De Valera's Cottage

De Valera's Cottage is a cottage and National Monument located in County Limerick, Ireland. It was the childhood home of Irish rebel leader, and later President of Dáil Éireann, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera (1882–1975).

De Valera's Cottage
Teachín De Valera
General information
StatusMuseum
Typecottage
Architectural styleVernacular
LocationKnockmore
Town or cityBruree
CountryIreland
Coordinates52.433639°N 8.657111°W / 52.433639; -8.657111
Elevation54 m (177 ft)
Construction started1885
OwnerOffice of Public Works
Technical details
Materialcast iron, timber, slate, concrete, limestone
Floor count1
Designations
Official nameDe Valera's Cottage
Reference no.576
Known forChildhood home of Éamon de Valera

Location

De Valera's Cottage is located 1 km (0.6 mi) north of Bruree, on the road to Athlacca.

History

The house is a labourer's cottage, built in 1885 by Kilmallock Poor Law Union.[1]

Born in New York City in 1882, de Valera (then known as George, and later Edward or Eddie) was brought to Ireland by his uncle Ned in 1885, following the death of his father Juan Vivion de Valera, and lived at this cottage. Even after his mother remarried, de Valera remained in Ireland, living at this cottage outside Bruree with his grandmother Elizabeth Coll, her son Patrick and her daughter Hannie. De Valera worked hard on the family farm, a mere half acre;[2] they also used "the long farm", grazing cattle on the roadside grass. This was illegal, so de Valera kept watch for Royal Irish Constabulary policemen and had to pretend to be moving the cattle across the road if the police saw him.[3]

As a teenager he walked from there to C.B.S. Charleville every day, a distance of 11 km (7 miles) each morning and evening (the family could not afford a bicycle).[4][5]

De Valera regularly visited the cottage in later life.[6] It is today a museum containing de Valera memorabilia, including the trunk he brought back from New York.[7][8]

Description

The house is a detached three-bay single-storey house.[9]

In culture

Poet Thomas McCarthy wrote, in 1984, "Returning to De Valera's Cottage", about the strange shadow the cottage cast over the village.[10]

See also

References
  1. Travers, Pauric (1 January 1994). Éamon de Valera. Historical Association of Ireland – via Internet Archive. de valera cottage.
  2. The 25-inch OS map gives its area as 0.567 acre (0.23 ha)
  3. Dwyer, T. Ryle (19 November 1998). Big Fellow, Long Fellow. A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera: A Joint Biography of Irish politicians Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera. Gill & Macmillan Ltd. ISBN 9780717157464 – via Google Books.
  4. "Clare People: Eamon De Valera". www.clarelibrary.ie.
  5. "The Boy from Bruree". www.irishidentity.com.
  6. "Myers On De Valera".
  7. Hudson, Kenneth; Nicholls, Ann (18 June 1985). The Directory of Museums & Living Displays. Springer. ISBN 9781349070145 – via Google Books.
  8. Greenwood, Margaret; Connolly, Mark; Wallis, Geoff (1 January 2003). Ireland. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843530596 – via Google Books.
  9. "Additional Images: Buildings of Ireland: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage". www.buildingsofireland.ie.
  10. http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3054&context=iowareview
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