The arrival of Clan Mac Grianna in Ranafast
To capture this story, it would be utter nonsense to go beyond the account that came from Seán Bháin Mhic Grianna himself, as it appears in the book, 'Ceoltaí agus Seanchas Rann na Feirste le Seaghán Bán Mac Grianna' 1976 (Ed.) Ioseph Ó Searcaigh, published by Coiste Coláiste Bhríde Rann na Feirste. The following is the front page of that book and the story of his family as Seán Bán.
"Over two hundred years ago there was nobody living in Ranafast. I do not know when the woods were there, or when they fell, but they were there and sealed on it to this day. as many gravels have been removed from the ground as would make a volume as large as the hill of Errigal and plenty of them are still left there. But at any rate when Seán Mac Grianna first came to see Ranafast, he fell in love with it. Whatever picture he saw there would not do him any good but to live there. He went to the lord and asked him what the value of the place was. Five pounds and five shillings a year's rent. Wood and peat were worth thousands of pounds at that time. But there was no other color than that. John did not value the place, or he was poor and destitute and did not want money or wealth. It was a beautiful place.
At that time it was nothing but a mountain and tree trunks, or trees lying with the ground grown around them. Anyway his brother gave Patrick, that gave him the five pounds and they bought the place. He came and helped him make a hut. And when he saw what kind of place it was, he thought it was possible for a man to land his life there. They divided the town into two parts, married and lived there. Patrick went to the shelter, of course, where he thought would suit him best. John just had a beautiful view and headed back to the Wedding, the bareest part of town. That was good enough, Summer day – great.
But when the night of the winter storm came, poor John was awakened for fear that the house would fall on him while Patrick was sound asleep. Sean had no idea of work. His favorite thing was, music and poetry and beautiful scenes and so on. He spent his life like that and was nowhere near talking; it could not be changed. that was how he was born, that was how he was fed and it is impossible to suck that wood was made of iron. Funny stories were told about the same man. He lived poor and Patrick was very kind to him, but he was unhappy with him because he let his sticks drift. Patrick was a hard worker. . . he was a worldly man, a man who would not waste a moment to forget the moment. John was in a completely different way and could not be persuaded to think of landing his life in any way but by his imaginations, his dreams, his good voices and his good thoughts.”
Seosamh Mac Grianna wrote in the famous book An Druma Mór about the arrival of people to this part of the country:
"The people of that time came east of the fertile lands. The foreigners drove them out of their lands with thirty hundred in their mouths, to take food from the place where their sheep used to graze. Some were dug into valleys between mountains, where the rivers fertilized the soil and where tillage was possible, at least. But the flood brought them to the shores of the sea, and they made cities where there was nothing but cane and peat.
That 's why a patchwork of white houses can be seen on those moors today. There are, with green fields of potatoes and oats and grass, in their little beds, until you would imagine that the whole area was but a large garden. There are yearling cows, and donkeys and occasional horses, and as many dogs as the Féinn had. There are beautiful white boats under the casks;
there are spades and scythes and sickles around the fields and barns. On a summer evening, you will hear the rumble of oars on harbors. You will also hear a game of cows or the roaring of donkeys; and any night of the year, you will hear the clatter of thousands of dogs tearing the peace of eternity with their dominions and taps. These are the usual sounds of this city on the moor which is far detached from the cities which are in the heart of the country and which hear only the stepping of the wheels and the setters of the engines.
The area has so much of a virtue of being isolated from the people and the substitutes of wealth: English and gallantry are hidden from it, whether for its own good or for its disadvantage. It is one of the places where anyone looking for pure Irish and ancient Irish folklore would go. There were schools of poetry with the memory of the old people who are now there.”
A little glimpse of how the people lived from an article written by Seosamh Mac Grianna in his book Filí gan Iomrádh:
"They harvested the crops of the fields and the cold bits of berry, and they killed the odd fish.That was all they had for living, and they were not devoted to work... They were devoted only to fighting and poetry and storytelling... Their hearts were in poetry and storytelling. Some of that literature remains. But we can only properly understand what a wealth of Irish they had. We who have heard old people who were fifty or thirty years older than ourselves speaking Irish, know that there is as much Irish as there is to us and we have to the ‘modern Irish’ people…. Gentlemen, warm-hearted, who were content with sod huts, and with a time of two potatoes or oat bran a day, as long as they could do effective work with a stick, or sing a clever song after another. And scarce in food and as they were, they were the ones who were strong, not the same as those who exist now."
To get a taste of the life that was forming the Rann na Feirste in the late 19th century, Tomás Ó Fiaich says on the subject:
“If the day ever came when all historical sources from Ranafast were lost in the late 19th century … a work on the history of Ranafast in that century could be reconstructed from Mary’s books that would be as complete as what was lost, and much more vibrant, interesting and humane”
— Tomás Ó Fiaich, Léachtaí Columba Cille An Sagart (1974)
As Cardinal Ó Fiaich has mentioned above, aspects of the social history of Ranafast in the 20th century are found in abundance in the writings of Séamus Ó Grianna.
Below is an example of such a situation when Conall Pheadair Bhig is seen looking for a wife in the story'Grásta ó Dhia ar Micí' from the short story collection 'Cith is Dealán'.
"The time of marriage came and Conall Pheadair Bhíg wanted a wife. It would not have been easy for him to make a match, or he was a man who never went out much with people. He only went to Mass once a year, and that was on St. Patrick's Day. If he did not go, it was not a religious injury but a clothing injury. He was never seen in a decent suit as you would see on someone else. He only wore little cheap coats that his mother bought him at the fairs. And you would meet many who would say that if he were put in the nicest suit that ever was made he would stretch himself in it and his back to the fire.
But, in any case, he wanted a wife. And of course, I am not giving him any reason for that. I am only saying that he likes her. I am only saying that he likes her. And he was anxious to have her before that Inid which was to come. Now he needed two things—a wife and trousers. The poor man had no thread on but old trousers which were full of holes and patches, and stitches of twisted thread and woollen thread and all kinds of thread from the waist to the top of the hips.
‘ Mother,’ said Conall to his mother, after telling her that he intended to marry a woman, ‘couldn’t you give me the price of trousers?’
‘‘I could not, my son,’ said she. ‘There is not a penny red under the rafters of the house but the money of the cuttings. And I must take that to the Mayor of Peggy Timmy tomorrow to Clifden. Have you the wife? If so, you should go and borrow some trousers.’
‘I am ashamed,’ said Conall, ‘to be caught asking for a loan of trousers that I will marry.’
‘A shameless man is not acquisitive,’ said the mother. ‘Many men as good as you have married in loans. Go out first and find a wife, and when you have her go to Simisín ‘Ac Fhionnaile, and ask him for a loan of trousers. Simisín and I are professing love for each other, and if there is any relationship, he will not refuse you.’
‘If I must ask for the loans,’ said Conall, ‘wouldn’t it be better for me to ask for the trousers first, lest, when I found the woman, I should be left sitting on my ass for want of trousers?’
‘Wouldn’t it be just as bad,’ said the mother, ‘if you found the trousers and were left sitting on your ass for want of a woman? But you know best, I believe.’
Semisín ‘Ac Fhionnaile was a kind and gentle little person. And he had something that few others had but himself. There were, three trousers. Sunday trousers, trousers worn every day, and basic trousers. It was the original pair of trousers that he had lent to little Conall Pheadair. ‘Put a few doubles in the head of the hips,’ he said, ‘or you are not as long in the legs as I am. And now, good luck to you.’
‘ I have the trousers,’ said Conall to himself. ‘ All I have now is the woman.’
There was a girl in the town on whom he had his eye, as was Sábha Néill Óig. He often met her and it seemed to him that the girl was pretty, but he never found the courage to propose marriage to her.
But, of course, he had no use for that. He would send her a message, which was the custom of many of the men of Ceann Dubhrainn. He went to talk to Micí Sheáinín Gréasaí. Micí was a quick-witted boy, and he was very promising to Sábha Néill Óig.
‘Micí,’ said Conall, ‘I am thinking of marrying a woman.’ ‘It is the time of year, my brother,’ said Micí. ‘I would like you to be my wife,’ said Conall. I will ask for a thousand welcomes.’ said Micí. ‘I will leave you alone, old woman, and we will have a grand night at your wedding, the like of which was not in the memory of the people of the Roses. Who are you thinking of marrying?’ Yes, my dear, a lovely little girl who has long been in my eyes – Sábha Néill Óig.
Sábha Néill Óig!’ said Micí, with the greatest astonishment. Wasn’t that the woman he had intended to marry? Wouldn’t it be a shame if she went off with another man? Micí did not want to marry for another few years. He was afraid that if he married, his father would leave him destitute. And then, he was afraid that Sábha might have so much old wisdom that, if another man came along between the two times, she would rather have a bird in her hand than two birds in the wood.
‘You’d better see another woman come,’ said Micí. ‘I hear that Sábha Néill Óig and Pat Rua from Mulla na Tolcha are in love. And you wouldn’t want to refuse. That’s the worst thing that ever happened to any man. Or the woman who would be on tiptoe with you tonight, wouldn’t look in the direction of the country you would be tomorrow night but know that you were rejected. It wasn’t you but any other man as good as you. Women have a great sense. A woman would spend seven lives idle before she took another woman’s scrap. If I were you I wouldn't bother with Sábha Néill Óig."
Coláiste Bhríde
Father Lorcain Ó Muirí came to Ranafast in November 1925. He was looking for a place to build a summer college. He was in a boarding in Sharkeys and he visited the Gaeltacht areas in Donegal he thought there was a place near Gaoth Dobhair for "boarders" but he preferred the Irish language in Ranafast. He was told that there were plenty of boarding places in Ranafast too and so he decided to establish a college there.
Johnny Shemisín gave him a piece of land on the top of the gulls and Donnchadh Padaí Séainín built the College for him. The first students arrived in July 1926 and their classes were in the National School. St. Bhríde College was ready for the students who arrived in the month of August. Around 50 students arrived that Summer. Most of them were adults (teachers).
That College did not last long, however. A terrible night of great wind came in February 1927 and not a single college student was left that had not been blown away. When Father Lorcán returned to Ranafast he decided to build another college and this time he built a different site – Árd na féannóg near the caracaman. He got the land from Padaí Séainín Pheadaí. He took up the building work for Donnchadh Padaí Sheainín again and a new college with 4 rooms was opened in July 1927. 70 students came that year.
In 1929 the small college was built as a place of Mass but as the number of students increased it was necessary to hold classes there.
Two more rooms were added to the building in 1934. The number of students increased each year and classes had to be held in some of the barns in the town.
It was clear that it was time to add another section to the college. This was done in 1961 when a new 8-room section was attached to the old college.
In 1946 land was purchased from Tarlach Bhraghnaigh óig and a football pitch was built.
In 1947 John Donnchadh’s house was purchased, which is the college house today. In 1940 the St. Bhríde College Committee purchased St. Patrick’s College in Loch na nDeorán. From the Ó Brollachain family it has been part of St. Bhríde College ever since.
The college was run by Father Lorcán Ó Muirí himself until 1937 when a steering committee was appointed and the college was submitted to the Ulster membership. Pádraig mac Conmí was President of the college from Father Lorcán’s time until 1975.