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| INISHANNON BRIDGE, RIVER BANDON, CO. CORK. -This old, ivy-grown structure spans the swift-flowing Bandon river near Inishannon town -one of the oldest places in the County Cork, but now much depleted in population. It stands in the midst of most charming natural surroundings. The Bandon flows through one of the prettiest regions in Munster, and the river is described by the sweet poet, Spenser, as "The pleasant Bandon, crowned with many a wood." It is navigable for vessels of light draught to within four miles of the town of the same name, famous for its old time intolerance of Roman Catholics. In fact it was, during the last century, the hotbed of Irish Orangeism in the province of Munster. This characteristic has long since departed from it, and, in our day, people of all creeds meet and mingle there with mutual toleration, if not with feelings of brotherly love. Tradition says that Dean Swift, who did not love Catholics, once wrote upon its gates that all creeds were welcome there "but Papists." His servant, a Catholic but a favorite of the eccentric churchman, wrote under its- "Whoever wrote it, wrote it well- The same appears on the gates of hell!" |
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