Remembering Dan Clancy

Every hill has its own story, and every hill is special to someone. That anonymous forested hill you pass on the way to somewhere could well be one of the most special places in the world to someone else. We can see evidence of this as we ramble amongst the hills. Often these are in the form of an inscribed plaque or a cross, and may command fine views across the land.

On the summit of Slievecorragh is one of the more curious memorials that you will find anywhere in Ireland. It is the chair that climbers of this hill have commented on. There is a man’s silver ring slipped over one of the support bars, and the name ‘Dan Clancy’ is engraved into the top of the back of the chair. The chair and the teddy are facing west over the plains of Kildare. For the walker it is an object of curiosity, and offers a comfortable seat to take a rest and enjoy the views. It is made of bronze, and someone clearly went to a lot of trouble to bring it all the way up the hill. It would have been easy to leave the hill and move on to other things and forget about the curious chair and the lonely teddy on Slievecorragh. But it stayed in my mind and I wanted to find out more.

I discovered that Dan Clancy grew up on the side of Slievecorragh. Dan and his many siblings spent many happy childhood days there, and often went up in the evening to watch the sun set as they discussed all the things that children do. Dan eventually grew up and moved to New York. Whenever he returned to Wicklow he would climb Slievecorragh with his brothers and sisters where they spent many hours in conversation, just as they had done as children. Their special connection with this hill and each other was reaffirmed each time they enjoyed watching the sunset from its summit once again.

Dan became terminally ill with cancer in New York. One of his brothers, Andrew who is a Sculptor, spent a lot of time with him in New York in his final months. They talked about their childhood and Andrew frankly discussed with Dan how he would like to commemorate him in some way. The idea of the chair was born. It was based on an old chair that both men remembered as boys in the corner of their kitchen, and it symbolised a warm and happy childhood spent growing up on the slopes of Slievecorragh. From an old photograph Andrew had a wooden model of the chair made, and he used this to cast the bronze chair that we see on Slievecorragh today. Dan passed away on 4th February 2004 at the age of 31. A few months later Dan’s family and friends gathered on Slievecorragh to bring the chair to the summit and set it into the ground. Since then, each year on the anniversary of Dan’s death, his family gather once more to climb the hill and remember Dan Clancy.

This is the story of the little green chair on Slievecorragh. So if you ever find yourself up there, you now know the story behind the curious chair and the teddy that have sat there watching the sun set night after night for many years now. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/747/comment/6253/

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Ready Teddy Go!

Climbed Slievecorragh on 1-10-10 from Hollywood side.Parked beside church (E (N951 053)) and climbed over gate across the road.Headed directly for the statue of the priest which overlooks Hollywood.On reaching the statue I made my way South East on the wide tracks which lead up to an open field, then I followed the fencing on the right which runs up through a couple of fields and then opens up to reveal the large cairn on the summit in the distance which is reached after a short dip through very wet land.Sat and had a chat with Teddy on the summit about the views and who had been visiting then retraced steps back to car! Roughly an hours journey up and down.
Well worth checking this out!
Book in advance with Teddy just in case he's busy! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/747/comment/6122/

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Sharing the story of the Chair

Listeners to RTE’s Liveline programme may have heard me today as I discussed the chair and Teddy memorial on Slievecorragh and its history. The podcast can be listened to here: http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2012/pc/pod-v-F (O3101 1215)m15slivelinememorial-pid0-G (N915 192).mp3 Please remove the (point A) and (Point B) insert in the http link as these are generated by MountainViews thinking they are grid references!

I initially gave a general background to the story without identifying the hill or Dan Clancy out of respect to Dan’s family. However Dan’s brother Andrew, who sculpted the chair, agreed to go on air and joined me in discussing the chair, its origin and memorials in general. It is particularly poignant as the anniversary of Dan’s death falls this week, and the chair has been on the hill for 8 years now. We were joined on air by a local woman who said she walks on the hill every week with her grandchildren and never knew the story behind the chair. She, like many of us, was touched to hear the origin of the chair. Once again it shows the value of MountainViews.ie in bringing the stories, history, and local knowledge of our uplands to the wider hillwalking public.

I took the opportunity on Liveline to mention MountainViews.ie and the wealth of information available to visitors to the site, including information on our 1056 listed hills and mountains. Joe Duffy appeared somewhat taken aback at this figure and that there were people out there who are climbing hundreds of them! Slievecorragh may be an obscure and little-visited hill, but it was the centre of attention for a short period of time on national radio today. 404,000 Liveline listeners got a peek into our world of hillwalking and the stories and experiences out there waiting to be discovered. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/747/comment/6671/

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Exceptional Teddy Bear

Well 'Teddy Bear' is certainly not lonely. There was a constant visitation to the wonderful vantage point on this lovely Sunday afternoon. The people I met had heard the radio interview, which piqued their fascination. One person was a walker from West Wicklow who had never seen or heard of 'Teddy Bear' and Dan Clancy's chair. I can not think of a more memorable monument.

I approached the summit from Toor to the south H (N94649 03578) while all the others had come up from Hollywood to the northwest. There was a lovely clear view out over the vast plain of Kildare to the west with the God-light streaming through the clouds. There was even sufficient clarity to see back east to snow covered Lugnaquilla and Tonelegee. This is a very suitable walk for any beginners with a double reward at the summit. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/747/comment/6693/

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wicklore on Slievecorragh

I was looking for a quick way up this hill as I only wanted to bag it. I headed on the R756 from Hollywood and took the turn right onto the third class road. At approximately I (N953 038) I turned right onto an uphill track. It was just wide enough for the car and twisted up to a level area big enough for a few cars. I got the sense no one had been here for years. Walking back down the track for 20 metres I turned right and walked up through tall grass and over an embankment. I found myself on an old track from logging or something. It was quite churned up but easily negotiable and dry. A few minutes brought me to the unofficial relay station mentioned by csd before. It looked like a weather station to me. The summit proper is over a fence. padodes and csd's posted photos show the summit quite well. However I think the lonely Teddy on the bronze chair deserves more attention. My photo shows his lonely vigil looking over the lowlands below. The name Dan Clancy is clearly visible engraved into the top of the chair and a man's silver ring was added into the chair during construction. This can be seen at the bottom of one of the four rear bars. I got an incredibly sad and nostalgic feeling when I saw the bear, as I thought about him sitting there day after day, season after season presumably in memory of Dan Clancy. If it is a memorial I think it is lovely but I wish Teddy had a companion for company. He even looked like he had been treated with waterproofing or something and was bone dry.
Before heading down I sat in the chair (I didn't squash Teddy) and it was surprisingly comfortable! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/747/comment/3212/

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