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.