In both my novella, “Lord Fearghal’s English Bride” (part of the Regency Summer Weddings Anthology) and my upcoming release of “Taming Lord Truist: Book 2 of the Strong Regency Women Duo,” my characters leave England to travel to and through Ireland. However, as I soon learned when conducting research to support my tales, reaching Ireland was one thing. Traveling through it was another.
Purchase links:
Regency Summer Weddings Anthology
Also, available to read on Kindle Unlimited
To begin, one must recall these stories were both set before the age of steam (first introduced in 1819). This was a time when traveling from London, England, to Dublin, Ireland, was a week’s journey, at a minimum. There were four main ports along the English/Welsh/Scottish borders to the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea where people could make the journey to Ireland. (1) In England, one could board in Bristol and travel to Cork City (which I will give more information on below, for that was not as easy as one might think); (2) One could travel from Liverpool, England, to Dublin, Ireland; (3) One could also travel to Dublin from Holyhead in Wales; or, finally, (4) One could travel from Port Patrick in Scotland to Donaghadee in County Down, Ireland.
The crossing itself could take 16 to 20 hours on an average, for the passage was entirely dependent on the weather. Some ships even turned back because of the unpredictability of the weather. Upon more than one occasion, a ship found itself setting becalmed in the waters for a day or more and waiting for favorable trade winds. Those who traveled from Bristol to Cork City often also encountered French or Spanish privateers.
Originally, I thought it would be easier to send my characters through Cork City, for I knew something of the modern day harbor. I was wrong. Completely wrong. The Port of Cork is situated at the south western end of the island. Cork Harbour is situated in the centre of the southern seaboard facing south to the Atlantic. In the 17th C, the Port of Cork was seen “as a distribution centre for its hinterland by trans-shipment. (Patrick Flanagan, “The Cork Region, c.1600-c.1900,” Perspectives on Cork, Special Publication No. 10 (Dublin Geographical Society of Ireland, 1998, pg. 3)
In 1800, Cork Port was unregulated as regards to shipping and had no port authority to oversee it. Instead, it was controlled by the Cork Corporation, a municipal authority. It was in a poor state of maintenance and was in urgent need to of repair. “In 1813 (when my stories are set), only small vessels drawing 11 feet of water [could] enter Cork city during high water on berthing at Cork had to be aground on a gravel bottom to discharge. The lower harbour was only three feet deep in places and large vessels had to unload cargo onto lighters. All of this added to the time and cost of vessels visiting the port. (Patrick J McCarthy, “An Economic History of the Port of Cork: 1813-1900,” unpublished M. EconSc. thesis (Cork: University College Cork, 1949) 12-13).
In 1813, the Butter Weighhouse Act was passed to improve the harbour and river of Cork. One-third of the fees received by the Weighmaster from the butter trade in the city went to a commission made up of 21 merchants of the city to improve, deepen and widen the port’s accessibility. In 1814, the “Cocket and Entry Tax Act (also known as “The Commercial Buildings Act”) was imposed as another form of revenue. It was a tax on customs documents, rather than the value of the goods. The Cork Harbour Act did not come about until 1820. (Mary Lantry, “The Cocket Tax in Cork: A Tax in the Context of its Time and Place,” unpublished MA thesis, Cork: University College Cork, 2018)
Taming Lord Truist: Book 2 of the Strong Regency Women Duo
“The very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrecoverably gone.” – Jane Austen
Miss Eleanor Wilder has admired Lord Augustus Truist since she was a young girl. He had once protected her from an older boy who had meant to strike her. Now, she requires his protection again: This time, it is from her guardian, a cousin who means to marry Eleanor off to a man more that twice Ella’s age in order to keep Eleanor’s fortune in the family. As she will soon be one and twenty, Eleanor must convince Lord Truist to marry her himself, rather than see all her fortune go to a ne’er-do-well.
Lord Truist must save his family from disgrace and a touch of poverty by marrying an heiress of whom his mother approves, but he finds repugnant. However, when Miss Wilder offers him her fortune with no strings attached—a marriage of convenience—how can he refuse? As his countess, the lady would have the protection she required, and he would have the freedom to enjoy his long-time mistress, Miss Sarah Darling, without complaints.
How was he to know that the new Lady Truist not only loved him but was quite perfect in ways he did not realize he required?
Purchase Links:
Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYLPJ72C
Available to Read on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D93SZ418?ref_=pe_93986420_774957520
If you have not yet read Loving Lord Lindmore: Book 1 of the Strong Regency Women Duo, it is on sale on Amazon for only $0.99 until August 16. Grab it for this weekend and be ready for Taming Lord Truist on Monday.
Loving Lord Lindmore: Book 1 of the Strong Regency Women Duo
LADY CORA TAKES SOCIETY BY STORM . . .
Lady Cora Midland, a highly-spirited country beauty, offers no pretensions, which wins many admirers, despite her lack of knowledge on how to manage the beau monde. However, Matthew Harrington believes she is taking advantage of his elderly grandmother, and he means to put a stop to the girl.
LORD MATTHEW LINDMORE IS IN DENIAL . . .
Lindmore reluctantly assists his grandmother in bringing Lady Cora out in Society. Yet, what appeared to be a daunting task becomes a transformation the earl does not expect. He finds the woman as delightful, as do others in the haut ton. Yet…
When Lady Cora is on the the verge of marrying another, Lindmore fears time will expire before he can speak his own proposal.
Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTFSRB7R?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100
Available to Read on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTLY847C?ref_=pe_93986420_774957520
Audible (Virtual Voice Narration) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW4WLKGZ
GIVEAWAY: I have 5 eBook copies to give away to those who comment on any or all the promotional posts for TAMING LORD TRUIST‘s release. The eBooks will be presented on August 12, the release date.
References:
Every Woman Dreams... 