Biddy Early was born Biddy O’Connor in Faha, Kilenena, Co. Clare in 1778 to a small farming family. Both her parents died within six months of each other and Biddy found herself, from the age of sixteen at the mercy of the kind of hardships people faced at that time, such as evictions and rampant poverty. She went to work as a servant girl in Feakle and later for a Dr. Dunne in Kilbarron. It is said that Biddy was a fine looking woman and married four times, outliving three. She met and married her first husband Pat O’Malley, while in Kilbarron. Pat O’Malley did not live for very long, but they did have a daughter in their few short years together. Her second was Tom Flannery from Carrowroe, who died when their only son Tom was about eight years old. The stories of Biddy start to emerge around this time, when, being unable to pay her rent, she was served with an eviction notice.
This is a very famous story where she is reputed to have used magical powers to cause the police and sheriff to stay stuck to the roadside outside her house until such time as she decided to tell them to leave and never return, which apparently they did. During the nineteenth century, superstitions and a belief in fairies and all things supernatural was very strong. Therefore, when something appeared to be inexplicable, it was obviously supernatural. The stories bear out that she had a great knowledge of people and animals and what might ail them, as well as a knowledge of herbs and how to use them.
This is not to say that she didn’t have other exceptional powers.I would say that Biddy was an intelligent woman, ahead of her time. That her reputation has lasted over a hundred and fifty years is testament to the impact and effect she had on the people, not only of East Clare, but throughout Ireland. Her stance against the landlords and all powerful clergy, shows her to have been courageous and independent. Standing out as unusual and powerful, it is hardly surprising that a superstitious people might dub her a witch. She was considered a disruptive element by the parish priest and taken to court for practicing witchcraft, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. It was widely believed that she gained her occult powers from the fairies. There are many stories of how she got her dark blue bottle, which she apparently used to see the future, or anything else she needed to know. One of which, is that her son Tom, who was sickly and died at a young age, came back from the dead to give his mother the bottle so she might use it to make a living.
In the tradition of healers, she never accepted money for her services, but would accept food, alcohol or services in return. Biddy was also accredited with the ability to talk and deal with the fairies. Of course we will never know to what degree Biddy believed, or blamed the fairies for wrongdoings to humanity, but I would say that an aptitude for psychology played a major part in dealing with people’s reactions to it.
She was undoubtedly the “The Wise woman of Clare” and one of the most unusual, interesting and mysterious woman Ireland has ever had. Biddy died in April, 1873, having survived the great famine of 1846, several husbands and a son; (I don’t know what happened to the daughter), in a tiny cottage just outside the village of Feakle, Co. Clare. Although she had been at odds with the church for years, with the approach of death and what must have taken great humility and her inimitable courage, she made her peace and repented to the parish priest. She died a peaceful death a few hours later. Apparently twenty seven priests attended her funeral and the parish priest asked the people there to pray for her soul. Efforts were made in the late 1960’s to restore Biddy’s cottage, by a local man Dr. Bill Loughnane T.D. The cottage was reconstructed and furnished with pieces of that period, but apparently nothing but misfortune followed him and the project was abandoned .
It now stands in a state of advanced dilapidation and will probably fall into no more than a heap of stones to mark where this fascinating lady lived and died.