Promenade d'un Français dans l'Irlande

Name of traveller

Jacques-Louis de Bougrenet de La Tocnaye (1767-1823)

Reason for travel

  • en route to Ireland

Date of travel

1796

[M]ais j’étais en route pour l’Irlande, et je me rendis à Milford Haven, qui est bien le plus vilain trou, dans lequel voyageur pressé, puisse manger jusqu’à son dernier sou, en attendant le bon vent. (Latocnaye 12)

Content

  • architecture: peasants' houses similar to those in Scottish Highlands
  • clothing:
    • women's dress is menswear over their skirts
    • broad straw hats worn by women
  • customs:
    • description of corracles in use in Carmarthen for salmon fishing as well as cradles for children
    • praises Carmarthen graveyards which appear like gardens, well tended with flowers and plants, not places of death
  • terrain: pretty and fertile country
  • transport:
    • modes of travel
    • Swansea at the time is a considerable port
    • crossing to Ireland takes less than 24 hours; complains about price for ferry service
  • compare with an earlier journey undertaken along the border between Wales and England two years before
  • English translation: A Frenchman's Walk through Ireland, 1796-7 (Promenade d'un Français dans l'Irlande). Trans. John Stevenson. Belfast: McCaw, Stevenson & Orr, Ltd., 1917. 10-2. Print
  • click here to read the full account

Nationality of traveller

French

Language of publication

French; translation: English

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

travelogue

Citation

[Bougrenet de] La Tocnaye, [Jacques-Louis de]. Promenade d'un Français dans l'Irlande, Etc. vol. 3 Brunswick: Imprimé chez P.F. Fauche & Compagnie, aux frais de l'auteur, 1801. Print.