Celebrating a century of Greer’s river ramblings

I had fixed in thought to visit again the sources and inner flowings of the winding Moy. The weather being fit for going amid the mountains on foot and drive, I resolved to carry out my purpose.

This is a second piece celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publishing of The Windings of the Moy by Rev. James Greer. On this occasion, we turn to his writing; learning a little about his special style and particular passions.

Education 

Greer, despite his humble start in life, progressed very well educationally. He got a place in a school in Skreen, Co. Sligo, founded by the famous Rev. Edward Nangle and from this advantage, and through the benefit of his own undoubted intellect, he progressed quickly. Firstly, he became a teacher and then he went on to become a Church of Ireland minister. He later spent most of his clerical career in Co. Monaghan. The hard work of meeting the needs of his flock eventually took a toll on Greer’s health and as old age approached, he retired to the comfort of his childhood village of Enniscrone.

Writer and Naturalist 

Ironically, it was Greer’s ill health – he suffered from chronic insomnia – that helped him to discover and indulge his talents as a writer. His love of place became his canvas and the various locations along the River Moy and the Ox Mountains became his pallet of colours.

The writings of ‘Parson Greer’, as he was affectionately known, were imbued in equal measure with compassion and intolerance. Compassion for the poor and intolerance with the authorities. His account of one of his early visits to Foxford provides a good illustration of this.

“It was in the partial famine of 1872 I first set foot in the sad, straggling, soot-dropped village of Foxford. It was a short time before the rise of Davitt and Parnell. The village had then only a few slated houses, and those thatched were for the most part streaked with soot-rain, and showed little signs of limewash without or within. The shops were few, and no show or display could be seen on the little common-place windows.” 

Greer wrote at night and sought inspiration in nature during the days of retirement. He found solus in writing about such places as Enniscrone, Killala and Straide. While writing about these locations he was able to give vent to his writing talents with a growing flourish and enthusiasm.

“Even with a surging swell and breaking sea there is no danger in Enniscrone, either at the strand or at the ladies' flags. There are no sudden shallows or quicksands. The lady swimmer can nearly in all weathers safely plunge from the rocks into four or ten feet of water; and whatever little current there may be at times it sets towards the shore and not towards the sea. Then as to the strand, all experts who have walked upon it, played hurley and football upon it, know that there is nothing approaching it in all Ireland. Portrush and Bundoran have no strands worth speaking of. The strand at Kilkee has not the length and breadth and hardness of our strand at Enniscrone.” 

Mountain and River 

Writing under the pen name, Moy Salmon, Greer began to publish his essays in the pages of the Western People. The pieces soon grew in popularity and became a colourful collection that traced the journey of the River Moy. Often on foot, sometimes by pony and trap, Greer eventually covered the full length of the river, from Killala to Knocknashee. His interest in the river, and the mountains from which it sprang, captivated his imagination and over the course of many years he was drawn further and further into their grasp. Arriving at Knocknashee, Greer is very taken with finding, what he deems to be, the source of the Moy. By the way and to this day, the actual source is a bone of contention locally. The following extract, while showing his simplistic grasp of physical geography, is nonetheless a good example of his style. Greer gushes, a bit like the spring well he had just discovered.

“It is now clear to me that the large round knoll, Knocknashea (The Fairy Hill) is the source, centre, and spring of the river Moy. Knocknashea is quite unlike the mountains around it. In travelling from Coolaney to Tobercurry, on to Banada and Aclare, on one side, and on to Templehouse, Ballymote and Riverstown on the other side, Knocknashea stands out from the mountains, different in colour, complex, and formation, having no glens, ravines, caves, or rocks – not even heather, but simply a large mound without any grandeur, that appears to have been shot up by a milder eruption long after Slievegamph was shot up from the waters of the sea that covered this land in ages nearer the beginning.” 

Ballina and Moyne 

In his windings, Greer returns to Ballina, Killala and Moyne Abbey via, Swinford and Straide, describing the river, the mountains and the towns themselves as he rambles along. It is always clear that he is a man happy to be out and about, besotted with the various localities he visits and inspired by nature. The following paragraphs gives his impressions of Ballina and Moyne Abbey.

“To a stranger entering Ballina for the first time especially from the Sligo side, it has a very imposing and striking appearance as a provincial town. Belleek Manor, Belleek House, Downhill, beside the rapids of Bunree river, Bunree, its mills and bridge and falls, the flowing Moy, the College and the Cathedral, and the better and more recent part of the town, spreading under the eye, give at once the impression that it is a substantial town, charming and picturesque. The first natural feature is the river Moy. The river nobly foams and flows, the charm of this enchanted ground.

“This winding river, with its many beauty spots, rises in the mountains separating Leyney and Tireragh, and after winding its way and gathering force and volume through the baronies of Coolavin, Costello, Gallen, Clanmorris, Carra, Tyrawley, and making a circuit of 150 miles, it flows in all its majesty by Ballina on to Enniscrone, within 20 miles of Knocknashee, where it rises.

“The Abbey of Moyne, situated on the estuary of the river Moy, is certainly one of the noblest of the Franciscan Abbeys in Ireland. The ‘Still Pool’, as the arm of the Moy beneath is called, the solemn tower, casting its long shadow over the countless graves and tombs, the stillness of the luxurious fields around, where the silent cattle graze, but where man is not seen, the rising or ebbing flow of the Moy scarcely making a ripple on the sweet strand, all without a sound, give the first impression as utter loneliness.” 

The Windings of the Moy by James Greer was first published in 1923 and was republished in 1986. The republished version is still available and can be purchased from mayobooks.ie.

Next week… Cloonacool Sheep Festival, highlighting a long tradition.