De Valera's Cottage
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Use Irish English|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox building
| name = De Valera's Cottage
| native_name = Teachín De Valera
| native_name_lang = ga
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| status = Museum
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| building_type = cottage
| architectural_style = Vernacular
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| location = Knockmore
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|location_town = Bruree
| location_country = Ireland
| coordinates = {{coord|52.433639|N|8.657111|W|display=inline,title}}
| altitude = {{Convert|54|m|abbr=on}}
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| start_date = 1885
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| designation1 = National Monument of Ireland
| designation1_offname = De Valera's Cottage
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| designation1_number = 576
}}
| known_for = Childhood home of Éamon de Valera
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De Valera's Cottage is a cottage and National Monument located in County Limerick, Ireland. It was the former home of the Irish rebel leader, and later President of Dáil Éireann, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) during his youth.
Location
History
The house is a labourer's cottage, built in 1885 by Kilmallock Poor Law Union.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/eamondevalera0000trav|url-access=registration|quote=de valera cottage.|title=Éamon de Valera|first=Pauric|last=Travers|date=1 January 1994|publisher=Historical Association of Ireland|isbn=9780852211236|via=Internet Archive}}
Born in New York City in 1882, de Valera (then known as George, and later Edward or Eddie) was brought to Ireland by his uncle Ned in 1885, following the death of his father Juan Vivion de Valera, and lived at this cottage. Even after his mother remarried, de Valera remained in Ireland, living at this cottage outside Bruree with his grandmother Elizabeth Coll, her son Patrick and her daughter Hannie. De Valera worked hard on the family farm, a mere half-acre;The 25-inch OS map gives its area as 0.567 acres (0.23 ha) they also used "the long farm", grazing cattle on the roadside grass. This was illegal, so de Valera kept watch for Royal Irish Constabulary policemen and had to pretend to be moving the cattle across the road if the police saw him.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-z4AwAAQBAJ&q=de+valera+cottage&pg=PT6|title=Big Fellow, Long Fellow. A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera: A Joint Biography of Irish politicians Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera|first=T. Ryle|last=Dwyer|date=19 November 1998|publisher=Gill & Macmillan Ltd|isbn=9780717157464|via=Google Books|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=4 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404072726/https://books.google.com/books?id=S-z4AwAAQBAJ&q=de+valera+cottage&pg=PT6|url-status=live}}
As a teenager he walked from there to C.B.S. Charleville during schooldays, a distance of 11 km (7 miles) each morning and evening (the family could not afford a bicycle).{{cite web|url=http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/eamon.htm|title=Clare People: Eamon De Valera|website=www.clarelibrary.ie|access-date=11 May 2017|archive-date=2 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502114824/http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/eamon.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/patriots/stories/dev.htm|title=The Boy from Bruree|website=www.irishidentity.com|access-date=11 May 2017|archive-date=29 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131129213726/http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/patriots/stories/dev.htm|url-status=live}}
De Valera regularly visited the cottage in later life.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/myers-on-de-valera-1.223731 |title=Letters: Myers On De Valera |date=9 December 1998 |newspaper=The Irish Times |issn=0791-5144 |location=Dublin |language=en-ie |access-date=11 May 2017 |archive-date=23 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823163121/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/myers-on-de-valera-1.223731 |url-status=live }} It is today a museum containing de Valera memorabilia, including the trunk he brought back from New York.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w5GvCwAAQBAJ&q=de+valera+cottage&pg=PA501|title=The Directory of Museums & Living Displays|first1=Kenneth|last1=Hudson|first2=Ann|last2=Nicholls|date=18 June 1985|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349070145|via=Google Books|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=4 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404072801/https://books.google.com/books?id=w5GvCwAAQBAJ&q=de+valera+cottage&pg=PA501|url-status=live}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLHgtXEUfXgC&q=de+valera+cottage&pg=PA330|title=Ireland|first1=Margaret|last1=Greenwood|first2=Mark|last2=Connolly|first3=Geoff|last3=Wallis|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781843530596|via=Google Books|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=4 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404072749/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLHgtXEUfXgC&q=de+valera+cottage&pg=PA330|url-status=live}}
Description
The house is a detached three-bay single-storey building.{{cite web|url=http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=LC®no=21903913|title=Additional Images: Buildings of Ireland: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage|website=www.buildingsofireland.ie|access-date=11 May 2017|archive-date=4 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404072735/https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/21903913/de-valeras-cottage-knockfenora-bruree-limerick|url-status=live}}
In culture
Poet Thomas McCarthy wrote, in 1984, "Returning to De Valera's Cottage", about the strange shadow the cottage cast over the village.{{Cite magazine |url=http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3054&context=iowareview |title=Returning to De Valera's Cottage |first=Tom |last=McCarthy |date=1984 |magazine=The Iowa Review |volume=14 |issue=2 |publisher=University of Iowa |access-date=11 May 2017 |archive-date=7 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707171814/http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3054&context=iowareview |url-status=dead }}