A LOCAL MYSTERY IN KILBAHA was referenced during attempts to secure more restoration and surface dressing on its roads.
At a recent meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) asked for restoration and surface dressing to be completed on the L2002-44 from Kelly’s Cross, Kilclogher to Haugh’s Forge “in the interest of health and safety following recent traffic accidents”. This was seconded by Cllr Ian Lynch (IND).
However the route was not included in this year’s Schedule of Municipal District Works, senior executive engineer in the West Clare MD, Alan Kennelly confirmed. “I was not aware of any recent accidents. The last time I drove this road it was in very good condition,” he admitted.
Kennelly added, “While there is no funding available to resurface this road in 2022, the road will be maintained within available resources. I think it worth pointing out that a number of adjacent roads have received substantial funding in recent years. “In 2020 and 2021 approximately 1,500m of the L-2002-64 (Grave of the yellow men to Kilbaha) was resurfaced and a lot of drainage works and of coastal protection works were carried out. In 2021 approximately 3,000m of the L-6004-0 (coast road) was resurfaced”. He noted that the L-2002-64 led to the grave of The Yellow Men to Kilbaha.
Speaking at the sitting, Cllr Keating acknowledged “the great work done over the last few years”. He added, “The Yellow Men would come back if they saw it. It is a great that we have so much done over the last couple of years on our rural roads”.
In Kilbaha or Cross, nobody is able to say for certain when The Yellow Men drowned, it is also unclear how many dead sailors are buried by the road side in Kilclogher, Kilbaha. Some say the Yellow Men drowned in November 1873, while others believe that between nine and 11 men perished in the early part of the 1800s. The wretched story of the doomed sailors has been part of the peninsula’s oral tradition for almost 155 years. A poem has been written by Amy Griffin to remember the men.
