Letter, Robert Jamison, Baronscourt, to [Marquess of Abercorn, London].

Letter, Robert Jamison, Baronscourt, to [Marquess of Abercorn, London].

Lough Derg--Northern Ireland--Catalogue--Letters

An account of the 1795 disaster from a report to the Marquess of Abercorn.

Robert Jamison, Baronscourt

Letter in Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

21 July 1795

PRONI eCatalogue

Open access on catalogue

Transcribed letter

English

Catalogue transcript

DD_0456

54.6083, -7.8714

D623/A/105/10

"On the 12th inst as a boat with 71 people was going to Lough Derg it was overset, 4 of whom were saved and the rest drowned; among this unfortunate number were 2 of your Lordship's tenants and 4 others from this neighbourhood.

This is a small island about 3 rood of land and chiefly a barren rock situate in the middle of a lake about a mile from the shore and 14 miles to the south of Barons Court near Pettigoe. From the earliest account it has been devoted to devotional purposes and resorted to during the summer by at least 10,000 from all part of Ulster to do penance. The owner of this island turns this superstition to profitable account for he gets 6½d. ferry for each person."

Letter collection