A stone-cold resemblance
QUESTION What is the origin of Carlingford’s De Gaulle stone head? Why is it so called? THE De Gaulle stone head in Carlingford, Co. Louth, is so called because it bears a distinct resemblance to former president of France, Charles de Gaulle.
It’s a stone on a south-facing gable wall on an old building next to a house in Newry Street in Carlingford.
General de Gaulle first came to world prominence during the Second World War, when he commanded the Free French in exile from Nazi rule in France. After he became president in 1958, the strikingly tall Frenchman, who was nearly two metres in height, became even more famous when he did his level best to prevent Britain joining the European Economic Community (now the EU).
During the 1960s, an unknown person in Carlingford spotted the resemblance between De Gaulle and the natural stone in the gable wall in Newry Street which, together with Dundalk Street, is one of the two main thoroughfares in Carlingford. Then a joker placed a piece of slate on top of the stone, so that it looked as if the stone De Gaulle had a cap, thus heightening the comical potential for the face in the stone.
Ever since, it has been known as the ‘De Gaulle’ stone.
Carlingford is one of Ireland’s best preserved medieval towns. Ancient buildings in the town include King John’s Castle, Taaffes’ Castle, the Mint and the Tholsel, as well as some of the old wall that once surrounded the town. Set on the southern shores of Carlingford Lough, the town has now built up a substantial reputation as a popular tourist destination.
There’s a real stone memorial to de Gaulle in a corner of North Square in Sneem, Co. Kerry.
After De Gaulle resigned from the French presidency in 1969, he and his wife Yvonne came to Ireland and they stayed in the Sneem area for two weeks. Then 25 years later, the people of Sneem, with financial assistance from the Ireland Fund in France and the then Bord Fáilte, commissioned a work of art from a Valentia-based sculptor, Alan Hall.
In the piece he created, a bronze plaque shows De Gaulle’s distinctive head mounted on a large boulder of local stone. The inscription on that stone carries De Gaulle’s verdict on his stay in Irestone land. ‘At this grave moment of my long life, I found here (in Sneem) what I sought, to be face to face with myself. Ireland gave me that, in the most delicate, most friendly way.’
The year following his visit to Sneem, 1970, saw the death of De Gaulle, arguably the most outstanding French statesman of the 20th century. His wife, often known in France as ‘Aunt Yvonne’, died in 1979. De Gaulle was always very proud of his Irish roots on his mother’s side. His mother was descended from John MacCartan, a Jacobite officer, who came from Kinelarty in Co. Down. He had been appointed commissioner for Co. Down by King James II, just before the battle of the Boyne in 1690. Soon after that battle, he left Ireland as one of the Wild Geese and joined the French Army as a cavalry officer.
John MacCartan returned to Ireland in his old age and is buried in the MacCartan chapel at Loughinisland in 1736; he was aged 96 when he died.
His son Anthony was also born in Ireland and went on to serve in the French Army, while his grandson, Antoine-Joseph, became a doctor in Lille, in north-eastern France. So General de Gaulle had close links with Co. Down, the far side of Carlingford Lough where a in the nearby town, carved by the elements, still causes much amusement.
Eoin De Barra, via email. QUESTION Has The Bank Of England misconstrued the Jane Austen quote on the new British £10 note? THE quote on the note is a strange choice. It is spoken by Caroline Bingley, an unpleasant character in Pride And Prejudice (1813): ‘I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!’
Taken in isolation, this might seem like Austen’s push for the common man to take up reading. In context, however, it makes little sense. Caroline is the shallow, haughty sister of Charles Bingley, suitor of Jane Bennett, Elizabeth’s elder sister and confidante. Her mean-spiritedness is summed up in her treatment of gentle Jane, first befriending her as she tries to ingratiate herself with her chief infatuation, Fitzwilliam Darcy, then dumping her when Darcy begins to reveal his interest in Elizabeth.
There are cringe-worthy scenes in which Caroline flatters Darcy, even praising the act of writing: ‘“How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter!” He made no answer.’ She also tells him: ‘You write uncommonly fast’ and ‘How can you contrive to write so even?’
In a similar vein she attempts to impress Darcy with her literary fervour but has neither head nor heart for it. Her very speech is preceded by a ‘great yawn’. And she continues: ‘How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.’ The gathered audience pay her pronouncements no mind: ‘No one made any reply. She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement.’
Austen satirises this woman who not only fails to read a book for a few minutes but even disbelieves her pretentious announcements. Her only interest in owning a library is so she can show off. Julia Holmes, Stratford-upon-Avon.