On a bench overlooking the water at the Claddagh is a plaque, quoting from a writer who may well have been sitting in the same spot when he was inspired to write them in the first place. Walter Macken, actor and writer, was describing the Claddagh in the excerpt from “Rain on the Wind” pictured above. He died, aged 51, on this day in 1967. A biography of Macken’s life, written by his son, can be found here.
I remember as a teacher reading Walter Macken’s historical, The Silent People, as a selected text for Leaving Certificate. Macken had a great feel for landscape as well as a sharp historical eye.