of the 1650s, claiming a local lake had turned to blood after the execution of Charles I and bitterly recounted the destruction of Catholic objects by Cromwellian soldiers.
From RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline, what have the Normans ever done for us?
Interestingly, Sinnot claimed that the major landowners in Forth were descended from the original Anglo-Norman invaders of the 12th century and that they maintained their distinct 'Saxon' identity. Locals, he alleged, still wore the same style clothes from the 12th century and spoke 'old Saxon English'.
Moses Pitt's failed atlas of the globe
Molyneux's questionnaire was part of a grander plan: an 11-volume atlas of the world dreamed up by the Royal Society and London printer Moses Pitt. The idea was to pair maps from the Down Survey (made in the 1650s) with detailed local descriptions that focused on the environment, customs and people; a marked difference from contemporary histories that often focused on battles, monarchs, and political intrigues.
Although the atlas was never completed and Pitt went bankrupt and was imprisoned, the Irish section sparked a wave of scholarly activity. Molyneux's efforts facilitated a project of discovery that led to the founding of the Dublin Philosophical Society, an Irish counterpart to the Royal Society in London.
The elephant on Capel Street
A future member of the Dublin Philosophical Society, Allen Molines, came to Molyneux's attention after performing an autopsy on an elephant before a large crowd on Dublin's Capel Street. The unfortunate creature had been 'accidentally' set on fire and Molines, then a medical student at Trinity College Dublin, wanted to understand the animal's anatomy before its skeleton was extracted as a trophy. Presumably, the smell, or 'noisome steams' as Molines described it, lingered long in Dubliners' memories. For Molines and his peers, this was as much an early example of zoological study in Ireland as a spectacle.
The discovery of Newgrange
It is difficult to imagine Irish history without Newgrange but it was only discovered in the 1690s. Labourers digging for stone in Co. Meath discovered a mysterious 'cave' and the Society immediately dispatched the famous Welsh antiquarian Edward Lhuyd to investigate.
He observed 'barbarous sculptures', cells, a stone cistern, and bones. Though a Roman coin was found, he doubted Roman origins, citing the tomb's crude design. He also dismissed Viking involvement, noting the Irish annals placed their arrival after Roman times. Curiously, Lhuyd noted that locals shared legends of pagan rituals, suggesting a lingering folk memory of prehistoric times.
Lhuyd's findings were part of a broader scholarly movement that investigated the Irish past through landscape, folklore, and the historical record. Molyneux and his scholarly networks were among the first to study Ireland in recognisably modern ways. Their work laid the foundation for other institutions like the Royal Irish Academy and helped make the study of Irish history and science more rigorous.
Thanks to the Royal Irish Academy's Nowlan Digitisation Grant, the Molyneux papers and some of the papers of the Dublin Philosophical Society are now freely available online with a machine transcription. They provide a rich resource for those interested in Irish local history and heritage in the 17th century.