The Poet’s Way Memorial
The Sheep’s Head Way erected this memorial to the poets and writers of Sheep’s Head, in particular Denis M. Cronin and the O’Dalaighs. The Poet’s Way Loop Walk is named in honor of them. The bronze plaque was commissioned by the Sheep’s Head Way and made by John Doyle.
Jenny Wallace Warsen was a descendant of the poet Denis M. Cronin and published “The Chase of a Shadow: A Narrative Poem in Four Cantos” in 1997, in collaboration with Frank O’Mahony. The original story was told by a travelling man in the Cronin homeplace, and this inspired Denis Cronin to create the epic poem.
Denis M Cronin was born on May 31, 1866 in Eskeraha, a townland beyond the village of Kilcrohane. He immigrated to New York in 1888, married ten years later and raised a family.
One hundred years or so later, in the 1990’s, after a few visits to County Cork seeking her Cronin relatives and the place her great grandfather had immigrated from, Jenny was eventually led to Eskraha on the Sheep’s Head peninsula. She had in her possession a 100 year old manuscript of an epic poem that her great grandfather had written. In Jenny’s words, the poem is, “A story of two lovers separated by Ireland’s Rebellion of 1798.” and was, “Written by Denis M. Cronin with hope that his tale be published in 1898.”, the centenary of the rebellion. The poem describes the beauty of the Sheep’s head area elegantly. Denis M. Cronin never did publish the poem in his lifetime. Jenny, however, carried out his wish and published the poem in the book "The Chase of a Shadow: A Narrative Poem in Four Cantos" in 1997.
A stone with an acknowledgement of the poet and a verse from the epic poem is located along this loop walk, and was unveiled by Jenny, with great pride on August 2nd 2008. Jenny passed away at her home at South Hampton, New York in 2019 and was known and loved by many people on the Sheep’s Head and in Bantry town.