By Colm Wallace

 

What age was the oldest Irish person ever?

Officially, it was Kathleen Snavely, who was born Kathleen Hayes in Co. Clare in 1901 and died aged 113 years in the United States in 2015.

In earlier times, however, when it was more difficult to verify ages, there were many people who were claimed to have attained a larger age.

One example was the Countess of Desmond, Katherine Fitzgerald, of Inchiquin Castle in Co. Cork who was said to have died at 140 years old when climbing a cherry tree.
Walter Raleigh recounted this story in his writing and although it seems unlikely, could it be possible?

Birth certificates were not routinely given to anyone born before the first-half of the nineteenth century, and many older people may not have been fully aware of their own age, making this question a difficult one to answer definitively.

An edition of the Tuam Herald in 1860 reported on the extraordinary longevity of people in the west of Ireland. It described a Westport slater named Paddy Gaughan who lived to 104 and, when nearly 100 years old, could be seen pursuing his trade on the roof of a three-storey house.

They also mentioned John Palace of Kilmeena who died in 1857 in his 115th year. His hearing was said to be so acute ‘that he was able to herd cattle in a field partly under growing corn and if the cattle approached too near the corn, he never failed to intercept them.’

A third character mentioned was Ballinrobe woman Margaret Walsh, then living in the 112th year of her age.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own