At the Edge of Ireland by David Yeadon Page A

overaffluent—the reincarnated Puxley mansion at nearby Dunboy Castle.
    When we first arrived on Beara there were only rumors and whispers of bizarre schemes to reuse the shell of the mansion, destroyed by the IRA in 1921, long after the Puxleys had left and closed the disappointingly nonproductive copper mines in 1884. Many of the unemployed miners immigrated en masse at that time to Butte, Montana, and Beara families still maintain close ties today—including one moving and live video reunion we attended organized in Castletownbere.
    Eventually plans were published for a $100 million “six-star” resort hotel featuring Ritz-Carlton management, and imaging itself as a “secret hideaway” for celebrities seeking solace from the ubiquitous paparazzi, a Michelin-starred restaurant, pools, luxury spa facilities, a vast wine cellar vault, and, naturally, a helicopter landing pad—even a special house for the colonies of Lesser Horseshoe bats that once occupied the ruined mansion. All were part of this very non-Beara type of project.
    Some locals thought the whole venture was merely a clever “never-happen” gimmick to spur speculation in the proposed mini “leisure-village” developments on the peninsula—but apparently not. The project is now completed, and while rather alien to the “undiscovered” ambience here, its exclusivity, according to the developers, will ensure “minimal disturbance” to the everyday life of Castletownbere (“except m’be make us a little richer for a change with all those new jobs and whatnot” according to one of the locals here).
    There’s none of this “starred” nonsense, however, in the restaurants and watering holes in town, most of which are clustered around or close to the main square. In addition to the now world-famous red-and-black facade of MacCarthy’s Bar and Grocery, it was reassuring to find a cornucopia of culinary delights in the form of O’Donoghue’s, O’Sullivan’s, Breen’s, O’Shea’s, The Copper Kettle (great soups and fruit pies), Murphy’s, The Hole in the Wall, The Olde Bakery, Cronin’s Hideaway, Comara, Twomey’s, and Jack Patrick’s, run by the local butcher and his wife and renowned for its traditional Irish cuisine. And then of course came the two hotels—Beara Bay and Cametringame, complete with their own bars and nightlife enclaves.
    One of the most popular local dishes in the pubs and restaurants here is the ubiquitous Irish mixed grill. And according to the celebrated writer John B. Keane, this is the ideal list of key ingredients: “A medium-sized lamb chop, two large fat sausages, four slices of pudding—two black and two white—one back bacon rasher and one streaky, a sheep’s kidney, a slice of pig’s liver, a large portion of potato chips [French fries], a decent mound of steeped green peas, a large pot of tea and all the bread and butter one could wish for…authorities are divided as to whether fried eggs should be included or not.” So—there it is. A gourmand’s checklist to ensure no culinary short-changes!
    And what a gourmand’s checklist of Brit-Irish goodies awaited us when we had a quick walk around the town’s compact and cluttered supermarket: crumpets, Birds Eye custard, Callard & Bowser’s butterscotch, sandwich spread, Marmite, HP sauce, treacle sponge and spotted dick in cans, piccalilli, jelly babies, Oxo cubes, Fry’s cream bars, Gentlemen’s Relish, Rolos, pickled onions, Lucozade, Robinsons Lemon Barley Squash, and on and on. Gorgeous!
    For a community of fewer than two thousand permanent residents (itinerant Spanish, French, and Portuguese fishermen and “blow-ins” of all nationalities rapidly increase the population), Castletownbere was a true ceadsearch (sweetheart) of a town that gave us many memorable evenings of céilís and craic .