him by coach and four, as they approached Skibbereen they were feted by a procession made up of bakers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors and weavers preceded by a band. The Liberator's carriage was followed by those of gentlemen and clergy. He started the address sin Irish and then switched to English. He spent the night with the administrator Fr. Fitzpatrick and was presented with £500 repeal rent. It is regarded as the largest crowd ever to gather in West Cork. In the memoirs of T. D.Sullivan (one of the Home Rule MPs from Bantry/Durrus Cross), he describes the temperance bands going from Bantry to the Monster Meetings in Skibbereen during his youth. Famine There were 'minor' famines in 1817 and 1822. There was a very wet and cold summer and autumn in 1816, a typhus epidemic broke out and up to 65,000 died countrywide from fever. In 1822 reports of distress commenced in April. Among the relief measures was the efforts of the City of London Tavern a grouping of business and banking people in London and they sent the Rev. John Jagoe (Schull) a cargo of meal for Schull and Durrus. Relief was carried out on a cross community basis. The ratio of the population receiving rations in Durrus Parish was between 60 and 70 percent. The Vicar, William Moore Crosthwaite received 20 barrels of meal from the Quaker Boston Relief Committee. His health suffered and caused his eventual death in 1855. The Rev Allen Evanson received £25 for 20 bags of rice from the Friends Central Relief Committee on 12 April 1847. Both O'Donovan and the Evansons seek grants under the Land Improvement Act of 1848 on 2 February. In February 1848 there were 191 from Durrus in the Bantry Workhouse. Pre famine the population was in 1841, 3731 and in 1851? this dropped to 2003, the number of houses went from 595 to 324. A sworn enquiry was held and the physician was called on to resign and the master and matron dismissed. Improvement in agricultural conditions 1851-1859 The price of butter on the Cork Market rose by 45% from 1851 and 1859 and store cattle by 50%. Guano a natural fertilizer from Peru was used together with mangolds turnips and improved grass varieties on the more progressive farms. Around this time the Royal Dublin Society was sending Inspectors around the area to teach best practice. Coral sand