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Biddy Early was born Biddy O'Connor in Faha, Kilenena, Co. Clare in 1778 to a small farming
family. Both her parents died within six months of each other and Biddy found herself, from the age of sixteen at the mercy
of the kind of hardships people faced at that time in Ireland, such as evictions and rampant poverty. She went to work as a
servant girl in Feakle and later for a Dr. Dunne in Kilbarron.
It is said that Biddy was a fine looking woman, she married four times, outliving three of her husbands. She met and married her first husband Pat O'Malley, while in Kilbarron. Pat O'Malley did not live for very long, but they did have a daughter in their few short years together. Her second was Tom Flannery from Carrowroe, who died when their only son Tom was about eight years old. The stories of Biddy start to emerge around this time, when, being unable to pay her rent, she was served with an eviction notice. This is a very famous story in which she is reputed to have used her magical powers to cause the police and sheriff to stay stuck to the roadside outside her house until such time as she decided to tell them to leave and never return, which apparently they did.
During the nineteenth century, superstitious belief in fairies and all things apparently supernatural was very strong, therefore when something happened that appeared to be inexplicable, it was commonly and easily attributed to supernatural forces. Such was probably the case with Biddy Early and her 'magical' powers.
I would say that Biddy was an intelligent woman, ahead of her time. The stories bear out that she had a great knowledge of people and animals and what might ail them, as well as a knowledge of herbs and how to use them. This is not to say that she didn't have other exceptional powers. That her reputation has lasted over a hundred and fifty years is testament to the impact and effect she had on the people, not only of East Clare, but throughout Ireland.
Biddy's stance against the landlords and all-powerful clergy, shows her to have been courageous and independent. Standing out as unusual and powerful, it is hardly surprising that a superstitious people might dub her a 'witch'. She was considered a disruptive element by the parish priest and taken to court for practicing witchcraft, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
It was widely believed that she gained her occult powers from the fairies, but she also derived powers through a dark blue bottle. There are many stories of how she got her dark blue bottle, which she apparently used to see into the future, or anything else she needed to know. One of which, is that her son Tom, who was sickly and died at a young age, came back from the dead to give his mother the bottle so she might use it to make a living. In the tradition of healers, she never accepted money for her services, but would accept food, alcohol or services in return. Biddy was also accredited with the ability to talk and deal with the fairies. Of course we will never know to what degree Biddy herself believed, or blamed the fairies for wrong-doings to humanity, but I would say that an aptitude for psychology certainly played a major part in her dealings with other peoples reactions to them.
She was undoubtedly the 'Wise woman of Clare' and perhaps the most unusual, interesting and mysterious woman Ireland has ever had.
Biddy died in April, 1873, having survived the great famine of 1846, several husbands and a son; (I don't know what happened to the daughter), in a tiny cottage just outside the village of Feakle, Co.Clare. Although she had been at odds with the church for years, with the approach of death and what must have taken great humility and her inimitable courage, she made her peace and repented to the parish priest. She died a peaceful death a few hours later. Apparently twenty seven priests attended her funeral and the parish priest asked the people to pray for her soul.
| Efforts were made in the late nineteen sixties to restore Biddy's cottage, by a local man Dr. Bill Loughnane T.D. The cottage was reconstructed and furnished with pieces of that period, but apparently nothing but misfortune followed him and the project was abandoned. It now stands in a state of advanced dilapidation and will probably fall into no more than a heap of stones to mark where this fascinating lady lived and died. |
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Article written by
Paula Dawson
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